ePortfolios for High School Students: Application and Assessment

We proposed to introduce four-year ePortfolios for high school students, with teacher-certified content featuring the best of the student’s activities and accomplishments in each of her four high school years. Our focus is high school students following STEM learning paths. We argue for a new system replacing test-focused rote learning with deep reflective learning. Fortunately, new movements in education are supportive of this objective. Growing numbers of colleges and universities are reducing or even removing the evaluative weights placed on standardized tests such as the SAT and ACT. The huge evaluative weight college admissions systems place on standardized test scores carries unacceptable negatives, many with social justice attributes. First, the test-taking skill of the candidate is the top measure for surviving the first cut. We suggest replacing these tests with secure and vetted student electronic portfolios (ePortfolios) that feature many artifacts of a student’s high school achievements, especially those associated with Project-Based Learning (PBL), as well as the student’s personal written reflections recorded over four years of learning. This more personalized admissions process will provide evaluative information far richer than what is currently available. Biases connected to gender, race, community wealth, and family wealth should all be lessened by the suggested ePortfolio approach. These biases should also be lessened by standardized testing. A number of significant and integrated changes to our educational system are necessary for the successful implementation of ePortfolios on a large scale. These include college admissions offices decreasing the weights assigned to standardized tests; high schools filling the void with ePortfolio content, requiring students to create ePortfolios starting in their freshman year; process reorganization to provide students with quantitative project-based learning activities throughout high school; and the provision of methods and resources for high school teachers and college admissions offices to evaluate ePortfolio content.