Features

Carolee Mathers knew that she wanted to be an elementary school teacher since she was in grade school herself. After graduating from the UW College of Education with her bachelor of arts degree in 1965, she began a 35-year career with the Mercer Island School District, teaching second and third grade. In and out of the classroom, Carolee always had a positive outlook and an excellent sense of humor, which helped her create a supportive learning environment for her students.

The University of Washington’s Center for Educational Leadership (CEL) partners with courageous leaders in classrooms, schools and the systems that support them to eliminate educational inequities by creating cultures of rigorous teaching, learning and leading.

The My Brother's Teacher (MBT) Project led by Dr. William White, with project managers Elane Jones and Clare Juico, received a $20,000 donation from Amazon to support their project "Diversify My Library." With Amazon’s gift, the MBT team will donate a diverse set of early childhood education book collections in both hardback and digital literacy technology using Kindles to early learning centers across Seattle, Washington.

"Bureaucracies like school systems are designed not to be disrupted," says Meredith Honig, UW College of Education professor and director of the District Leadership Design Lab (DL2). "But we know inequities are systemic and that school district central offices are a key part of the ‘system.’ So how do you help central office bureaucracies engage in good disruption?"