Features

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.

By Matt Wastradowski, Viewpoints Magazine

Roughly a decade ago, first-year literature and writing teacher Drego Little, education alum ’05, was in the middle of a lesson about fairy tales when a middle-school student piped up. “These stories are sexist,” Little remembers the young girl saying. He was taken aback but nevertheless listened to her rationale.

Andrew Drape was in the eighth grade at Aki Kurose Middle School when Mia Williams became his principal.

“Mia said this was her dream job and that she had begged the school district to send her there,” Andrew’s mother Chrissie Drape recalled. “At that moment, I said to myself, this is going to be good.”

After finishing eighth grade at Aki Kurose in Seattle’s South End, Andrew went on to Franklin High School, where he is a senior, ready to graduate. Under the leadership and stability of long-time principal Jennifer Wiley, Franklin has thrived.

Dr. Eugene “Gene” Edgar, professor of special education at the UW College of Education, plans to retire in June 2013. Edgar has worked at the UW since 1972.

Edgar has has received the University of Washington’s Outstanding Public Service Award and the James D. Clowes Award for the Advancement of Learning Communities, among other honors.