The evaluation of teachers' perceptons on portfolio assessment in teaching social studies

This study aims to find out primary school and social sciences school teachers? perceptions about portfolio assessment in social sciences courses. It is a descriptive study based on survey model. The data was collected utilizing both quantitative method where survey model was used and qualitative method via interviews.The participants of the study were 358 teachers in 2009-2010 educational term. 334 of them were given the questionnaire and 24 of them were interviewed. The data collected from the participants were then analyzed using descriptive statistics. Also, independent groups t-test and Kruskal Wallis H-test were also applied in order to determine statistically significant differences among teachers? perceptions.The analyses reveal the following results:1.Teachers find that using portfolios as a means of assessment and evaluation to be suitable to their needs and that although they have received in-service training on portfolios, they don?t think it was sufficient. It has also been revealed that portfolio assessment technique was adopted by most schools but the applications are not efficient. Teachers have expressed their belief that portfolio applications in schools will improve in the future.2.There is no significant difference between teachers? perceptions on portfolio assessment in social sciences courses in respect to the subject they teach, gender, and teaching experience.3.Teachers are of the opinion that portfolio assessment used in social sciences courses contributes to students? development of creative and critical thinking skills, exploration, reasoning, and social skills. They also believe that portfolio assessment helps them to observe students? development in an objective and somut way, and to determine students? personal needs, interests in a reliable way. They state that portfolio increases teachers? collaboration and interaction while enhancing sharing knowledge, experience, and thus, has a positive impact on communication among teachers, students, and parents.4.Teachers have also stated the drawbacks and the difficulties of portfolio application in social sciences courses such as the need for extra time, effort and money and the difficulty that students have in carrying and keeping their portfolios, the negative impact of crowded classes. As a result of these obstacles, teachers maintain that they have difficulty in creating rubrics and evaluation forms for portfolios, which makes it hard for them to establish reliable evaluations of students.In the light of the results gained from this study, it is suggested that teachers, students and parents should receive a comprehensive and practical training on portfolio application and that the necessary substructures for effective e-portfolio usage be established and maintained. The results also indicate the need for having classroom environments equipped with necessary materials for social sciences courses, increasing the number of classrooms in schools, conducting field work geared towards enhancing the positive effect of portfolio applications on students? success.Key words: Social studies, assessment and evaluation, portfolio assessment, teacher perceptions