Arts, Identity and School Culture: Arts Focus
This project has studied teachers and students who do not “fit the mold” in a public middle school whose three arts strands—visual arts, theater and dance, and music—provide an intensive arts immersion through year-long, daily 90-minute blocks.  Arts Focus also transforms the school curriculum, as the arts are integrated across the curriculum. The research focuses on relationships between school culture and the culture of the arts as they affect and transform a public school, and on the impact of arts participation on the identities and roles of teachers and students in the program.

Faculty: Dr. Margaret LeCompte

The Colorado Partnership for Educational Renewal (CoPER)
The Colorado Partnership for Educational Renewal (CoPER) is a consortium of school districts, four-year colleges, universities, and community colleges in which the UCB School of Education participates. Created in 1986 by interested superintendents and deans, CoPER was an initial member of the National Network for Educational Renewal. The partnership focuses on school renewal and educator education, i.e., schools and higher education work together as equal partners for their mutual benefit and for the improvement of education for K-12 students. CoPER's initiatives address recruitment of new teachers, teacher preparation, quality teaching and learning, equity and diversity, ongoing professional development, leadership, policy, whole school, and educator preparation program renewal.

Constructing Physics Understanding Project (CPUII)
The Constructing Physics Understanding Project (CPU II) focuses on the development of a university level physics curriculum especially for prospective and practicing elementary teachers. The CPU II Physics for Elementary Teachers curriculum will provide in-depth, inquiry-based physics instruction for those standards and benchmarks relevant to K-5 classrooms. This curriculum has an associated laboratory that provides instruction in recognizing, understanding and addressing elementary students' ideas about physics concepts. A professional development package for education and physics faculty will prepare physics and education professors and graduate students to teach the CPU II curriculum and the laboratory. The CPU Project has been funded in part by National Science Foundation and San Diego State University.

Faculty: Dr. Valerie Otero

Courage to Teach
Courage to Teach is a personal and professional renewal program for public school professionals and other educators that emphasizes reflection, contemplation, personal formation, and community dialogue in a retreat setting. Colorado Courage to Teach is affiliated with Courage to Teach Center for Teacher Formation (http://www.teacherformation.org/) and is grounded in the work of Parker Palmer (see Palmer, Courage to Teach, Jossey-Bass and Stories of the Courage to Teach, Sam Intrator (Ed). Jossey-Bass).

Faculty: Dr. Dan Liston

CU4K12
The University of Colorado's Community Affairs' CU4K12 website is a comprehensive outreach tool for Colorado elementary, middle, and high school teachers and students. It provides teachers with easy access to more than 225 UCB outreach programs, campus resources, and professional development services. A teacher may select one of nine possible curricula and a grade level; or may search using a keyword. The CU4K12 site then provides a list of appropriate results, providing the program's title, curriculum, language options, and whether resource materials are available. A link to a specific program offers a description of the activity, along with all the needed contact information.

Earth Systems Connection
Earth Systems Connections (ESC) is a collaborative elementary curriculum project developed at Virginia Tech, the University of Colorado, and South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. More>>

Faculty: Dr. Jeffrey Frykholm

Informal Science Learning
This study employs a sociocultural approach to examine two aspects of children's intellectual socialization: How do children acquire common attitudes and beliefs about science, and how are children socialized into scientific ways of understanding the world? Conversations between parents and young children visiting a natural history museum are recorded and analyzed. Information in museums is carefully presented in ways that both respect scientific rigor and engage visitors' curiosity and interest. And, although little is known about processes of learning in museums, museum professionals and others concerned with informal learning are increasingly recognizing the importance of social aspects of visitors' experience. This study is especially focused on the process of "framing" how information is attended to, interpreted, related to personal histories and interests, and conveyed in social interactions.

