Department of Educational Leadership
and Cultural Foundations
CAP Hearings Information
Description and Procedures for MSA Comprehensive Assessment and Portfolio
The Comprehensive Assessment and Portfolio (CAP) is the capstone experience for students in the Master of School Administration (MSA) degree program. The purpose of the CAP is three-fold. The first purpose is to encourage students to think about connections across courses throughout the MSA program. A second purpose is to further advance student learning at the end of the MSA program by causing students to reflect on and analyze the personal learning and growth that occurred during the program. A third purpose is to help MSA faculty assess whether a student has achieved an acceptable level of learning and growth during the program.
The CAP consists of three components:
- an analytical and reflective paper that describes the student's development as an educator and school leader;
- a portfolio of the most meaningful work products completed by the student during the MSA program; and,
- an oral hearing in which the student discusses and defends the analytical/reflective paper and a portfolio.
The CAP should be turned in to the student's advisor during the first 7 weeks of the semester in which the student intends to graduate. Additionally, the student should complete the department's graduation intent form by the end of the first week of the semester in which s/he intends to graduate. Each of the components of the CAP is discussed in more detail below.
Analytical and Reflective Paper
The analytical and reflective paper should address the following:
- A brief summary of the most significant things the student learned in each of the courses and what issues, themes, and major concepts the student identified as being threaded across the courses.
- A discussion of the student's beliefs about teaching, learning, education, the purpose of schools, and leadership and how these have evolved during the program (the educational platform and school covenant documents may be particularly helpful here and should be appended in their original and/or revised format, if appropriate). This section should incorporate a reflective discussion of course content, activities, assignments, and other experiences that contributed to her/his development.
- An analysis and discussion of the specific regularities of schooling that the student will strive to change as an educational leader.
- A description of the "advocacy initiative/educational cause" the student adopted during her/his program, the things the student did to work for this cause, what s/he learned from these efforts, and what her/his plans are for future work in this area.
The analytical and reflective paper should be 10-20 pages in length, typed and double-spaced, in 12 point font.
Portfolio
During the course of the MSA program, the student should save all work products completed as course assignments and that result directly or indirectly from program experiences. In constructing the portfolio, the student should select the 3 products/assignments s/he completed during the MSA program that were the most meaningful for her/him and submit these as a portfolio.1 Products may be included in their original and/or revised version. The significance of the products to the student's growth should be described in the text of the analytical and reflective paper.
Oral Hearing
During the 8th through 12th week of the semester, a meeting between the student, her/his major advisor, and one other MSA faculty member will be scheduled. The meeting will be scheduled by the department chair in consultation with the MSA faculty. The 2nd faculty member who will meet with the student and the major advisor will also be selected in this manner. At the meeting the student will discuss her/his CAP with the two faculty members who will ask clarifying, elaborating, and critiquing questions. MSA faculty members who attend the hearing will complete CAP Rubric and share the completed rubric with the student immediately following the hearing.
Endnotes
1. Students should typically select items for their portfolio from among the major products/ assignments completed during the MSA Program. These may include:
- the School Culture Analysis (typically completed during ELC 660, The Principalship);
- the Organizational Analysis (typically completed during ELC 691, School Organization and Leadership, with follow-up activities in ELC 675, Schools as Centers of Inquiry, and other courses);
- the Field-Based Research Project (typically completed during ELC 675, Schools as Centers of Inquiry);
- the Personal Leadership Platform (original draft typically completed during ELC 660, The Principalship);
- the School Covenant (typically completed in ELC 670, Leadership for Teaching and Learning);
- the School Policy Scan and the Policy Brief (both typically completed in ELC 694, Educational Governance and Policy);
- the Advocacy Initiative Plan and Assessment (typically completed in ELC 690, Practicum);
- the Ethical Statement (typically completed in ELC 687, Legal and Ethical Dimensions of Leadership)
- other substantial products or assignments which reflect the student's development as a prospective school principal.
CAP Application
Application for Comprehensive Assessment and Portfolio Hearing is available on PDF format. You may download Acrobat Reader from the Adobe web site .
CAP Rubric
Download the CAP Evaluation Form
Submit CAP Application to:
Dr. Misti Williams
MSA and Internship Coordinator
mwsoutha@uncg.edu
336-334-3491
336-334-4737 (fax)
Curry Building
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
P.O. Box 26170
Greensboro, NC 27402-6170