A portfolio can document student skills, abilities, growth, achievement, and attitudes. It can also reflect students' learning processes and subsequently guide new teaching strategies. Portfolio proponents have used these arguments to justify the time and organization needed to successfully implement them in their classrooms and in their school districts. The portfolio in education has its origins in the art world: Artists use portfolios of their work as a means of showcasing their creative process and outcomes. In education, when used as a means of authentic assessment, a portfolio is "a purposeful collection of student work that exhibits the student's efforts, progress, and achievements in one or more areas." While traditional "paper-based” portfolios are still viable, electronic (web-based) portfolios have helped alleviate storage space issues. Either type of portfolio can provide teachers a thorough student profile supported by documented evidence of skills developed over time. Steps that offer a starting point for implementing the use of portfolios as authentic assessment in music programs are discussed in this article. A portfolio model that has been successfully implemented in public schools is provided. (Contains 1 table, 7 figures, and 28 notes.)