General News

The biggest steps toward a life of opportunity, toward the fullest flourishing of one’s potential, happen in a child’s earliest years. Yet in Washington, one in five children grows up in poverty, and fewer than half of the state’s children are kindergarten-ready across all six domains of childhood development.

On Oct. 20, eight of Washington’s leading early learning researchers will discuss how every child can be assured a strong start during EDU Talks: Raising Washington, hosted by the University of Washington College of Education.

The University of Washington College of Education’s work to expand access to high-quality early learning opportunities across the country is being strengthened with a $10 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Over the next four years, the grant will support the College in generating tools and methods needed to launch sustainable high-quality practices in pre-kindergarten programs, particularly among low-income communities.

For elementary teachers, it’s an increasingly tricky question to contend with: How to address immigration, race, gender identity and other social justice issues that touch the lives and futures of their students?

Even as public schools in the United States grow more diverse and systemic inequities continue to impact the quality of education available to students, educators rarely have time to authentically work together on how to address those issues of inequity in their teaching.

Growing up in New Orleans, Elzena McVicar (MIT ‘10) was surrounded by a family filled with teachers. Years of family conversations about education convinced McVicar that teaching was not for her.

While working on her bachelor's degree in anthropology, however, McVicar took a work study job as a tutor. Then, after graduating from college, she found herself working in an elementary school as an AmeriCorps volunteer. These two experiences changed McVicar’s perceptions of education, ultimately leading her in a new professional direction.

Despite the growing awareness of socio-ecological challenges facing humans in the 21st century, science learning still mostly takes place inside the classroom, disconnected from the natural world.

During the University of Washington College of Education’s June 10 graduation ceremonies, two representatives of the Class of 2017 discussed the role of education in a thriving democracy as families, friends, faculty and staff gathered to celebrate more than 700 graduates.

Four University of Washington College of Education projects aiming to expand access to high-quality STEM learning opportunities will be featured during the 2017 NSF STEM for All Video Showcase: Research & Design for Impact taking place May 15 to 22.