Portland State University's course offerings in literacy education are designed to help preservice and inservice teachers become better teachers of reading and writing. The courses can be taken as a program of study so that licensed teachers can earn an Oregon reading endorsement. The courses can also be used as a specialty emphasis in the 45-credit MA/MS degree program in Curriculum and Instruction.
The PSU reading endorsement program is designed specifically for those planning careers as Title I teachers, reading specialists, literacy coaches, consultants, and district-level reading and language arts coordinators. A reading endorsement is also useful for classroom teachers wishing more knowledge about literacy and about teaching students from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds.
The Literacy Education Program goals include:
Best practices and standards as articulated by the International Reading, Association and the National Council of Teachers of English,
Methodologies and resources for creating classroom literacy environments,
Principles and practices for working with students needing extra help with literacy, and
Authentic assessment practices.
The literacy program offerings focus on preparing licensed teachers to be eligible for the Oregon Reading Endorsement. After completing the program, educators need to take the Praxis test before applying for the endorsement.
The reading endorsement is a 27-credit program including a core of 17 credits and 10 additional credits in one of the following authorization levels: early childhood/elementary, elementary/middle school, and middle/high school. Practicum experiences are embedded in the coursework.
Program coursework focuses on theory, research, and practice as they relate to both the classroom literacy environment and individual readers. These courses, if taken at the 500 level, will apply to a specialty emphasis area of the MA/MS degree in Curriculum and Instruction.
For more details about requirements, interested students can contact a program advisor listed under faculty.
Program Resources
The university's Branford Price Millar Library contains several thousand children's and young adult books, journals, books for teachers, the W.S. Gray Collection on reading education, and electronic data bases including ERIC (Educational Resources Information Clearninghouse).
The Graduate School of Education's Metropolitan Instructional Support Laboratory (MISL), located on the third floor of the School of Education, has media equipment and materials, a professional library, and PC and MAC computer labs for student use. Its professional library includes extensive collections of reading and language arts textbooks.
