This exploration into competency-based innovation at the school, district, and state levels suggests that competency-based pathways are a re-engineering of this nation's education system around learning--a re-engineering designed for success in which failure is no longer viable. This discussion draws on interviews and site visits with innovators…

In January 2009, the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) and the Colorado Education Association (CEA) initiated a 13-city teacher tour to engage teachers in a statewide discussion about CAP4K, its relevance to practice, its impact on teaching and learning and the kind of help that teachers would find useful for classroom implementation. Between…

During the spring of 2004, the State of Colorado enacted legislation that fundamentally changed the mechanisms through which it financed its public higher education system, beginning with the 2005-06 academic year. Rather than appropriating funds directly to institutions, the legislation created the College Opportunity Fund (COF), the principal…

Pedagogical and scholarly representations of collaborative writing and knowledge construction in technical communication have traditionally recognized consensus as the logical outcome of collaborative work, even as scholars and teachers have acknowledged the value of conflict and "dissensus" in the process of collaborative knowledge…

Math experts developed Formative Assessment Lessons that teachers can incorporate throughout the year's curriculum. Both tools target the "instructional core." A study by Research for Action (RFA) examining the first year of piloting the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) and Math Design Collaborative (MDC) tools (2010-11) found…

Describes Direction 2000, a high school holistic school improvement project based on the American Library Association's Presidential Committee on Information Literacy Report (1989). Despite scarce funds, students need more time to learn through discovery, evaluation, and application of information sources. Libraries must be an integral part of…

Examines Colorado's Second Chance Pilot Program for Dropouts, designed to reduce the number of dropouts through Second Chance Centers giving students the opportunity to complete requirements for a high school diploma or equivalent certificate. Although limited in success, the program provides a model for the funding of alternative schools. (SLD)

High-quality out-of-school-time (OST) programs have a positive effect on youth development, but many cities have found it difficult to address the challenges of expanding and improving the quality of programs offered to underserved and high-need students. In response, The Wallace Foundation sponsored an initiative to help five cities increase…

In recent years, tenure has increasingly come under fire as an anachronism, not only for appearing to be out of touch with modern society but also as protection for the allegedly incompetent. Administrators and governing boards find themselves spending inordinate time defending it. So, in March 2005, the University of Colorado took the…

A common theme in educational change literature is that principals do not truly understand the change process and therefore cannot successfully implement change. This paper presents findings of a study that examined the change processes that Colorado principals utilized when initiating and implementing change in their buildings. The study also…

This guidebook is intended for use by charter school planning groups as they prepare their applications to create a charter school in Colorado. It is also intended to guide charter school groups that have already implemented a program. It covers essential components of the charter school application and includes examples from existing charters.…

This article is an interim report on alternative assessment measures for Colorado's Information Literacy Guidelines. A history of the guidelines, information needs, information-seeking strategies, acquiring and analyzing information, the development of alternative assessment tools, and implementation and analysis processes are discussed.…

Using Total Quality Education principles, a Colorado middle school formed an action team to research discipline situation and develop a new system. Consequences for infractions now range from Saturday school to visiting local prisons and performing community service (to replace suspension). Program success is based on consistency, learning…

This report for the College Opportunity Fund (COF) covers the first two fiscal years of the COF program, FY05-06, FY06-07. It describes the implementation efforts of COF program stakeholders, the statistics of participation in the program, and concerns of the program. COF enables qualifying resident students to use higher education tuition…

During the 2001-2002 school year, the Read to Achieve Grant program was successfully implemented in 553 schools throughout Colorado. All funded schools were held accountable for reaching the specific reading achievement goals outlined in the statute establishing the program in order to be recommended for second year funding. The Read to Achieve…