What assessment method is noted for improving understanding of student progress over time?

Portfolio assessment is recognized for its ability to enhance understanding of student progress over time due to its comprehensive and reflective nature. This method allows educators to collect a broad range of student work, including essays, projects, and other artifacts, over an extended period. By reviewing these materials, teachers gain insights into a student's learning trajectory, strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement.

Unlike a single test score, portfolio assessment presents a holistic view of student performance, showing how skills and knowledge develop over time. It encourages ongoing reflection and self-assessment, allowing students to take an active role in their learning and progress. This method helps paint a clearer picture of their learning journey and can inform future instruction tailored to meet individual needs.

The other assessment methods, while useful in various contexts, tend to focus on specific snapshots of performance rather than an ongoing examination of progress. Standardized testing typically provides limited insights into individual student development, summative assessments evaluate learning at the end of an instructional period, and criterion-referenced assessments measure student performance against a fixed set of criteria without the long-term developmental perspective that portfolios offer.