HEAD START®

Observation and Recording: Tools for Decision Making

Training Guides for the Head Start Learning Community

Table of Contents | Preface | Introduction | Module 1 | Module 2 | Module 3 | Module 4
| Continuing Professional Development | Resources
Appendices: Appendix A | Appendix B | Appendix C | Appendix D | Appendix E

Appendix D -The Portfolio and Its Use

Contents

What goes into children's portfolios? You already know about much of the portfolio's contents. Records from comprehensive screening, developmental assessment (if conducted), and ongoing assessment go in the portfolio. All of your observations–informal as well as formal–should be housed in the portfolio, too.

The other major component of the portfolio is work samples–examples of children's work that have been saved as records of the children's progress. You might appropriately include any number of items as work samples. Here are some suggestions:

AUTHENTIC OR ACTUAL WORK COMPLETED BY CHILDREN (AT HOME AND IN CENTER-BASED SETTINGS):

• Drawings, paintings, and collages (including those inspired by stories or music)



• Writing and number writing



• Books dictated and illustrated by children



• Computer printouts of art, writing, or creative experiences



• Graphs of science-related experiments

PHOTOS OF CHILDREN'S WORK:

• Artwork



• Cooking activities created on their own or as part of group projects



• Dramatic play activities



• Block building

WRITTEN RECORDS:

• Questions, issues, and brainstorming notes from observing children in small-group project work



• Logs of books read with the child at Head Start and at home



• Notes and comments by children about their work, including descriptions of artwork recorded by staff directly onto drawings and paintings



• Interviews with children about favorite play activities



• Children's personal reactions to Head Start experiences (for example, after a trip to the pet store)



• Children's self-evaluations of their work

AUDIOVISUAL RECORDS:

• Tape recordings of children reciting stories they have made up



• Tape recordings of children making animal sounds, singing alone or with the group, or engaged in dramatic play



• Videotape recordings of special projects, events, or performances

Suggestions

Education staff and children jointly select the work samples to put into the portfolio. Parents might contribute items such as drawings done at home or notes on examples of behaviors they have observed. Staff should make sure that taken together, the examples of children's work represent the child and reflect his or her progress during the year. They should also show the child's growth in all areas of development: social, emotional, physical, and cognitive. They should also reflect the child's experiences in all interest areas, both indoors and outdoors.

It is recommended that you add something to each child's portfolio every two weeks. Share the responsibility and set a staggered schedule so you do not have to make entries to all of the portfolios at one time. Date each entry with the month, day, and year to show when in the year the work was completed.

At first you might find it difficult to decide what to put in a child's portfolio. It takes practice to become skilled in selecting examples that are truly representative of the child's work. Ask a colleague or your education coordinator for some help. Try to remember that you are creating an ongoing record of the child' s growing skills that will be an alternative to a standardized test. Just as a test tries to measure children's progress and mastery of skills, so too should the samples you put in a portfolio illustrate the child's progress and skills. Therefore, if Hakim has just learned to make a tower of blocks, this is a milestone worthy of inclusion in his portfolio. You could complete an anecdotal record or take a snapshot of one of his creations. In the same vein, if Desiree habitually plays with baby dolls in the housekeeping area, then this is a behavior that represents her interests and play preferences. Again, observation notes of her play or an audiotape of her talking to a doll as she feeds it would be appropriate for her portfolio.

Every two weeks, ask children what they would like to include in their portfolios. This helps children make judgments about their work, and they get the message at an early age that self-assessment is an important part of learning and growing. If children need help selecting samples, ask a probing question such as, Which painting was the most fun to do? or Which of these books that we worked on together do you think would be nice to have in a library?

Organizing the Portfolio

Portfolios are growing documents. To be useful, they must be expandable, durable, accessible, and portable. The containers used as portfolios should fit in the locked storage area, such as a closet with shelves or a tall cabinet with shelves and doors. Accordion files, unused empty pizza boxes donated by a local business, or plastic containers with lids can serve as portfolio containers. As long as the container has enough room for organizing the contents, it is appropriate.

As there will be a number of portfolio entries throughout the year, it is a good idea to group them by subject matter. Within each category, put dated items in the container chronologically. The following may be a useful way to organize portfolios:(From S.J. Meisels and D.M. Steele, The Early Childhood Portfolio Process (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1991).)

• Art Activities (fine motor development)–drawings, photos of block constructions, collages, samples of writing letters



• Movement (gross motor development)–videotapes of movement activities, observations of outdoor play, interviews with the child about favorite games



• Math and Science Activities (concept development)–photos of the child measuring during a cooking activity, chart of activities performed by the child in caring for plants, and checklists covering the child' s use of creative thinking and problem-solving skills



• Language and Literacy (emerging reading and writing skills)–tape recordings of stories, signs written by the child, stories or poems dictated by the child



• Personal and Social Development (self-concept, social skills, self-help skills)–observation notes on social skills, chart of the child's choices, notes from conversations with the parents

Portfolios serve three major purposes. First, they are a natural vehicle for sharing information with parents. Your agendas for parent conferences and home visits can come directly from the portfolio's contents since it is a complete profile of the child' s ongoing development. You also have answers to most questions at your fingertips. Suppose a parent wants to know if Ruthie will be ready for kindergarten. You can share the checklist assessment of Ruthie' s skills, show examples of alphabet letters that Ruthie wrote spontaneously, and go over the log of books Ruthie explored in the library area. You can also share your anecdotal observations and running records that document Ruthie's refined motor skills, mastery of self-help skills, and creative approach to problem solving. In fact, you will probably have dozens of items to share that will answer the question about Ruthie's readiness.

Second, portfolios help education staff with planning. Because portfolios are a living record of children's progress, they provide an ongoing source of information that can be used for individualizing. Just as screening and assessment information were the basis for your original plans for individualizing, the information from portfolios can be used to update goals and plans for each child.

Third, because portfolios move with the child, they support the transition to school. With parental permission, the child's portfolio goes with him or her to kindergarten. Thus, the more complete and easy-to-use a child's portfolio is, the easier it will be for the child's new teachers and administrators to offer an appropriate curriculum. You can help children long after they have left Head Start by keeping portfolios that are self-explanatory and representative of children's backgrounds, skills, interests, and needs.