The Center for Advancing Practice, Education & Research (CAPER) supports and expands the mission and vision of the School of Education & Human Development by engaging in entrepreneurial activities, research, professional development, technical assistance, outreach, engagement and policy and advocacy. We strive to serve as a partner and resource on a local and national level through dissemination of research that affects children, schools and education practice. CAPER is dedicated to outcomes that raise the quality and accessibility of public education to impact and foster student opportunity and achievement. We are home to the following funded projects and affiliated organizations:
Shelley Zion, executive director
The center coordinates all professional development and continuing education initiatives, across all academic programs and professional development programs/centers in the School of Education. The center has a lead role in the ongoing preparation of professionals who work in diverse schools, agencies, and related settingsvia partnerships between those settings and the school.
Barbara Smith, research professor
CEBPEL aims to develop, implement and evaluate comprehensive early intervention systems that address the developmental needs of young children with special needs, their families and the personnel who serve them. CEBPEL raises awareness and increases implementation of positive, evidence-based practices for the preventionand remediation of challenging behavior with a database to support those practices.
Julie Oxenford O'Brian, Director
The Center for Transforming Learning and Teaching (CTLT) was established as an initiative within the School of Education & Human Development at UC Denver in 2003. Today, the Center works with educators across the US to catalyze and co-create the transformation of learning environments through the use of assessment so that all are engaged in learning and empowered to positively contribute in a global society. We pursue our mission by: Creating and providing professional learning experiences to K-12 educators that support effective use of assessment strategies and tools; Coaching and embedding the use of assessment as a support for learning within classroom settings; Planning, developing and facilitating professional learning communities; Developing, supporting and bringing forward models of practice; Convening practitioners to bring out the best thinking; and engaging educators at the intersection of theory and practice.
The Center for Culturally Responsive Urban Education (CRUE) is committed to developing the capacity of educators and school systems in Colorado to meet the needs of culturally, linguistically and economically diverse urban students by preparing school personnel in culturally responsive pedagogy and practice, and pursuing a research agenda that guides improvements in our work.
Bonnie Walters, Executive Director
The Evaluation Center offers a full range of evaluation services to our clients, including designing and conducting evaluations, integrating qualitative and quantitative analyses, and disseminating findings in a useful and meaningful way. We will work with you to develop a comprehensive plan that meets your unique needs, which will help you learn about and improve your program, as well as providing a rigorous and objective analysis of your program’s progress and effectiveness.
The Evaluation Center is unique among program evaluation groups because we operate as an autonomous not-for-profit entity embedded within the University of Colorado Denver. This provides us with access to resources including:
- Use of the university library for obtaining research literature,
- Relationships with experts in content and methodology, and
- A network of professional connections across the community and country
Maria Araceli Ruiz-Primo Associate Professor
(LEARN) exists to advance a fundamental understanding and applied use of assessment in the improvement of education, particularly in diverse and urban contexts. To this end it focuses on the development, evaluation and use of educational assessment and its impact on instruction and learning in diverse contexts.
Ritu Chopra, assistant research professor
PAR²A promotes optimum learning for all students through research and training on the roles, responsibilities, career development, preparation, supervision and employment of paraprofessionals and is designed for paraprofessionals, school professionals and administrators in public education.
Partnership for Learning, Innovation and Progress (PLIP)
Rod L. Blunck, Director
The Partnership for Leadership, Innovation and Progress (PLIP) is a full-spectrum, senior consulting and professional services organization, consisting of current and former Senior Executive Level Educational Administrators, with unparalleled knowledge, experience and insight. These skills are used to assist all educational organizations in matching systems, technologies, services and capabilities with members’ needs and requirements; and in assisting entities through analysis and advisory tasks.
PLIP’s exclusive strength lies in the vast range of experience and perspectives of our faculty & functions in providing “just in time training” as well as developing local, state, national and international practitioner connectivity.
Phil Strain, director
PELE develops, implements and evaluates comprehensive, early intervention systems to address developmental needs of young children at risk for school failure or with special needs, including severe behavioral disorders.
Maria Araceli Ruiz-Primo, director
The Research Center’s mission is to establish strong research records for each School of Education & Human Development faculty member in disciplined, sustained and focused inquiry that impacts practice and professional thought in the educational community.
Mike Marlow, co-director
Brad McLain, co-director
At XSci, we recognize the importance of students and teachers co-constructing positive science identities through experiential learning as a critical pathway towards confident teacher practice and student science literacy. Our purpose is to uncover the ways educators and students construct extraordinary science learning experiences for themselves and their peers. Experiential science learning is all about personal close encounters with the content, processes, and emotions of science. It is a philosophy that emphasizes learning from direct first-person experience and a holistic perspective that includes the self-construction of knowledge as well as emotions, attitudes and beliefs that combine to form a learner’s “science identity.”