Suicide is a major cause of death in American youth. Suicide risk assessment is a promising suicide prevention strategy; however, little is known about school-based suicide risk assessment practices. The purpose of this study was to examine the scope of standardization, comprehensiveness, and follow-up procedures as part of the suicide risk…

The overall purpose of this study is to explore the creation and implementation of competency models in higher education masters level preparation programs. The study answers five research questions. Why and how did two higher education preparation programs create a professional competency model for the graduate students in the program and what…

Early childhood teachers are rightly concerned with implementing a system that was, at least in the initial stages, designed with a different set of teachers in mind--teachers of older students who have standardized achievement data. In most states, policy, practices, and guidance for early childhood teachers are just now being developed or…

Although advances in prevention science over the past two decades have produced a growing list of tested and effective programs and policies for preventing adolescent delinquency and drug use, widespread dissemination and high-quality implementation of effective programs and policies in communities has not been achieved. The Community Youth…

This dissertation uses a case-sensitive approach to examine an active travel intervention's diverse target population. It builds on a series of travel choice models, and draws key conceptual themes from Chapin's (1974) human activity model, which highlights opportunity-related and propensity-related factors associated with behaviors. The research…

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is working to respond to increased interest in the use of growth models for school accountability. Growth models are based on tracking change in individual student achievement scores over multiple years. While growth models have been used for decades in academic research and program evaluation, a…

The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether the data from the qualitative study fit Rasch model requirements for the definition of a measure, as well as to address concern in the extant literature regarding the appropriate number of items needed in analysis to assure unidimensionality. The self-report victimization scale was…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity of growth and value-added modeling to the way an underlying vertical score scale has been created. Longitudinal item-level data were analyzed with both student- and school-level identifiers for the entire state of Colorado between 2003 and 2006. Eight different vertical scales were…

Evaluates the hypothesis that boomtowns enter a period of generalized crisis and loss of traditional values/attitudes; considers impact of energy development on residents' involvement in/attachment to their community, and perceived quality of community services. Uses linear and systemic models on data from three intermountain communities…

This guide is intended to provide local agricultural education tech prep programs throughout Colorado with a framework for updating their own curriculum and developing articulation with postsecondary institutions. First, a primer to standards-based education explains the role of the following items in standards-based education in agriculture: (1)…