Teaching Quality

As more schools open access to advanced courses, teachers increasingly find students in their classes possess a wide range of reading abilities.

So how are teachers to lead an advanced class when their students' reading abilities may range from the 2nd percentile to the 98th?

University of Washington College of Education Dean Mia Tuan outlines steps that would enable Washington to attract and retain high-quality teachers in an op-ed published January 23 in The Seattle Times.

The latest edition of Research That Matters, "Passion & Promise," explores how the UW College of Education is approaching the biggest challenges in education with a spirit of possibility. The following story about the College's efforts to improve early learning also appears in the online version of the magazine.

Peter Wallis, a PhD student in learning sciences and human development at the University of Washington College of Education, is co-editor of the recently published book Clickers in the Classroom: Using Classroom Response Systems to Increase Student Learning.

Effective teachers don't just impact their own students' achievement, they can significantly improve the performance of their fellow teachers' students. That new research finding by Min Sun of University of Washington College of Education has important implications for national efforts to ensure poverty-impacted and minority children aren't taught by a greater proportion of less experienced teachers.

The latest edition of Research That Matters, "Passion & Promise," explores how the UW College of Education is approaching the biggest challenges in education with a spirit of possibility. The following story about the College's INSPIRE initiative also appears in the online version of the magazine.

The University of Washington College of Education's efforts to strengthen the nation's STEM teaching workforce will be discussed during an Oct. 28 summit at the White House.

From an early age, Jane Lo was fascinated by how people interact in civil society — the way people come together to improve their communities, support fellow citizens in need and assert their rights.

That interest attracted her to teaching and the opportunity to help students understand the complexity of human interactions. After a few years teaching high school social studies in Texas, Lo reached out to Professor Walter Parker at the University of Washington College of Education to dig deeper.

Making sure schools support every child in reaching their full potential is a complex task. The challenge is even greater at places like Meridian School District in northwest Washington that must run on lean staffs.

David Forsythe, assistant superintendent of Meridian School District, said the district recognized strong teacher leadership could significantly impact student achievement. Yet not every school had teacher leaders, and expectations for those leaders varied widely.

UW Professor Philip Bell is the recipient of the 2015 Washington Science Teachers Association (WSTA) Teacher of the Year Award for Higher Education. Bell, who holds the Shauna C. Larson Chair in Learning Sciences at UW College of Education, is being recognized for the work he and his team have done to help develop and implement the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) with a focus on equity, in partnership with a network of organizations across the state and country.