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5. Reframing in Action
- Utah State University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
5 R eframing in Action So far, we have been discussing the issue of reframing writing assessment through historical and theoretical lenses, and describing some processes writing instructors might use for reframing. In this chapter, we move away from abstract discussions to examine how reframing works in the complexity and messiness of the real world. We offer examples of real writing instructors and program coordinators working in real institutions under the real constraints we all experience. While we have selected these case studies purposefully to showcase successful , positive reframing efforts, we also acknowledge that these are not “ideal” or “perfect” models of reframing. (We discuss some of the complexities of reframing in chapter six, as well.) After all, most of us are not living in ideal worlds but rather the messier, more difficult and challenging conditions of higher education in the early twenty-first century. We have also selected different types of writing programs (i.e., first-year, writing center, and writing across the curriculum) and different types of institutions (i.e., two-year college, public comprehensive , and private liberal-arts-focused comprehensive) so readers can see how strategies, techniques, and challenges play out in different sites. In all of these cases—some from our own original research and others from the published literature—the writing instructors , program directors, writing center directors, or department heads doing the assessment work didn’t use the terminology of reframing we offer but rather explained or described their efforts in terms of trying to get something done in their postsecondary institutions. We highlight the way their work illustrates our claims and, at times, offer suggestions on ways they might Reframing in Action 111 have used other techniques or strategies. These suggestions are not offered as a statement of value of the instructor’s or director ’s efforts or effectiveness, though—we aren’t second-guessing them because we realize that working in real time is fraught with many more issues and problems than we can convey here. Instead, we offer our feedback for readers to help make connections between the case studies and the reframing theory and strategies we present. First-Year Composition P ortfolios As we discussed in chapter three, portfolios have been championed by college compositionists as a way of encouraging effective pedagogy while also satisfying demands for external assessment since Peter Elbow and Pat Belanoff’s early articles about the portfolio assessment they developed at SUNY Stony Brook (Belanoff and Elbow 1986; Elbow and Belanoff 1986a, 1986b). In these essays, they describe how they used a portfolio of student writing produced as part of the composition course to replace the proficiency test, an impromptu essay exam, required by the university. The portfolio assessment, according to Elbow and Belanoff, “encourages good teaching and a sound writing process” (1986, 337). Students select their best writing from the course and have the benefit of drafting, receiving feedback , and revising their writing before submitting the portfolio, resulting in incentive to do better work. The Stony Brook portfolio system, Elbow and Belanoff argue, also encourages “collaboration among teachers” because it requires that instructors discuss the evaluation of sample papers and then participate in evaluating each others’ portfolios as part of a team of evaluators (1986, 338). The portfolio system, they conclude, develops community standards for the writing program (339). Compositionists have found Elbow and Belanoff’s arguments convincing and have embraced writing portfolios for a variety of assessment purposes, whether in the classroom or beyond it, for placement, proficiency, and program assessment. In the process, these administrator -and/or teacher-researchers 112 Reframing have produced a prolific body of literature about writing portfolios . Portfolios are now commonly used in a variety of situations for outcomes-based assessment (again, in the classroom and beyond). In the following two case studies, we look at firstyear composition program assessments that use student writing portfolios. In each, the directors of the assessments respond to local conditions as they navigate the challenges and opportunities provided by the assessment to improve teaching and learning. We highlight these case studies, collected through reviewing program materials and interviewing the writing program directors, to illustrate recent approaches to portfolios for program assessment.1 Case Study 1: Introducing Portfolio Assessment at a Community College At this two-year college, which we call Seaside Community College,2 the English department needed to create outcomes and develop an assessment process to evaluate student learning in light of the regional accreditation requirements. Located in a historically rural but increasingly...