Literacy Education Culminating Portfolio Requirements (COMPS)
Required by the following degree plans:
- Reading & Writing w/ Colorado Reading Teacher Endorsement, K-12
- Secondary English Education
- Literacy Education (PPMA)
The M.A. portfolio counts as your comprehensive exam. It permits you to document your development over the course of your degree. The portfolio should reflect the learning, growth and development you have gained through participation in your master’s program. Most of the assignments required for your portfolio are performance-based assessments (PBAs) or final papers / projects that you complete during your MA coursework. These artifacts need to be uploaded to Student Learning & Licensure at the time of the final exam in each course. We strongly encourage you to keep electronic copies of all of your MA assignments, however, because you will need to upload some a second time into your final portfolio.
The portfolio includes the following items:
A personal philosophy of literacy education
Your philosophy of literacy education is an attempt to characterize your understanding of literacy teaching and learning in a personally meaningful way. It should begin with a brief personal autobiography in which you explore your own language and literacy learning. The main body of the philosophy reflects your understanding of the major issues and concepts examined in the program’s course work and grounded in the professional literature you have been reading and discussing. There is no prescribed format or list of topics; our desire is for you to develop a philosophy that is particularly meaningful to you.
The philosophy should describe those aspects of literacy education which are most important to you. Your beliefs about literacy education should be grounded in the professional literature of the field and include citations of that literature and a reference list at the end of the philosophy paper, following the current APA reference style.
A selection of artifacts – PBAs from courses and other requirements.
All MA students will receive information about getting started with Student Learning & Licensure in their emailed admission letters and/or by separate email. You can learn more about Student Learning & Licensure on the SEHD Wiki.
Your portfolio will be compiled from course products (PBAs and final papers/projects) that you complete in your courses throughout the program, as well as other required artifacts (see below). Completing the portfolio during the last semester of your degree program need not be a huge burden. It is advisable to review the program information about the portfolio – and talk to your faculty advisor as needed for clarification - the semester before you graduate so that you are sure you understand all details about graduation paperwork and the submission of your portfolio.
Please note that if you have completed courses listed on the artifacts chart (or equivalent to those listed) for the portfolio prior to your getting started with Student Learning & Licensure, you will need to have saved your PBAs / final papers / projects and all applicable rubrics and to be ready to scan or download them into the electronic portfolio.
Final master’s degree reflection
We provide an essay structure and ask you to reflect across your whole master’s program experience. This reflection also asks you to make suggestions regarding how we might improve the Responsive Literacy Education program.
Resume and Unofficial Transcript
We ask that you upload a current version of your professional resume. Please include the MA degree you are now completing and the pending professional endorsement (if you are completing the Reading Teacher Endorsement requirements).
We also ask that you upload a copy of your transcript. Since we have students in different areas of our MA program, and some who come from other programs that we offer off campus, it is helpful for us to have access to your current transcript. An unofficial copy is fine; these are available on UCD Access. The transcript allows faculty to see what courses you have taken and which MA program you are finishing so we can make sure your portfolio is correct and complete.