Issue 7.1

Fall 2008

Exposing Some Basic Realities: A Conversation about BW Strategy from Portfolios and Stretch Courses to Studies and Mainstreaming - Peter Adams

In a moving moment for long-time CBW-ers, Kathleen DeVore opened the session by reporting that Mary Kay Crouch, some years ago an important member of the CBW executive board, had originally been a part of their panel.  However, as most of you know, Mary Kay died unexpectedly this past year.  Kathleen then read from Mary Kay’s proposal for the session and noted that Mary Kay was using portfolio assessment decades before they had even started thinking about it in Minneapolis.  

The main focus of the panel’s presentation was on their system of portfolio evaluation for their basic writing course.  This system replaced an earlier one, in which students were judged for exit from the developmental course based on a single, timed essay.

Portfolios, in this case, consist of three essays that meet some fairly specific parameters.  The first is a letter from the student to the reviewers summarizing the student’s writing experience, the second is an essay that must have been peer-reviewed and may include reference to an outside source, and the third is an essay that responds to a reading.

Faculty teaching these developmental courses are required to grade (simply pass or fail) portfolios from twice the number of sections they are teaching.  Unable to arrange any released time for this, the department elected to end their seventeen-week semester one week early to allow a week without classes during which the faculty grade portfolios.

The Minneapolis folks reported that the writing of students improved remarkably when the portfolio assessment was in place.  They attributed this improvement to the fact that the portfolio essays were written under realistic conditions with plenty of time, with opportunities for peer review and usually with instructor suggestions for revision.  The writing under the portfolio system may not have improved significantly for surface features, but it more often was written with engagement, with a personal voice, and with something thoughtful to say.

Now that this portfolio system has been in place for a few years, the three speakers reported a certain dissatisfaction has descended on them.  They’re beginning to notice a worrisome similarity in the papers they read and a lack of critical insight.  So they are looking around for a new angle, a new twist in their program to breathe new energy into it and to take the level of writing of their students to a higher level.

They also worry about the attrition rate in their developmental course, as something like only sixty percent of the students complete the course.

This has led them to explore various avenues for innovation, among them the stretch courses, studios, and mainstreaming they referred to in the title of their presentation.  Whether they decide to move in that direction or in some other, I found their willingness to take on another major innovation, after having already completed one, to be refreshing.  I wish them well.