Teaching Quality

Computer science skills are becoming increasingly important not only to national innovation, but also to individual success and career mobility. The projected demand for employees with computer science skills far outstrips the projected number of students who will be trained with these competencies.

Immigration. Gun control. Abortion. Gay rights. Religion. Are these and other polarizing topics too controversial to be discussed in today’s high school classrooms?

According to Diana Hess (PhD '98), co-winner of the 2017 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Education, teachers should encourage conversations about difficult political issues because that’s the very nature of a democratic education and those discussions help students understand diverse points of view and become more politically engaged adults.

A six-year program piloted by Auburn School District could serve as a model for developing teacher leaders who build stronger schools across the state, University of Washington College of Education researchers show in a new study.

Initiatives to make high-quality early learning more available to the most vulnerable students in Washington State and across the nation are getting a boost from two significant awards to the University of Washington College of Education.

University of Washington College of Education Dean Mia Tuan describes why supporting great teaching is one of the smartest investments Washington can make in an op-ed published November 13 in The Seattle Times.

"[T]here’s one thing research tells us clearly: Great teaching matters," Tuan writes. "We need teachers who can prepare our students to succeed in Washington’s knowledge-based economy and participate in a thriving civic democracy."

Following passage of No Child Left Behind in 2001, a theme repeatedly heard in news reports was that standardized test-based school accountability pressures were driving teachers away from their job or the profession, especially those at schools with larger proportions of poverty-impacted students.

New research by a University of Washington College of Education professor shows NCLB school accountability had only a limited impact on the teacher labor market, however, demonstrating just how difficult it can be to change teachers’ employment decisions.

In the fall of 2010, Lakeridge Elementary School in Renton faced a crisis: They were federally designated as one of the persistently lowest-achieving schools in Washington state. Test scores were in the bottom five percent, meaning that only one in five students could comprehend math at their grade level.

A deep partnership between Lakeridge and researchers from the University of Washington College of Education produced a total transformation for Lakeridge, marking a complete 180 from where the school had previously been.

The University of Washington College of Education will participate in a $47 million initiative to improve university principal preparation programs announced last week by the Wallace Foundation.

The Danforth Educational Leadership Program was selected through a competitive process to partner with San Diego State University in redesigning its master’s in education leadership and principal credentialing program.

Elizabeth Loftus, a 2014 graduate of the University of Washington College of Education’s Applied Behavior Analysis Distance Education Program, has been named Northwest ESD 189 Regional Teacher of the Year.

Loftus, one of eight Washington educators to be honored this fall, teaches at Olympic View Elementary in Oak Harbor District.

The power of play in unlocking the creative potential of every learner will be the focus of the University of Washington College of Education’s EduTalks event on Nov. 3.

During a fast-paced program, nine UW faculty members will share their compelling discoveries about play and how it can open new opportunities for all children to explore their world, overcome challenges and thrive. Each presenter has five minutes and one slide to share their research related to play.