Using Portfolios to Assess and Nurture Early Literacy from a Developmental Perspective

Portfolios for young children should be a powerful instrument for assessing and nurturing early literacy development for both the child and the teacher. However, if a teacher does not understand the developmental process of children’s early literacy, the instrument remains monodimensional and flat, rather than interactive and dynamic (Stone 1995). When something isinteractive, there is a link between key elements so each affects the other; when it isdynamic, it possesses a power or force that produces change. Within an early literacy portfolio, the elements of interaction for the teacher and child are the knowledge of early literacy development,