The Metaphor of the Portfolio and the Metaphors in Portfolios: The Relation of Classroom-Based to Large-Scale Assessment

Most of this paper is, like many research papers, a simple recounting of our experience working with teachers who were beginning to use portfolios in their literature classrooms. It is, for the most part, a practical paper, since the research, conducted through the National Research Center on Literature Teaching and Learning, uses a case-study approach in investigating how teachers use portfolios. But the research-and the arguments stemming from the research-becomes more complex, since the use of portfolios in classrooms takes on a metaphoric or symbolic role in education. One uses metaphors to name one's place in the world and to find meaning for one's life. Using metaphors to explain how portfolios are used is also a way of conceptualizing one's reasons for teaching and one's expectations for students. But the portfolio is more than an object-it is also a metaphor itself. If metaphors are so powerful, and if they are individual, then a serious problem arises for those who wish to mak