Teaching Quality

Learning how to use evidence in making an argument is a critical skill for students to build, yet difficulties frequently arise when discipline-based learning goals conflict with schooling tasks.

University of Washington College of Education researchers took on that challenge by partnering with teachers of a project-based AP Environmental Science course to develop and revise design principles for creating "material tools" that can adequately scaffold disciplinary practice and support formative assessment, while also helping students' create better arguments.

For education leaders across the country, a perpetually vexing problem is how to sustain improvement in instruction across schools over an extended period.

Kara Jackson, associate professor of mathematics education at the University of Washington College of Education, notes that while there’s a wealth of research on how to improve teaching practice and student outcomes, that progress is hard to scale beyond individual classrooms or a single school.

As a 6th grade math teacher in Highline School District, Raphael Munavu’s passion for social justice defines his approach to teaching math.

With every lesson, he strives to help students connect math to their own lives, enabling them to think critically about the world around them.

The following story was originally published in the March 2018 edition of Columns magazine.

On a chilly day in November, the third grade classroom in Seattle’s John Muir Elementary School is cozy. Colorful posters cover the walls and beneath them, children fidget and giggle. The teacher, Marjorie Lamarre, urges the class to quiet down and gather in a circle on a big red mat.

As a high school student in South Korea, University of Washington College of Education PhD student Soo-Yean Shim was already imagining alternative approaches to make science classes engaging for all students.

Her inspiration came during a transformative experience in which she joined a genetics research team at a local university. In helping the team collect data, Shim found herself making sense of the world using resources and experimental data that she had gathered herself.

U.S. News & World Report has ranked the University of Washington College of Education No. 9 among the nation's best education schools in its annual graduate school ratings, released March 20.

UW College of Education ranked No. 3 among education schools at public institutions in the U.S. in the 2019 edition of the U.S. News ratings. This is the fifth consecutive year that UW has been ranked third or higher among public institutions by U.S. News.

All students are capable of engaging deeply in scientific investigation and thinking—if conditions in the classroom are right. In the new book “Ambitious Science Teaching,” University of Washington College of Education researchers outline a powerful framework for science teaching that is rigorous and equitable for students from all backgrounds.

As a third-grade teacher, Kacy Lebby (MIT ‘15) is bringing the outdoors into her classroom by teaching all subjects, not just science, from an environmental perspective.

Yet growing up, Lebby never saw herself becoming a teacher. As a hands-on learner, she always felt more comfortable outdoors than in a classroom. This trait led her to become an outdoor educator, where she taught subjects such as recreation and backpacking to middle and high school students.

Long-time civic leader and philanthropist Ginger Ackerley will be remembered for advancing education in the Puget Sound region and her efforts to ensure that all children enter school prepared to learn throughout their lives.

Noah Zeichner (MIT '04) and Diana Hess (PhD '98) are being honored by the National Council for the Social Studies during its annual conference this November.

Zeichner, who teaches at Ingraham International High School in Seattle will receive the 2017 Award for Global Understanding while Hess, dean of University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education, will receive the 2017 Jean Dresden Grambs Distinguished Career Research in Social Studies Award.