Jean Kirshner holds a Ph.D. in Education and Human Resource Development from Colorado State University and specializes in literacy and teacher education. Jean started her career as the Early Childhood Director at Saint Ignatius Grammar School, Chicago in 1988. After two years she joined the Child Opportunity Program in Denver as a Head Start…

This qualitative research study seeks to understand the newly developed partnership program between a Teacher Education Department at a public Hispanic Serving Institution and a rural public school district in the same area. It focused mainly on the school district mentor teachers' experiences and interexchange with preservice teachers from the…

This Innovative Practices piece details the design of a scaffolded project in a public health course that paired a narrative inquiry assignment with an empirical health literature review assignment to highlight both the positivist and constructivist epistemologies of critical health research in public health. The authors discuss and reflect on the…

The accrediting body, the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), has set forth a set of new standards that demand excellence and produce educators who raise PK-12 student achievement. Standard 2: Clinical Partnerships and Practice requires that educator preparation programs (EPP) seeking accreditation should have strong…

The purpose of this study is to understand special education teachers' beliefs regarding their roles and responsibilities and to determine how these beliefs differ among more and less accomplished teachers. In this study, the authors examine the interviews of special education teachers identified as either more or less accomplished based on the…

To be effective, teachers must be prepared to collaborate with families to support student success. Many studies confirm that strong parent-teacher relationships relate to positive student outcomes, such as healthy social development, high student achievement, and high rates of college enrollment. Thus, by giving teachers the support they need to…

A wide variety of universities are engaged in service-learning activities that create opportunities for K-12 students to interact with university students. Engaging students in their communities and working toward social justice in a variety of settings provides positive outcomes for communities, university students and the K-12 students involved.…

Tests the effectiveness of a teacher education course designed to reduce teacher biases, increase their commitment to social justice, and entice them towards collaboration with community members. Results show a positive increase in all areas of focus except social activism. (GR)

Concerns of parents and teachers associated with 18 Colorado schools regarding communication between the home and the school are discussed. The need for teachers to respond to changing family structures is emphasized. (PP)

This article describes a number of internal organizational initiatives within an urban teacher education program designed to foster inclusive, responsive practices by newly licensed general and special education teacher candidates. After implementing a merged preparation program for both special and general educators, we captured faculty and…

The experience described by Kay Hoag, Advocacy Chair of the National Network for Early Language Learning (NNELL), exemplifies the threat of program elimination and/or cutbacks that elementary school foreign language programs across the nation experienced with increased frequency during the 2002-2003 academic year. Reports of these threats…

A study was undertaken to identify (1) the number and types of cooperative vocational education programs offered by postsecondary institutions to students in Colorado and (2) the variables that affect these programs. A two-part survey was conducted at forty-four postsecondary public institutions which included community-junior colleges, area…