Portfolios

Utilizing more long-term or scaffolded assessment strategies, such as portfolios, is another option that may be more effective for assessing 21st Century Skills. This is another type of assessment that mirrors the types of products that students will have to produce to demonstrate their understanding and share their work after they exit the school system.

The use of a portfolio is an incredibly flexible option that could be executed with the simplicity of a paper folder or a more technologically focused strategy, such as the creation of a website that includes all of the tasks leading up to this site as a culminating product. In addition to being a viable assessment option for the harder-to-assess concepts of learning and innovation or life and career skills, portfolios can be excellent options for final products of PBL units, which are strong examples of units of study that integrate 21st Century Skills development. What the portfolio physically looks like is subject to a variety of variables (grade level, technology use, targeted outcomes of the unit, etc.), but should always be composed of scaffolded tasks that build up to a final product, with demonstration of 21st Century Skills a necessary component of success.