How to structure a portfolio assessment for fair and consistent judging

Recognising excellence, whether in education, design, film, photography, art or other disciplines, often requires evaluating the entrant’s complete body of work. Portfolio assessment captures the depth and evolution of their competence and contributions over time, acknowledging sustained quality and encouraging entrants to reflect, curate and present their work.

But portfolio assessment can involve the interpretation of complex open-ended work that invites individual interpretation. It can be vulnerable to unfair or inconsistent judging if not well structured.

Here are some practical steps on how to set up your portfolio assessment to ensure the judging process is consistent and fair to all entrants.

1. Define and communicate the assessment goals

Designing a portfolio assessment for fair and consistent judging requires clarity on the objectives of the evaluation. If you articulate the aim of the assessment from the get-go, all participants can understand what each portfolio is expected to demonstrate. This shared understanding of what excellence means supports transparency and fairness.

Clear goals serve as a guardrail, preventing judges from evaluating submissions based on random personal preferences. Only relevant evaluation criteria that support consistent scoring are used.

Creative portfolios might be assessed for originality, artistic vision and technical skill. For academic portfolios, it might be to score critical thinking and depth of understanding. Though the goals may vary, depending on the context, defining the goal and making all participants aware are constant.

2. Establish weighted evaluation criteria

Portfolios are typically complex, demonstrating the different dimensions of entrants’ performance. Holistic evaluation is crucial; multiple criteria ensure that the different dimensions are evaluated for all entrants.

Selecting the right criteria directly mirrors the goals of the assessment and prevents overreliance on a particular aspect. But weighting the criteria emphasises the true importance of each criterion in achieving the aim of the assessment.

Properly weighted criteria guide entrants on where to focus their effort and give judges a shared framework for decision-making, while signalling what the program values the most.

Best practices for weighting criteria include:

• Aligning weights with the purpose and goals of the assessment
• Involving multiple stakeholders to ensure the weighting reflects shared values
• Emphasising the criteria that best indicate excellence
• Keeping the weighting system simple
• Publishing the weighting clearly

3. Implement a scoring rubric

Rubrics are essential for fair portfolio assessment. As a scoring tool, a rubric uses the established evaluation criteria, a rating scale and indicators or descriptors to grade the performance of portfolios.

By making clear what is expected to achieve a certain grade, it facilitates consistent scoring. Defined performance levels and descriptions support standard scoring and interpretation of different criteria. Implementing a scoring rubric clarifies expectations, making the judging process transparent.

Learn more about how to create a rubric for portfolio assessment.

4. Prioritise uniformity in submission

Multi-entry submissions are important for portfolio assessments; a single piece of work doesn’t provide sufficient evidence of entrants’ abilities, versatility or progression over time. These multi-entry submissions should be properly managed to support fairness.

Uniformity in the submission process levels the playing field and reduces confusion, particularly for new entrants. It eliminates presentation differences that can overshadow merit.

The similar presentation of portfolios reduces cognitive load for judges and enhances the consistency of their decisions.

Standardise submission guidelines by defining the acceptable submission formats, specifying the number of entries per entrant and setting file size limits. Consider providing a structured portfolio template to demonstrate the preferred order of submission and provide prompts or context.

5. Leverage assessment platforms

It’s important to use online assessment tools when assessing portfolios. Besides making the experience seamless for entrants and judges, portfolio assessment software offers a variety of functionalities that facilitate fair and consistent judging. Award Force, for example, supports configurable scoring criteria and rubrics that ensure standard evaluation, among many other tools to provide sophisticated portfolio assessment.

It improves fairness in the judging process by powering anonymous judging, where judges don’t see entrant names or other identifying information that can trigger unconscious bias. This helps judges focus only on the substance of each portfolio.

Portfolio assessment looks beyond individual projects to acknowledge and celebrate journeys of excellence. The wealth of evidence that holistic assessment presents makes it crucial to structure for fair and consistent judging. Defining goals, establishing weighted criteria, implementing standardised rubrics, regulating submissions and using assessment software will all come together to provide a fair, balanced and holistic assessment for your program.