Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act Grant – Principal Investigator

U.S. Department of Education, Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program, $2,845,155 (Five-year project: 2020-2025).

The goal of Impacting Rural Education through Expanding Culturally responsive curriculum, Computer science training and Higher order thinking skill development (I-REECCH) is to significantly increase identification of and services to traditionally underrepresented gifted and talented student populations in rural Colorado. The project will significantly increase identification of talent and giftedness in traditionally underrepresented populations in rural settings including students eligible for free and reduced lunch, English language learners and students who identify as Hispanic or Native American. All students in project elementary schools/classrooms will participate in a computer science/computation thinking module by the end of fifth grade. Classroom practices will be improved through increasing rural faculty implementation of critical thinking skill development and talent and giftedness recognition and through increasing rural educator’s ability to implement culturally responsive practices.

Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act Grant – Co-Principal Investigator

The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) in collaboration with the University of Denver, $1,148,389 (Three-year project:  2015- 2018)

The goal of this grant, named “Right4Rural”, was to use various resources and implement innovative, locally defined programs so strong sustainable gifted programs exist in every part of the state, especially in rural and at-risk populations where aspirations and practices fluctuate depending upon person, vision, and recorded history. This grant focused on districts located in rural areas, along the southern third of the state, which have a high degree of poverty, English language learners (ELLs), and Hispanic and Native American students. Specific focus was on gifted students who qualify for Free or Reduced Lunch, ELLs, and Hispanic and Native American learners. Participating districts were in four Colorado geographic areas. In three of these four areas, the percentages of identified gifted students in participating member districts are less than those of the percentages of identified students in the overall geographical area. CDE partnered with the University of Denver (DU) staff each year to build workshops, materials, protocols for interactions with administrators and teachers, workshop facilitation outlines, and evaluator support activities. For professional development (PD), leaders and teachers within administrative units (AUs) participated in interactive PD tailored to reframing their gifted program and instructional practices to address unique local needs and resources. PD will was provided via video and web-based technology, online courses, and professional learning community models.

2015-2016: $387,282; University of Denver, $70,000

• Site visits:  Fort Morgan School District, San Juan BOCES, San Luis BOCES, Santa Fe Trail BOCES, Montrose School District;
• Grant participant meetings at State Directors’ meeting and at State Conference;
• Webinar Series for Administrators and School Leaders;
• Base line survey development, administration, data collection and analysis.

2016-2017:  $364,624; University of Denver, $66,000

• Site visits, Fall and Winter, Fort Morgan School District, San Juan BOCES, San Luis BOCES, Santa Fe Trail BOCES, Montrose School District;
• Grant participant meetings at State Directors’ meeting and at State Conference;
• Webinar Series, Fall and Spring delivery, for Administrator and School Leaders;
• Mid-grant survey development, administration and data collection.

2017-2018:  $396,483; University of Denver, $80,000

Project E-RiDGE (Evaluation and Replicability in Doctoral Gifted Environments) was designed to measure the impact of doctoral students (Curriculum Studies and Teaching with a specialization in Gifted Education) at the student-service level.  Researchers are designing a constructivist approach in which doctoral students identify complex problems of practice and develop impact projects to address these issues.  This $75,000, Bradley Foundation-funded program evaluation project is aligned with and supported by the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED).