In the News

From the 3-year-old who reads at a higher level than his school-age siblings and knows all the state capitols to the introverted, late-blooming artist who struggles in school, being “gifted” may not always look like the stereotype of the precocious geek. What does giftedness really look like and how can parents and teachers of highly capable children best nurture their gifts and  social-emotional health? Dr. Nancy Hertzog responds to ParentMap.

Ji-young Lee, a PhD student in multicultural education, comments on the pressure South Korean students face to win admission to top schools through the country's university entrance exam.

Research by Kenneth Zeichner on venture philanthropy and teacher education, including legislation under consideration by the U.S. Congress, is discussed in a Washington Post article.

Professor David Knight writes that most K-12 federal funding supports the nation's most vulnerable students, making potential cuts for school districts that don't resume daily in-person instruction especially harmful.

Early education and K-12 leaders from across the country participated in a conference hosted by UW's National P-3 Institute to brainstorm ideas for better linking early childhood learning with the K-12 education system.

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.

Professor Virginia Berninger comments on her research into the educational and cognitive benefits of learning to write by hand.

Katie Headrick Taylor, associate professor in Learning Sciences and Human Development, wrote about the importance of movement for students' learning outcomes in an op-ed in The Conversation. Dr. Headrick Taylor argues that current models of remote education are inefficient for learning, teaching and productivity. She points out that sitting in front of a computer screen subdues or detaches people from many of the sense-making abilities of our bodies and cites research from embodied cognition ― the study of the body's role in thinking ― that shows that the body must first be interacting with the world to activate and open up the mind for learning. Whether students remain online or return to in-person classrooms this year, Dr. Headrick Taylor believes both models of school can better incorporate the body to support learning and provides tips for how educators can encourage and sustain an active classroom culture.

Professor William Zumeta's recent book about the convergence of economic, demographic and political forces that require a fundamental reexamination of the financing of American higher education is reviewed by Andrew Delbanco.

Megan Kelley-Petersen, associate director of the UW Accelerated Certification for Teachers program and Ken Zeichner, Boeing professor of teacher education, comment on preparing teachers to better serve communities.