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.

I-REECCH is a five-year U.S. Department of Education, Jacob K. Javits funded grant from 2020-2025.

Principal Investigator: Dr. Norma Hafenstein, Morgridge College of Education

Co-Principal Investigator: Dr. Kristina Hesbol, Morgridge College of Education

Evaluator: Dr. Robert Reichardt, APA Consulting

MCE.IREECCH@du.edu

303-871-3888

I-REECCH Press Release

• I-REECCH to tap gifted students in rural Colorado
• August 5, 2021
• Dr. Norma Hafenstein receives grant to support underrepresented gifted students in rural Colorado
• October 2020

Learn more about the work of the Office of the Daniel L. Ritchie Endowed Chair in Gifted Education, our Degree Programs in Curriculum & Instruction, specializing in Gifted Education (our next EdD cohort begins Summer 2021!), and our virtual 2021 Gifted Education Policy Symposium and Conference: Addressing Disproportionality in Gifted Education, February 4-5, 2021.