Teaching Quality

The start of a new school year is a busy time for children and teachers.

The National Center on Quality Teaching and Learning, based at the University of Washington College of Education, is pleased to offer this survival kit. Head Start teachers and other program staff can use the resources below to support their work with children and families all year long. Start exploring on your own and share them with colleagues.

A College of Education initiative to dramatically improve teaching quality in area schools kicked off this summer with a Teacher and Leader Academy for nearly 90 local educators.

The intensive academy is the launching point for INSPIRE (Innovations in Professional Improvement and Redesigns in Education), the College's new effort to collaborate with local partners in designing innovative ways for schools and districts to organize professional learning. INSPIRE focuses in particular on improving the quality of education at poverty-impacted schools. 

Just three years ago, Lakeridge Elementary in Renton was identified as one of the most persistently low-achieving schools in Washington, with only one in five students in fifth grade passing the state mathematics assessment test. That's when the school partnered with University of Washington's College of Education to build a professional learning community dedicated to rigorous, job-embedded professional development based on the latest research in mathematics education.

The recipient of the University of Washington College of Education's 2014 Distinguished Service Award is the Boeing Company. The award honors an individual or organization whose extraordinary contributions have advanced the College of Education’s central mission: To make equitable and excellent education a daily reality for every child in every community. Boeing was presented with the award at the College's commencement ceremony on June 16.

Dr. Kathleen Artman Meeker joins the college as an assistant professor of special education. She specializes in professional development systems for early childhood professionals, innovative web tools for evidence-based practices in early education and early intervention, and practical strategies for promoting social-emotional competence in young children with and without special needs.

The Collaborative Schools for Innovation and Success (CSIS) project is a state-funded partnership between the College of Education and Roxhill Elementary school in Seattle. Last year, CSIS provided an opportunity for teachers and researchers to plan the ambitious collaboration. The 3DL Partnership, co-directed by Professor Leslie Herrenkohl in the College of Education and Professor Todd Herrenkohl in the School of Social Work, supported a mission and vision process that resulted in an Innovation Plan approved and funded by the state.

The National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) selected "Rethinking Advanced High School Coursework: Tackling the Depth/Breadth Tension in the AP US Government and Politics Course," by Walter Parker, Susan Mosborg, John Bransford, Nancy Vye, John Wilkerson and Robert Abbott, as one of two 2013 Exemplary Research in Social Studies Award winners. The award will be presented at the 93rd NCSS Annual Conference Nov. 22-24, in St. Louis, Missouri.

As Washington State makes plans for adopting rigorous new Next Generation Science Standards, researchers at the University of Washington’s College of Education are already in the field working with partner districts to prepare educators for the coming sea-change in science education.

Read more about the College's work in the 2013-2014 edition of Research That Matters ("The Other Gap," pp. 16-21).

By Meredith Honig

Published by the American Enterprise Institute

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 largely mandated that US school district central office leadership should help schools dramatically improve their performance and significantly shrink decades-old achievement gaps. However, central offices have traditionally focused on business and compliance functions rather than on supporting schools in their efforts to help all students realize ambitious learning goals.