C U R R I C U L U M M A T T E R S Physics Education 329 Portfolio assessment strategies for grading first-year university physics students in the USA Timothy F Slater Montana State University, USA Accompanying the new US curriculum standards and guidelines are new grading and assessment strategies. Three types of portfolio assessments being utilized are Showcase Portfolios, Checklist Portfolios and Open-Format Portfolios. This alternative grading strategy supports student learning on conventional examinations and appears to have additional benefits. Several US organizations have recently published new curriculum guidelines for secondary science students. These curriculum frameworks from such large organizations as the American Association for the Advancement of Science (Project 2061), National Science Teachers Association (SS&C), National Science Education Standards Project and Earth Systems Education, among others, clearly state that learning about the nature of science, inquiry methods and relationships between science, technology and society are far more important than learning random facts and formulae (Carpenter 1993). Although quite common in the US, conventional examinations using multiple-choice items and simple student-supplied response questions are likely to be insufficient to measure student understanding of the aforementioned concepts. Science educators are beginning to recognize that a small series of 60 minute examinations can only provide an instructor with a quick and limited view of the knowledge a student has actually achieved during a semester course (Tobias and Raphael 1995). Conventional multiple-choice tests do not provide the instructor with enough information to ascertain whether the student gave the correct response using information gathered from intensive studying, faulty reasoning or merely luck. Unfortunately, even student-supplied responses, in- class essays and quantitative problem-oriented test items are severely limited in scope and complexity due to unavoidable time constraints. Short duration questions cannot assess students’ high-level cognitive processes. These deficiencies and others have previously been thoroughly described and documented elsewhere (Berlack et al 1992). Introductory students in the US, especially non- science majors, often complain that introductory courses lack relevance to what students consider to be 'real life'. These students are correct in that courses that require little more than memorizing vocabulary words and formulae or recognizing trivial scenarios are certainly not immediately relevant to most students. Multiple-choice test items often subtly convey the impression that science is merely a large collection of facts. If we want students to view science as a process of describing the world, our grading strategies need to emphasize process. Assessment strategies should reflect the new curricula’s emphasis on the integration of scientific knowledge with the aspects of technological advances and the influences of society. Advantages of Portfolio Assessment In an effort to respond to the needs of the new US curricula, educators have been developing a number of alternative assessment procedures to be used in concert with traditional examinations. These alternative strategies provide a forum in which more lengthy and authentic assignments can be used. An authentic task is one in which students are required to address problems grounded in real-life contexts.