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…

Financial education is an important area of study due in part to the need for improved understanding of how to navigate an ever more complex financial decision-making environment, thus the need for effective classroom instruction. The purpose of this study is to examine a "teacher-as-learner" professional development program that is…

This report examines the competency-based education (CBE) efforts of the 21 Jumpstart participants and their varied journeys in developing CBE programs: the unique decisions they have made around their developing programs; the challenges that have delayed some programs or prevented others from moving to implementation; and lessons from these…

In response to the need for a scalable, institutionally supported model of educational change, the Science Education Initiative (SEI) was created as an experiment in transforming course materials and faculty practices at two institutions--University of Colorado Boulder (CU) and University of British Columbia. We find that this departmentally…

As our understanding of complex environmental issues increases, institutions of higher education are evolving to develop new learning models that emphasize synthesis across disciplines, concepts, data, and methodologies. To this end, we argue for the implementation of environmental science education at the intersection of systems theory and…

In this article, the authors describe the experiences of five cadets and college students serving as camp leaders for the United States Air Force Academy's (USAFA) Leaders of Character Camp (LoCC). Additionally, they describe the work in which three other universities are engaged to adapt the LoCC model to their own university contexts. In so…

The May 2012 State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) report, "The Broadband Imperative: Recommendations to Address K-12 Education Infrastructure Needs," pushed educators and policy makers nationwide to increase high-speed broadband access in schools, with specific recommendations regarding access, funding, and policies…

We posit that professional development (PD) models fall on a continuum from highly adaptive to highly specified, and that these constructs provide a productive way to characterize and distinguish among models. The study reported here examines the impact of an adaptive mathematics PD model on teachers' knowledge and instructional practices as well…

Response to intervention (RTI) was included in the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), specifically as part of an assessment process to determine if a child has a disability. Although IDEA's focus is on students with disabilities, 10 states have developed policies that attend to students with gifts and…

Learning about climate change is tangible when it addresses impacts that can be observed close to home. In this program, sixty-four diverse middle and high school students produced videos about locally relevant climate change topics. Graduate and undergraduate students provided mentorship. The program engaged students in research and learning…

The Colorado Learning Assistant (LA) Model has demonstrated that it is successful in helping to meet multiple goals including enhancing student learning in LA-supported courses, increasing conceptual understanding of physics among LAs, and improving the teaching practices of former LAs in K-12 schools. The research reported here investigated the…

There is a discrepancy currently in public schools when comparing the identification and instruction of underachieving students with gifted and talented (GT) students. A three-tiered identification and instructional model was developed out of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) with emphasis coming from the No Child…

Under the supervision of a licensed early intervention provider, paraprofessionals play an indispensable role in implementation of home and community-based services to infants and toddlers with developmental delays or disabilities and their families in Colorado. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 requires that…

While much research has explored the positive correlation between mentoring programs and resulting reduction in teacher attrition, the relationship between mentoring activities and student learning remains equivocal. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible relationship between frequency and depth of mentoring activities in which…

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…