Faculty: Dr. Steven Guberman

Learning to Teach
Project Description
The project brings together university faculty, undergraduate preservice teachers, and adult community members in an effort to provide literacy education to young children attending two after-school programs called Literacy and Learning for Life and BAM (Books as Mentors) in two elementary schools. More>>

Faculty: Dr. William McGinley

Literacy and Learning for Life
Literacy and Learning for Life is a fully operating after-school program, founded in 1998 in collaboration with the staff at Neighborhood Ministries where the program is currently located. The primary goal of this program is to provide an intellectually supportive and nurturing environment designed to help young children (ages 6 to 8) improve their reading and writing skills while also helping them to become more aware of the important role that literacy may play in their lives. The program faculty is a combination of CU students in the secondary teacher licensure program and adults from the Five Points Community. At this time, approximately twenty-five children from the community attend the program daily where they engage in a wide range of literacy-related instructional activities. The program is supported by grants from the National Council of Teachers of English, The International Reading Association, IMPART, and the University of Colorado Grant-in-Aid.

Faculty: Dr. William McGinley

Partners in Education (PIE)
Since 1987 the Partners in Education (PIE) program has fostered collaborations between six school districts and the School of Education at the University of Colorado at Boulder. One major goal of the PIE Program is to provide professional development opportunities to teachers at all levels of experience. More>>

Faculty: Debbie Hearty and School of Education Faculty and Doctoral Candidates

Science Discovery
Science Discovery, established in 1983, is an experience-based educational outreach program of the University of Colorado at Boulder School of Education. Science Discovery’s mission is to stimulate scientific interest, understanding, and literacy among Colorado’s youth, teachers, and families by interfacing with university resources and academic expertise. Programs offered include after-school classes, summer classes, wilderness camps, and outdoor environmental education programs. In addition, Science Discovery provides opportunities for collaborations with UCB faculty, consultations on science curriculum, and the CU Wizards' program for school children.

Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics-Teacher Preparation (STEM-TP)
The Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics-Teacher Preparation (STEM-TP) project is a collaborative effort between faculty of the University of Colorado-Boulder’s School of Education and College of Arts and Sciences, and local K-12 teachers. More>>

Faculty Leadership Team:
Richard McCray (Astrophysics and Planetary Science), Valerie Otero (School of Education), James Curry (Applied Mathematics), William Wood (Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology), Carl Wieman (Physics), and Steve Iona (High School Physics and Mathematics Teacher).

Simply the Best!
Simply the Best! is an after-school program in science and technology for African-American and Latina middle-school girls in the Five Points community of downtown Denver. The program was developed in 1999 at the request of a Five Points community organizer who felt that young people in his community should have access to more academic resources. More>>

Faculty: Dr. Margaret Eisenhart

Supporting the Transition from Arithmetic to Algebraic Reasoning
This collaborative project, with colleagues from the University of Wisconsin and Carnegie Mellon University, is centered on the transition to abstract algebraic reasoning and addresses (a) the study of middle school algebra as a content domain, (b) student thinking, learning and development, (c) the design of learning environments, (d) teacher knowledge, beliefs and practices, and (e) teacher learning and collaborative professional development. More>>

Faculty: Drs. Hilda Borko, and Jeffrey Frykholm

Teachers of Color (TOCA) Summit)
This Teachers of Color (TOCA) Summit brings together education students, practicing educators of color, and allies to provide collegial support, opportunities for networking and mentoring, and insights into best practices in education.

The audience for the TOCA Summit is:

• Pre-service and in-service educators committed to issues of diversity education
• Educators who are interested in a long-term commitment to diversity issues
• Educators interested in networking and mentoring with follow educators of color and allies

Faculty: Dr. Anissa Butler

The Urban Arts Initiative (UAI)
This project is an evaluation of a nine city, multi-site collaborative project to identify, support, and mentor emerging community artists and community arts organizations. In this project, the focus is on the “value added” to communities, organizations, and individual artists as a function of participation in the Initiative. The Urban Arts Initiative is jointly funded by the Institute for Community Research and the Connecticut Council for the Arts.

Faculty: Dr. Margaret LeCompte