PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT: ITS IMPACT ON THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

AND ATTITUDES OF NON-BIOLOGY MAJORS

Dr. Joy Talens

Philippines

The main objective of this paper is to determine the impact of portfolio

assessment on the academic achievement and attitudes of non-Biology majors. The
Pretest and Post-test Control Group Design involving one independent variable and two
dependent variables were utilized. Sixty (60) second year Bachelor of Science in
Accountancy of the Higher Education Department of Sacred Heart College, Lucena City,
Philippines were purposively chosen as participants of the study but were randomly
assigned to control and experimental groups. Portfolio assessment was utilized as
assessment procedure in the experimental group. Only the topic Genetics was covered in
this study. The following are the data gathering tools used in the study (1) Otis-Lennon
School Ability test (OLSAT), a standardized test used to determine the school ability of
the non-Biology majors; (2) Achievement Test in Genetics, a 40-item Achievement test
in genetics developed and validated by the researcher which was given as pretest and
post-test to both groups to determine their academic achievement; (3) Analytic Scoring
Rubric developed and validated by the researcher for grading students’ portfolios; (4)
Holistic scoring Rubric developed and validated by the researcher for grading the
students’ answers in the three 25-points restricted essay quizzes; and (5) Open-Ended
questionnaire to determine the attitudes as well as skills manifested by the members of
the experimental group when they were exposed to portfolio assessment. Statistical
procedures such as t-test for independent samples: Pearson product moment correlation,
Spearman Brown prophecy formula, t-test for paired samples; analysis of covariance
(ANCOVA), and linear regression were also utilized in the analysis and interpretation of
data. Findings and discussions followed by recommendations are also presented.

Keywords: Portfolio assessment, analytic scoring rubric, academic achievement,

attitudes, non – Biology majors