Program Research

ITP Research Is Based on Project Focused Mentoring The project-based approach that ITP was founded upon has resulted in a program that can be measured, refined, and expanded. The United States Department of Education, National Mentoring Partnership, America's Promise, and many other education and mentoring organizations recognize ITP as a leader in academic mentoring.

Feedback from Jim Knight, Gear Up Director for Topeka, Kansas Pathways to Success Program: Telementoring has been a powerful and, importantly, also very convenient way for our project, Pathways to Success, to establish more than 750 one-to-one mentoring relationships over the past three years. What we believe is most valuable about these relationships is that they have had a positive impact on both the academic performance and the self-efficacy of students. In USD 501, where our project is in place, students have learned a tremendous amount, completing a wide variety of projects with the help of ITP mentors. For example, some children have completed world geography projects with mentors from the many different countries being studied; others have read and studied The Seven Habits of Highly Successful Teens with their mentors, and were thrilled when they also received emails from the author, Sean Covey. For other projects, students have built websites with the help of computer-expert mentors, completed projects on famous artists, written their own personal biographies, shaped their future goals, or studied Shakespeare. These projects have enabled our students to develop or enhance their computer-literacy, problem solving, communication and other skills.

Latest Research The R&D Center, a clearinghouse to test and evaluate new ideas for school practice, was initiated in 1995. The Center is a collaborative of Colorado State University, Front Range Community College, and Poudre School District and provides a formal link between the school district and higher education by researching and evaluating innovative programs and best practices to advance educational theory and practice. This research firm completed a full program evaluation in 1998.

2002-2005 Report The following research reports published by the R&D Center are focused on analyzing participant survey data collected between April, 2002 through June, 2005.

Dr. Chance W. Lewis is assistant professor at Colorado State University teaching courses in the areas of Multiculturalism in public schools, Educational Technology, and educational methodology utilizing both service-learning and school-university-community partnership (Professional Development School Partnership) delivery systems. His research interests are in the areas of preparing teachers to effectively teach in multicultural classrooms and bridging the digital divide for students in all sectors of public education. Dr. Lewis can be reached through the web site: http://www.colostate.edu/depts/r-dcenter/.

Participant Voices

This new section of the site will highlight program results through the voices of our teachers, students, and mentors. ... more

ITP Spotlights

Share the excitement of the program through the project spotlights found in our news section. ... more