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Community
Welcome
The University of Washington College of Education is dedicated to making an excellent education a daily reality for every student in every community across this state and country. This goal is shared by education
leaders, P-12 teachers, and policymakers alike and could not possibly be attained without community partnerships and collaborations.
Our research centers and projects work directly with the education and business community to continually explore ways to improve teaching and learning for students across the nation. The College of Education’s academic programs provide for both classroom work and site work at schools, learning centers, and school districts across the state and country.
- Students in our Masters in Teaching (M.I.T) program spend almost half of their time working directly in classrooms.
- Intercollegiate Athletic Leadership Program (M.Ed) students intern for 3 quarters in various aspects of collegiate athletics departments.
- All of the Masters and Doctoral programs integrate on campus study with hands-on P-12 classroom work and on-site research and consultation.
Here are just a few of the ways the UW College of Education is working with the community.
Improving Math Education
Through the Mathematics Education Project (MEP), College of Education faculty work in classrooms across the state to support excellent math instruction in elementary and middle schools. A team of graduate students serve as on-site coaches for math teachers in urban high schools, working with teachers on curriculum, assessing student needs, and developing appropriate group projects. Researchers work in classrooms with students and teachers to examine how the exchange between students and their teachers can help increase develop children’s math skills and understanding.
To read about other math research being conducted at the College of Education, please see Research that Matters: Does Modern Math Education Add Up?
Support for New Teachers
New teachers often feel abandoned in a challenging classroom, frustrated to the point of quitting. To better support these new teachers and increase retention rates, the UW College of Education and the Ginger & Barry Ackerley Foundation are offering new teachers at 20 high needs schools additional resources. Working with the College of Education and our partnering schools, the Ackerley Partner School Network helps provide mentors and on-line support groups. Additionally, teachers receive training about how children learn to classroom teaching techniques.
Workforce Learning and Global Competitiveness
The Learning in Informal and Formal Environments (LIFE) Center is working with the Boeing Company, exploring ways to rethink continued learning on the job. Today’s fast-paced, technology-driven business environment requires companies to remain agile in order to compete. LIFE and Boeing are determining how to configure learning on the job to best position Boeing for growth and productivity.
Closing the Achievement Gap
Students in the Leadership for Learning program continuously visit families in their homes to gain a better understanding of the culture, experiences, and traditions that comprise today’s classroom. Through outreach efforts such as these home visits, students work with teachers to bridge the disconnect between home and classroom. This collaboration is leading to the creation of systems that can help close the achievement gap.
The Center for Educational Leadership (CEL) exists to support education leaders who embrace a mission of social justice and equity for all students—those leaders who are committed to the elimination of the achievement gap by changing the policies, practices, and structures in schools and school systems that perpetuate inequities so often based on race, class and language. CEL brings leaders together to develop their capacities through a variety of programs and services. To learn more about CEL, visit http://www.k-12leadership.org
Teacher Retention
The Center for the Study of Teaching and Policy (CSTP) studies efforts to improve the quality of teaching, and learning by determining how to supporting and retaining teachers. The Center works with school districts across Washington to examine teacher mobility and retention.
Adolescent Mental Health
Faculty researchers in the Educational Psychology department are working in Seattle Public Schools to examine the relationship between exposure to community violence and adolescent mental health issues such as depression and suicide.
Autism and Learning
The incidences of autism among children has increased dramatically over the last decade. It is now estimated that one in every 150 children born in the United States will be diagnosed as being autistic. Project DATA (Developmentally Appropriate Treatment for Autism) seeks to help teachers, school districts and families to meet the social and educational needs of children with autism by developing effective and sustainable interventions for young children with autism.
Increasing Teacher Diversity
Our nation's classrooms are becoming more ethnically, racially, and socio-economically diverse. Of the nearly 45,000 students in Seattle Public Schools, 60% are ethnic minorities and they represent 100 different languages and dialects. The percentage of students eligible for free or reduced price lunch in the Seattle School District is 40.8%. The College of Education is partnering with Seattle Central Community College (SCCC) to pipeline qualified high school students into the College’s Master in Education program, providing them with the necessary support and resources for long-term careers as teachers.
The UW Center for Partnerships in Education
The UW Center for Partnerships in Education (UWCPE) grew out of the Teachers for a New Era project. The Center is built upon the premise that universities share responsibility with local school systems for improving the quality of education in our state. The Center is committed to convening faculty and administrators from UW colleges and P-12 Schools, as well as state and national higher education institutions to develop and enhance educational partnerships that can further the study and improve the practice of educator training, growth and development.
Creating Connections
At the 2007 COSEE-OLC's (Center for Ocean Science Education Excellence-Ocean Learning Communities) Creating Connections event, one full day was spent engaging with inquiry-based teaching and learning, technological tools for sharing best practices and keeping connected, and scientific findings from research occurring in Puget Sound. COSEE-OLC also sponsored field trips to the Cedar River watershed and on the Ocean Inquiry Project research vessel.
