Book excerpt: Allowing students to both learn about portfolios and experience them firsthand, this book describes teacher education courses where undergraduate and graduate students are evaluated using portfolio assessment techniques--the same methods they will one day use in their own classrooms. The book also explores how portfolio assessment can enable university educators to move from traditional methods of testing to more authentic assessment that reflects each student's real progress. In addition to presenting portfolios as a method to evaluate achievement of learning goals, the book addresses the use of portfolio assessment in other contexts, including admission to universities, admission to teacher education programs, student teaching, job interviews, and inservice teacher evaluations. Chapters in the book are (1) Moving along the Assessment Continuum; (2) Aligning Theory and Practice; (3) Introducing Portfolios: Concepts and Process; (4) Creating Self-Reflection; (5) Venturing Inside Student Portfolios; (6) Conferences and Evaluation; (7) Student Attitudes toward the Portfolio Process; (8) Portfolios at the Graduate Level; (9) The Portfolio Evolution; and (10) Where Do We Go from Here? Appendixes present an assessment glossary; course syllabi; examples of evaluation sheets; additional student performances; and suggested readings. (Contains 76 references.) (RS)