Reliable Data from a Rite of Passage

How a performance assessment system known as portfolio defense challenges learners and informs teachers in ways traditional testing does not

Let’s recall what happened to our education system back in March 2020, even though it already feels like a lifetime ago.

As the first outbreak of COVID-19 swept across the country, two pillars of public schooling in America — seat time and testing — crumbled almost instantly. Classrooms were closed and state testing was canceled. In California, where I live, parent and work as an educator, this all happened in less than 100 hours. In the months that followed, the vast majority of students in America were thrust into some degree of educational chaos.

Not so for Yulianna Estrada, a senior at the STEM Academy of Boyle Heights, part of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Before the pandemic hit, she already had been assembling a portfolio of her work that demonstrated what she had learned in high school and why she was ready to move on. She already had a date on the calendar when she was scheduled to defend her portfolio before a panel, which is a graduation requirement at her school.