The transcript has been a tool long used by schools and colleges to assess students' ability to be successful in life.Seeing as it is a record of how they performed in every course, it seems like a good way to do it, right?
Wrong.
There are so many things wrong with grades, as I'm sure you know I've suggested that one document that puts them all in one place is a colossal waste of time.
Testing and transcripts further perpetuate the very wrongness of playing school and hurt those students who would likely flourish most in the university environment. Their past poor choices end up damning them twice. (First when they don't pass in school and have to repeat learning and then later when they don't have the grades to get into a school that offers the kinds of programs they may be successful in).
A better way may be to allow students to create an electronic portfolio that will allow them to show their growth with reflection. This too will ensure that colleges will see what the level of work is over time rather than just an average without seeing the work that contributed to a bunch of scores.
Give a listen to this short video:
The benefits to portfolios would be amazing.
Check out some possibilities:
- Student selected work shows what they are capable of now and since students would be selecting work they are proud of and attaching a detailed, standards-based reflection, the admissions officer would have an understanding of where the child is now in his/her learning.
- Rather than having numbers on a transcript with scores, the school can see the level of work the students are expected to complete, again giving a more precise idea of the ability to be successful at college level work.
- Although it would be a little more time consuming to select candidates for school, the understanding of each child would be a better indicator of success once he/she got to the college.
- Students would already be more metacognitive and would understand better how to represent themselves as learners rather than rely on their transcripts and test scores which largely doesn't paint an accurate picture.
- Students can't cram and forget the work they display since they will have been working on it for a while and would have the entire process to share their progress.
- Students would be more prepared for interviews where they can discuss their portfolios in a meaningful way and connect it with what they'd like to do at the school of their choosing.
- A portfolio would allow for a more diverse look at a student's learning as he or she would have to choose from a variety of classes and if he/she didn't select from a class, that would be a space for talking or explaining.
As education begins to change and we reconsider how we assess students, we can't continue to do what is easiest for institutions at the expense of what is best for students. Testing and transcripts have never been very helpful to many students. They end up being accurate for only a very small percentage of kids. Using portfolios would be a far more beneficial way to show what kids know.
These changes won't happen unless more schools make a concerted effort to change the process and then a few colleges start taking a chance with something better. Could your school be the first?
In what ways can we start implementing portfolio assessment at the end of school years rather than testing? What are your current practices? Are they successful? Please share
While college is vastly different from the high school experience, grades still play a vital role in success. The argument that students who received poor grades in high school will excel at college is valid in some cases, however grades matter equally as much in college if not more as they did in high school. High school allows students the opportunity to learn how to receive and maintain their desired grades in an environment where it is not as critical as it is at college. For example, many students receive merit scholarships that require students to keep a certain GPA. If students have not learned how to work hard for the grades they may find it difficult in college where there is less help and support to maintain his/her necessary GPA. Additionally, most high school courses allow students a variety of ways to show what they have learned, which is not the case in many college courses that are assessed solely on exams. While a student may show great thought and work in his/her portfolio, in no way would a collection of his/her work demonstrate if he/she would be able to be successful in an exam-evaluated course. I believe that colleges who accept transcripts, test scores, and supplement essays get the best representation of students applying. In submitting three assessments of their academic abilities, admission officers are able to examine the applicants’ strengths and weaknesses as a student.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds as though the issue with portfolios lies in the college admissions process. Colleges seem to find it hard to really understand students before accepting them into college and portfolios provide a better understanding of the student. The problem with that is, portfolios seem to only show the good in a student's high school experience and it does not clearly show how students did in high school. What would be better is if colleges let transcripts stand for themselves so that the admissions department can really see how you did academically, and then colleges should provide a more in depth analysis of the student applying. They should offer more reflections, more personal questions, and more of an explanation about all the other aspects of high school. It seems as though the portfolio tends to only focus on all of the other things about high school and not on grades themselves. The portfolio lacks the emphasis on grades, and grades are very, very important, because college professors do not forget about grades. Grades are equally as important as every other aspect of high school and college and people need stop hiding behind their portfolios.
ReplyDeleteMC,
DeleteGreat comments and connections, we have very similar responses to this post! I also agree with the idea that transcripts are a great way to gage high school performance, and that portfolios are too arbitrary, lacking emphasis on grades. Like you said, grades are extremely paramount because college professors are mostly worried about grades as well. In all honesty, the one reason why you are attending a college is to gain an education. If you were unable to succeed in high school academically, then most likely you will not exceed at a higher, more challenging level. In total, the portfolio idea should be abolished; instead, colleges should require transcripts and ask students more personal questions about them on the application to get a true insight as to how they actually are both inside and outside the classroom.
AJ
AJ,
DeleteSince I am not from around here this is my first exposure to portfolios and in my opinion they sound very confusing and they sound like a huge waste of time. Reflecting on my own college application experience I do wish that I did have the opportunity to go through a more personal application process to really show the schools who I was. Since a majority of student's goal is to make it to college we need to teach kids how to work hard for their goal and show the college who they are and why they deserve to go to that school. Along with working with high schools to abolish portfolios it is also important to work with colleges to make their application process more in depth and personal.
