He can see the particular profile of skills and how it shifts or improves over time. Students judge themselves. At the end of the semester, a student can take his or her portfolio, page through the materials, and form a picture of what has developed, how it came into being, where difficulties remain, and directions for future work. As part of the process of reflecting on the body of their work, students can become aware of the particular signature they give to prints, performances, or poems. This kind of self-awareness is a critical ingredient in being able t o step back and think about one's work.
Teachers have to investigate just which aspects of student learning to document.
Must develop common, reliable assessments of the materials that students generate in their projects, portfolios, and interviews. The production or performance of a work involves not just interest, intuition, or gift, but problem finding, pursuit, choice, and reflection. In other words involvement in the arts can constitute an extraordinarily worthwhile part of schooling. However, the message from the arts is not simply one of sharing techniques. It entails a larger critique of educational values as well.