School systems across the United States increasingly use performance-based assessments (PBAs) as alternatives to traditional standardized tests, like the SAT, to make post-secondary and workforce readiness (PWR) determinations. However, very little research has been conducted to validate such alternative assessments as valid indicators of a…

Background: The Colorado General Assembly created the Educator Effectiveness Act in 2011. This legislation established the State Council for Educator Effectiveness (The Council). The Council was tasked with developing the purpose behind and structure for a new evaluation system for the state of Colorado. The purpose of the Colorado Model…

This qualitative inquiry evaluated Colorado Mountain College's (CMC) in-house Mountain Scholars Program (MSP) via semi-structured interviews with five of its Latino alumni. This study's assets-based social justice/transformative philosophical framework included David Fetterman's methodological empowerment evaluation and Tara Yosso's conceptual…

An opportunity gap exists in the United States school system where students of color score lower on standardized tests and have fewer opportunities than their white counterparts. Culturally Relevant Education (CRE) theory attempts to close this gap, and is defined by Gloria Ladson-Billings (1995) as Pedagogy that rests on three criteria or…

This document introduces a research study that aimed to gain insight into the perspectives of newly qualified teachers, mentor teachers, and administrators during their participation in a technology-enhanced teacher induction program while assigned within a rural school district in southeastern Colorado. The qualitative case study took a deeper…

This program evaluation highlights the Key Culture, Communication, & Sports (KCCS) Program at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO, a learning community program dedicated to serving student-athletes. Learning communities, considered high-impact practice in higher education, have a longstanding and successful approach to supporting new…

The objective of this study was to better understand what aspects of place and curriculum influence experiences for underserved youth in an environmental education program. For instance, how can environmental education managers create program experiences that maintain depth and focus, while honoring the unique ways students connect and find…

The purpose of the study was to gain a deeper understanding of teacher induction in the state of Colorado. The guiding question for the study was "What components do Colorado school districts include as part of their beginning teacher induction?" The study examined the implementation of nine teacher induction components: orientation,…

This qualitative grounded analysis involved exploring the knowledge and understanding school principals have on teacher evaluations and the connections to students' scores on the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP). The problem was that Colorado does not have a comprehensive and consistent standards-based teacher evaluation system managed…

The focus of this dissertation was to explore the importance of high quality early education in later secondary education development, quantifying quality in early childhood education programs, and examining how teacher education contributes to quality of early childhood education programs. For phase I, early childhood education positively…

In 2010, the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology recommended that eight hundred new STEM focused elementary and middle schools be established. Unfortunately, districts may be slow to implement STEM at the elementary level because they do not understand how to do so effectively (Zimny, 2017). School administrators need a…

In 2010, the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology recommended that eight hundred new STEM focused elementary and middle schools be established. Unfortunately, districts may be slow to implement STEM at the elementary level because they do not understand how to do so effectively (Zimny, 2017). School administrators need a…

In 2010, the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology recommended that eight hundred new STEM-focused elementary and middle schools be established. Unfortunately, districts have been slow to implement STEM at the elementary level because they do not understand how to do so effectively (Zimny, 2017). School administrators need a…

This study is a program evaluation of the Life Skills Program at Mammoth Heights Elementary in the Douglas County School District. The overall goal of the Life Skills Program is to increase students' independent and daily living skills through the teaching of communication, social-emotional skills and academic skills. Students in the Life Skills…

During the 2004 legislative session, the Colorado General Assembly enacted Senate Bill 189 (SB189), which established the first system of college vouchers in the United States. The supporters of SB189 hoped that the voucher system, called the College Opportunity Fund (COF), would: 1) stabilize the flow of state funding to higher education; 2)…