Features

In a phenomena known as “summer melt,” many high school graduates plan to pursue higher education, but something derails them over the summer.

“They get confused, they don’t know how to fill something out, and then they don’t show up to their first day, and don’t show up for the rest of the year,” Natalia Esquivel - Silva explained.

It’s a chain of events that throws off the plans of many young people, with lifelong consequences.

Max Silverman, a nationally recognized leader with expertise in improving instructional leadership systems focused on equitable outcomes for students, has been named executive director of the University of Washington Center for Educational Leadership.

Silverman, who will assume his duties on July 1, has served in a variety of leadership positions throughout his career including school principal, central office leader, and most recently as deputy director of the Center for Educational Leadership.

An astonishing amount of data is collected in education—a typical student will accumulate millions of data points, between preschool and high school graduation alone, ranging from standardized tests to administrative logs—yet leveraging all that information to drive improvement is a persistent challenge.

Jose Hernandez (PhD ‘15) is working to bridge that gap by making education data more accessible and actionable.