Knowledge in Action (KIA), an approach to project-based learning (PBL) pioneered at the UW College of Education by professors emeriti Walter Parker, Sheila Valencia, Susan Nolen and John Bransford, continues to inspire and informed a recent study referenced in an Education Lab op-ed published earlier by The Seattle Times. The op-ed highlights how project-based learning teaches critical thinking, one of the most important skills for students to develop and that is correlated with academic success and increases in empathy. Rather than approaching learning through memorization and top-down deployment of instructions, rigorous PBLs like KIA encourage students to learn through experimentation and observation.
UW receives $30 million gift to renovate Haring Center for Inclusive Education, underscoring the importance of early childhood education
Thursday, April 8, 2021
Since 1964, the University of Washington Haring Center for Inclusive Education has provided innovative special education and early learning, improving the lives of children and youth with neurodevelopmental disorders and other disabilities.
But the building that’s home to this work, tucked behind the UW Medicine Surgery Pavilion along the Montlake Cut, is antiquated, overcrowded and badly in need of a comprehensive overhaul. Now, thanks to a generous $30 million gift from the Sunderland Foundation, the UW will renovate the existing facility to continue to provide leading-edge services.
“The work at the Haring Center has changed the way we understand early childhood education, and, thanks to the Sunderland Foundation’s tremendous gift, we now can chart a path forward for another 50 years of community support and more cutting-edge research outcomes,” said Mia Tuan, dean of the College of Education.
Philip Bell and collaborators publish new journal article, "The trouble with STEAM and why we use it anyway."
Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Philip Bell along with project collaborators from Oakland, Irvine, New York, London and Dublin published a new journal article in Science Education called "The trouble with STEAM and why we use it anyway." The piece describes a number of key challenges with efforts to integrate the arts and STEM education, and it highlights some key dimensions of meaninful, transdisciplinary STEAM learning environments. This article is published open access. Bell is a professor of Learning Sciences & Human Development and holds the Shauna C. Larson Chair in Learning Sciences. He is also the executive director of the UW Institute for Science & Math Education.
American Association of School Administrators named Michelle Reid the 2021 National Superintendent of the Year
Tuesday, March 23, 2021
The American Association of School Adminstrators named Michelle Reid (M.Ed. '85, Ph.D.' 12) the 2021 National Superintendent of the Year during the National Conference on Education. Earlier this year the Washington Association of School Administrators named Reid the 2021 Supervisor of the Year. Reid received her Master's degree in Education Administration and her doctorate in Educational Leadership from the UW College of Education. Reid currently serves as the Superintendent of the Northshore School District.
In Pursuit of Educational Justice
Friday, March 5, 2021
Juan Zavaleta Berdeja had a question that drove him to graduate school. In answering it, he hopes to effect educational change for students.
What Predicts Legislative Success of Early Care and Education Policies?: Applications of Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing in a Cross-State Early Childhood Policy Analysis
Thursday, February 11, 2021
UW College of Education faculty, Soojin Oh Park and Nail Hassairi, conducted a study that proposes a new analytic approach to unlocking the potential of legislative data to inform future policymaking in the early care and education frontier. Very few studies in the field of early childhood consider how policymaking occurs at state and federal levels and under what conditions state legislators achieve success in committees, on the floor, and at the enactment stage of the legislative process. The authors’ findings may help guide targeted advocacy efforts by assigning thing policy priorities to more senior legislators (or not intensely involving senior legislators with legislation that may be relatively easy to pass), identifying which policy priorities to push for in times or large/small majorities in the legislative bodies, or may be useful for early childhood researchers and organizations engaging in state legislative action.
Using Data to Improve Teacher Education: Moving Evidence Into Action
Friday, February 5, 2021
Professor Charles Peck of the UW College of Education co-wrote this book with Kristen Cuthrell, Desiree H. Pointer Mace, Tine Sloan, and Diana B. Lys. In their book, the authors provide concrete examples of how data can be used by faculty, staff, and program leaders to improve their collective work as teacher educators. This collaborative effort between researchers and practitioners presents lessons learned to assist teacher educators who are engaged daily with the challenges of making data useful and used in their programs.
Investigating Young Children’s Conceptualizations of Disability and Race: An Intersectional, Multiplane Critique
Tuesday, February 2, 2021
In this essay, Maggie Beneke, assistant professor at the UW College of Education, proposes the need for intersectional, multiplane qualitative data generation in studying young children’s disability and race conceptualizations to account for the ways intersecting, oppressive ideologies are perpetuated in young children’s worlds. In this essay, Beneke briefly describe sand critiques extant data generation practices, concluding with possibilities for future investigations.
Cross-Racial Agency: Exploring a New Form of Collaborative Practice to Support Men of Color in Higher Education
Monday, February 1, 2021
Men of color have been the focus of a growing number of research studies, as educators and policy makers attempt to address educational equity gaps. Compared with other educational settings, less attention has focused on how to increase persistence and graduation rates of men of color pursuing baccalaureate degrees. Yet, national statistics over the past two decades show that men of color in colleges and universities graduate at lower rates than all other populations, including their same-race women peers. Associate Professor, Joe Lott, II, along with co-authors Dalva Perez and Theresa Ling Yeh, conducted research to examine a collaborative, equity-based inquiry approach to respond to equity gaps for men of color in college. Their study used a social design experiment (SDE) approach to examine what happens when staff of color on a predominantly White campus come together to address educational inequities for men of color. The researchers’ findings suggest that developing communities of practice through this SDE approach could lead to more enriched and comprehensive responses and to systemic organizational change.
A Shockingly Simple Way to Improve Online School
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
EdSurge is an award-winning education news organization that reports on the people, ideas, and technologies that shape the future of learning. This article promotes the benefits of using two computer screens to improve virtual learning. The UW College of Education is mentioned.