Portfolio Assessment and Use: Navigating Uncharted Territory

Using teaching portfolios in preservice special education programs as an alternative to formal measurement methods is a relatively new process. Reform advocates have called for more authentic measures of teaching performance, particularly at the preservice level when potential special educators are gaining new views new views of their accomplishments. The purpose of this article is to present the outcomes of a fifteen- month project to integrate portfolios in one undergraduate special education preparation program. The process of defining portfolios, how they will be used, the process of evaluation of portfolios, and the benefits of portfolio use will be presented, along with recommendations for future research on the efficacy of portfolios.