PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT - A KEY TO IDENTIFYING HIDDEN TALENTS AND EMPOWERING TEACHERS OF YOUNG-CHILDREN

Early Assessment for Exceptional Potential of Young Minority and/or Ec onomically Disadvantaged Students is a project which used portfolio as sessment as a means of identifying and of developing instructional pla ns for children in kindergarten to third grade. The project assumed th at there are universal identifiers of exceptional potential and that t eachers could learn to recognize children with potential in their clas srooms if they were provided with authentic examples (videotaped and w ritten) of such behavior. Once identified, curriculum in those classro oms were adapted to meet the children's needs. The teachers expressed a sense of empowerment as a consequence of the project.