Learn and Serve Colorado contracted with the Evaluation Center to provide external evaluation services beginning Fall 2006. The evaluation study encompassed the period from November 2006 to August 2007. Previous studies raised questions about the quality of the service learning occurring at sampled schools. In order to make connections between student outcomes and service learning, a measure of the quality of the service learning experience is necessary....

The research is clear; teachers are the single most important factor in improving student achievement. If teacher quality is vital to student achievement, then we need to know how teacher quality is distributed in Colorado. The purpose of Shining the Light: The State of Teaching in Colorado is to examine issues of teacher quality in Colorado and provide recommendations for improving the quality of instruction for all students across the state.