While in the process of applying to colleges, the more supplements included, the greater way of getting an admissions staff to know more about you when deciding whether or not you are right for that school. While a portfolio can be filled with student selected work that they feel reflects their level of capability within their education, they also might limit to just their successes and not the areas they struggle in. Therefore the portfolio doesn’t fully reflect the ups and downs of that student’s learning. A transcript on the other hand, shows a complete list of all your coursework, grades, and credits to show an overall record of your high school education. This is important because it may determine whether you are capable of attending a certain college and whether your grades were consistent throughout all four years of high school or you didn’t try as hard as you could have. By reviewing your courses, it’ll be known on whether you challenged yourself or kept it safe. Another part is the behavioral record, if there were any negative reports throughout your high school career, they would be added within the record. The various factors that are included into your transcript show both the positive and negative ends throughout your high school education. If a portfolio was used instead then since it is student selected, they would only chose to show their positive aspects of their education, creating a false perspective for the admissions staff.
ReplyDeleteWhile using a portfolio instead of tests would be beneficial for some students, it will not be best for everyone. It is the same type of situation where testing is not the best situation for every student. Some students do not feel comfortable with their work, and do not necessarily want to show it to people they know let alone strangers. Another argument is that colleges get thousands of applicants a year that they already have to read. Admissions counselors barely have time to read all of those let alone a variety of work that show how much the student has improved and what they can do. Exams also prove what a student can achieve in a high stress situation, which they will be faced with a lot in their time at a university. Colleges and universities are not just looking at the transcript, or just the tests scores. Each applicant is required to submit a personal essay. With the routine we have now for the application process, universities get an idea of what the applicant can achieve in the classroom, what they can achieve in stressful situations and an idea of who they are as a person. While a portfolio can show what a students can do, it loses many of the other factors that can be seen in the current application process.
ReplyDeleteI believe that portfolios are not the direction to go in, and I agree with RC "it loses many of the other factors" that Admissions is looking for. Transcripts help Admissions see how a student did over the time they were in high school and I think that that's the most important. I also agree with CH that "grades matter equally as much in college if not more as they did in high school". In college you are expected to maintain a decent GPA while being involved whereas in high school getting a good GPA depended on where and if you wanted to go to college and the answer to that question is certainly not the same for everyone. LSv has a great point when saying "creating a false perspective for the admissions staff" because if a student is told to choose what to present in a portfolio, it is granted they will add more positive things than negative. Therefore, high school transcripts are the way to go.
ReplyDeleteI think that portfolios should be a definite requirement of high school students, but rather they could be optional. It is true that there are several students whose grades do not reflect their best work or what they are capable of and that will most certainly hold them back. However, I do think that grades are absolutely necessary in high school because they teach students what they will need to do in college. I agree with CH when you say, “If students have not learned how to work hard for the grades they may find it difficult in college where there is less help and support to maintain his/her necessary GPA.” Students need that experience in high school to help prepare them for college. MC has a great point when you say, “people need to stop hiding behind their portfolios.” Portfolios do hide a lot of the truth about a student, because the grades do not lie meanwhile portfolios only show the good grades a student received. I agree with RC’s point that exams tell what students can do I high stress situations because many times college students have classes where the grades are based on a series of three or so tests and that’s it. Students need to have grades in order to be prepared for and to be successful in college. Portfolios seem to hide a lot of the truth about a students academic abilities and performance.
ReplyDeleteOne of the biggest milestones in a young adult’s life is the college process. Within this process, students send their transcripts--a list of all their classes they have completed along with the grades they have received--to the colleges they are applying to. In this situation, the college admissions board looks at one's rigorous class schedule, along with their GPA in order to decide if these students should be offered a place in that specific college class. I think that this method of applying to college is very important due to the fact that it is an objective method to compare students who are applying to that college. I think that a list of your grades throughout high school is a very accurate representation of who you are as a student. By showing off the list of classes you have taken along with good grades and college essay, it is very possible to get accepted into the college of one’s dreams. A transcript is also important because it is something you can compare no matter where one goes to school. All high schools require a transcript per student, so the college admission board is able to compare these scores even by students who don’t go to a high school in the same state! By using a portfolio for college admissions instead of a transcript, it would be unfair to all students when applying to colleges. First, it would take time out of the school year to create these student based portfolios, rather than a simple grade based on the materials they have learned throughout the class period. A portfolio is a representation of skills of one individual based solely upon what they think it worthy to get them accepted into college. I believe that a portfolio is not exactly fair to all students. For example, if one’s parent’s own a business and they are able to offer their child an internship, their portfolio would stand out against a student who doesn’t have the same opportunity. This is unfair to other students who don’t have the same opportunities as others would, such as an internship. College admissions should remain as objective as possible; the college essay poses as the subjective part of the application, and by adding a portfolio, the application would become too arbitrary to the point where money and entitlements would get a student into college.
ReplyDeleteAJ
While in the process of applying to colleges, the more supplements included, the greater way of getting an admissions staff to know more about you when deciding whether or not you are right for that school. While a portfolio can be filled with student selected work that they feel reflects their level of capability within their education, they also might limit to just their successes and not the areas they struggle in. Therefore the portfolio doesn’t fully reflect the ups and downs of that student’s learning. A transcript on the other hand, shows a complete list of all your coursework, grades, and credits to show an overall record of your high school education. This is important because it may determine whether you are capable of attending a certain college and whether your grades were consistent throughout all four years of high school or you didn’t try as hard as you could have. By reviewing your courses, it’ll be known on whether you challenged yourself or kept it safe. Another part is the behavioral record, if there were any negative reports throughout your high school career, they would be added within the record. The various factors that are included into your transcript show both the positive and negative ends throughout your high school education. If a portfolio was used instead then since it is student selected, they would only chose to show their positive aspects of their education, creating a false perspective for the admissions staff.
ReplyDelete