Elementary music teachers are required to attend long-term, campus-wide professional development outside their content area. The purpose of this interpretive qualitative study was to better understand how elementary music teachers in a North Texas and a South-Central Colorado school district who have had five or more years of teaching experience…

This mixed methods study evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of Colorado's special education procedural safeguard notice (CPSN) through readability and design factors. Per IDEA, procedural safeguard notices must inform families of children with disabilities of their rights within special education. Local education agencies (LEAs) distribute the…

This dissertation critically examines the Colorado Reading to Ensure Academic Development Act (READ Act) through the lens of Critical Discourse Analysis, focusing on the discursive construction of the Act and its impact on educational opportunities for multilingual learners. The study explores the role of power and knowledge in shaping the READ…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to understand how schools and districts plan professional learning that provides the ongoing feedback and support needed to improve teacher performance under the new Colorado Educator Effectiveness Law. The study focused on the professional learning that follows a teacher's rating on the new educator…

It is not known the extent to which CTE teachers compared to core teachers, student advisors, and administrators perceive the value of CTE programs in relationship to the 21st century skills needed for success in employment and postsecondary endeavors and the professional relationships needed to adequately support and grow CTE programs. The sample…

This dissertation examines state-level efforts to mandate the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools, especially following 9/11. Despite longstanding Supreme Court precedent declaring mandatory flag salutes unconstitutional, various state legislatures sought to institute or strengthen pledge mandates irrespective of students' civil liberties.…

Literature suggested that the mandated filtering required by the Children's Internet Protection Act of 2000 adversely affected the educational system. The literature stated that schools imposed more restrictive filtering than the Act mandated. School systems had the responsibility to ensure that children learn to read, write, and perform…

In recent years, enrollment and overall student performance in rural schools have declined. Research shows that principals are critical to the success of a school system and that implementing a virtual community of practice (CoP) at the principal level has solved some of the issues associated with rurality in some organizations. Such…

This study examines and chronicles the change in public funding for postsecondary education in Colorado from 1970 to 2010. Colorado was ranked sixth among states in per capita funding for public higher education in 1970 and declined to 48th in 2010. The study analyzed state appropriations over this time period in five broad categories of spending:…

The inequities in learning between the rich and the poor have become pervasive in United States. This is evidenced by the high school graduation rates, college attendance percentages, and employment statistics. Upon another wave of reform, the Common Core State Standards in mathematics are currently being adopted in hopes of increasing learning…

This dissertation examines the historical background of federal regulations that have expanded over the past thirty years, and their impact on state legislative resistance to No Child Left Behind (NCLB). The federal government's involvement in public education offers an instructive opportunity for inquiry into cooperative federalism. State…

With decreasing enrollment, decreasing funding for public school education, changes in family and societal needs, and the mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act, policymakers and school leaders are wrestling with reforms to the school calendar and instructional time spent in the classroom, with the goal of increasing student achievement.…

Across the United States, school districts are working to turnaround their lowest performing schools in order to meet the requirements of Adequate Yearly Progress mandated by the "No Child Left Behind Act" of 2001. These failing schools are facing district, state, and federal sanctions of closure, takeover, or restructuring. A new…