The Canoemobile program serves as a floating classroom that provides fun and engaging, water-based activities to connect urban youth to the natural world through hands-on, outdoor learning on local waterways in cities across America. The results of the program evaluation suggest that Canoemobile is meeting its primary objectives of engaging…

The "Race to the Top" competitive grant program initiated a wave of teacher evaluation reform, which scholars and policymakers have long identified as critical to improving teacher quality and student performance. State boards of education (SBEs) and state education agencies (SEAs) took different approaches to these reforms, and as a…

An educational initiative that is receiving increased attention nationally is accelerated developmental education, and the Community College of Denver (CCD) is at the forefront of this reform activity. As part of CCD's portfolio of developmental education strategies, the accelerated program called FastStart has become an important vehicle for…

This research examined how rural high school students' self-perceptions and environmental perceptions influence their engagement, expectations, and achievement, and how those relationships differ by geographic rural location. Participants were 224 students in four rural, public high schools in two U.S. states, Colorado and Indiana. Path models…

In 2009, Excelencia in Education launched the Ensuring America's Future initiative to inform, organize, and engage leaders in a tactical plan to increase Latino college completion. An executive summary of Latino College Completion in 50 states synthesizes information on 50 state factsheets and builds on the national benchmarking guide. Each…

This Colorado state standards guide lists six model content standards for history education in Colorado elementary schools. Standards cited in the guide are: (1) students understand the chronological organization of history and know how to organize events and people into major eras to identify and explain historical relationships; (2) students…

The state of Colorado has set forth six content standards for dance education in its public schools: (1) students will understand and demonstrate dance skills; (2) students will understand and apply the principles of choreography; (3) students will create, communicate, and problem solve through dance; (4) students will understand and relate the…

These Colorado state music content standards are based on the idea that music education benefits students by developing them fully and gradually building music literacy while cultivating intuition, reasoning, imagination, and dexterity into unique forms of expression and communication. The guide suggests that standards provide a substantive…

This guide lists six model content standards for geography education in Colorado elementary schools. Standards cited in the guide are: (1) students know how to use and construct maps, globes, and other geographic tools to locate and derive information about people, places, and environments; (2) students know the physical and human characteristics…

The geography standards for Colorado schools offer suggestions for geography education that prepare students to cope with the complexities of contemporary life. The standards give students a firm grasp of the place and terrain that surrounds them; the patterns of human development around the world; and the interactions of peoples, places, and…

This booklet outlines the model content standards in reading and writing for students in the state of Colorado. The booklet cites the following six standards for public school elementary and secondary students: (1) students read and understand a variety of materials; (2) students write and speak for a variety of purposes and audiences; (3)…

The goal of these Colorado state economics content standards is for students, by the time they graduate from high school, to understand economics well enough to make good judgments about personal economic questions and about economic policy in a complex and changing world. Students need an understanding of basic economic concepts to become…

This booklet lists six model content standards in theater arts for elementary and secondary school students in the state of Colorado. The six standards cited in the booklet are: (1) Students develop interpersonal skills and problem-solving capabilities through group interaction and artistic collaboration; (2) Students understand and apply the…

Reports results of a statewide survey of student intentions administered to a sample of 3,219 community college students. A positive relationship was found between the number of credits completed and the number of intention shifts, and a negative relationship was found between the number of credits completed and perceptions of goal attainment.…

These Colorado state civics content standards summarize the knowledge and skills that are the basis of responsible citizenship whether it is taught in history, geography, or other social studies courses. The guide points out that civics should be a central concern from kindergarten through twelfth grade. It is through systematic instruction in…