Stories

The potential impact of portfolios, utilized as a formative means of assessing learning — alongside its ability to amplify voice and interests, is enormous. And in essence, they allow youth to tell their own stories.

Our research is filled with glimpses and narratives of the profound work and progress that is happening. Learn more by reading our Research Brief Series and our upcoming Practical Guide to Open Portfolios.

For more information on our work and the fascinating stories that arise, check out a few snippets below.

Maker Ed’s Open Portfolio Project offered its first ever in-person, practitioner-facing workshop in February 2016. This workshop brought together over 50 educators, administrators, and practitioners to explore, experience, and acquire tools and strategies for documentation and portfolio production. Learn about how participants did so here.

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As part of Phase 1 of research, the Open Portfolio Project conducted field visits to a number of youth-serving sites (including K-12 schools, makerspaces, and independent, community-based educational organizations) across the country, in order to examine practices and tools for documentation, curation, and reflection on the ground. Learn how one such program, the Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC), amplifies the voices and empowers the identities of many underrepresented youth through their portfolio practices here.

Shifting focus from the community building and youth empowerment efforts of BAVC, learn more about how one formal high school, Monticello High School, adopted and currently implements school-wide portfolios, while navigating some some of their attendant challenges and successes here.

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