Grant to Continue and Expand the ECSEL Program

Earlier this year, the UW Bothell Education Program joined with partners from UW, WSU and Washington state's nine Educational Service Districts to launch the Enhancing Capacity for Special Education Leadership (ECSEL) program. ECSEL prepares accomplished Special Education teachers and related services professionals for roles as local administrators of Special Education.  ECSEL is a two-year program that serves cohorts of candidates who have already demonstrated strong expertise for instructional leadership.  

The pilot cohort for the ECSEL program was launched with support from the state's Special Education office. This summer, ECSEL director Professor Tom Bellamy competed successfully for a federal grant that will provide five years of continuing support for the program. The grant is designed primarily to provide scholarships for candidates in the program. It also provides support for ECSEL's unique state-wide faculty to work together to refine the program, integrating the expertise of current special education administrators and faculty in Special Education and educational administration. Specifically, the grant will provide scholarships for each of the 18 candidates who will be admitted to the program in Summer 2014 and Summer 2016.  

Describing the grant, Bellamy emphasizes the incredibly supportive state-wide partnership that assisted in developing the program and the potential for significant impact. He views local Special Education administrators as a critical leverage point for improving schools for all students including those with disabilities.

Teachers and related service providers who are interested in the ECSEL program should contact Nick Brownlee, program advisor.

Joshua Kwon Becomes UW Bothell's First Martinez Fellow

UW Bothell Master of Education Secondary Credential Program student Joshua Kwon is the institution's first Martinez Fellow. Kwon, who received his undergraduate degree in mathematics from UW Seattle in 2012, was awarded this scholarship for his preparation as a high school mathematics teacher.
Read more

NEW! English Language Learners (ELL) Endorsement

This series of courses will guide you to a deeper understanding and ability to reach the ever increasing population of English language learners in your classroom. Strengthen your teaching and make your students' learning experiences more meaningful.

Certified teachers can add this ELL endorsement to their existing certification. Practicing teachers will be able to utilize what they're learning in their classrooms, analyzing student work, identifying student needs and integrating concepts in future planning and instruction.

Faculty Research

Project STEAM:
Professor Carrie Tzou

This project is a collaboration between UW Bothell, University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the University of Arizona. The goal is to understand how a STEAM-related approach to science instruction affects middle school girls' science-related identities. STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics.

The project has three parts:

1. A 2-week summer academy, called the Colors of Nature, to engage middle school girls in STEAM-based science learning,
2. Science cafes held throughout the year where scientists who use art in their work give informal talks to families, and
3. The development of science "kits" to be used in formal and informal learning settings.

All events are held in Tucson, AZ and Fairbanks, AK.

Preliminary analysis of data from both summer academies suggest the following findings:

(1) When a STEAM approach to science instruction is taken with girls who are already strongly identified with art, many opportunities open up for connections to emerging identities and everyday practices. For example, art opens up space for mistakes and multiplies possibilities in a way that is often challenging for traditional science teaching. Girls, in post-interviews, mentioned that they saw new areas of overlap between science and art, especially in the realm of experimentation, making mistakes, and persisting through science and art projects. One girl said, "Scientists and artists both experiment and make mistakes. The important thing is to keep trying." (2) We also found that the STEAM approach opened up strong connections to scientific practices emphasized in the Next Generation Science Standards (NRC, 2012), such as observation and experimentation.

In post-interviews, girls talked about how having accurate artistic drawings of their observations helps to convey accurate scientific information to other scientists who are not able to observe the same thing as them. They mentioned that both artists and scientists needed to look at problems from multiple perspectives, and that observation through drawing was one way to do that. This also represented a strong connection to everyday practices, as for almost all of these girls, drawing was something that was an important part of their everyday lives and, in fact, helped them think and learn in school. Finally, an unexpected finding was that the STEAM approach to instruction offered another way to look at and appreciate art.

Washington Student Oral Histories Project:
Professor Antony Smith

Student voice adds new dimensions to our understanding of the school dropout issue in a new study released by the Washington Student Oral Histories Project, a research partnership affiliated with the UW Bothell Education Program.

The authors of Pathways to Dropping Out investigated this critical topic by gathering in-depth oral histories from youth, ages 16-22, who had dropped out and were struggling to get back on track. The study is unique in capturing narrative histories of each participant's school life as it unfolded over time--starting with the earliest memories of kindergarten through dropping out and, in some cases, returning to school. Through systematic analysis of the student narratives, the study identified common patterns of disengagement from school as reflected in the participants' reported behaviors and attitudes.  For example, one salient pattern is that almost all interviewed youth enjoyed their elementary school experience but started to dislike and disengage from school upon entering middle or junior high school.  Thus, a large portion of the study participants were "slow faders:" Beginning as early as 6th grade, they skipped significant chunks of school over many years, often maintaining a half-hearted participation in their classes until 11th or 12th grade when they finally dropped out.

What caused the participants to lose interest in and stop attending school? Read more about the project here.

Alumni Updates

Bristol Clarkson, K-8 Teacher Certification Cohort 17, was recently hired as a first grade teacher at Canyon Creek Elementary School, Northshore School District.

Kathleen Hodges, M.Ed. 2007, is the ELA/SS Curriculum Coordinator for the Edmonds School District.

Jaime Klontz, Education Minor / K-8 Teacher Certification / M.Ed., passed National Boards last November and continues to teach at Cedar Wood Elementary School, Everett School District.  

Denise Luci, K-8 Teacher Certification Cohort 17, teaches 7th grade LA/SS at Kirkland Middle School.

Did you know?

80% of our 2013 (Cohort 17) K-8 Teacher Certification graduates were recently hired in local school districts, including several in the Northshore School District.

LEDE Cohort 4

The UW Bothell LEDE Program (Leadership Development for Educators) is now beginning its fourth year.  Since its launch in 2010, this program for preparing learning-focused principals has graduated 38 leaders for our state's schools.  In July, our fourth cohort began their intensive second year of the program with a three-day summer institute.  As the program grows, we have over 40 candidates enrolled in this two-year graduate and licensure program.  This non-traditional program focuses on ensuring that new principals have a strong foundation in supporting high quality instructional practices -- the learning agenda of schools.

Events / Conferences

Panel Discussion
Standardized Testing in Our Public Schools
Tuesday, September 17, 2013, 7:30 - 9:00pm.
Town Hall Seattle
Panelists include:  Jason Mendenhall, of the Northwest Evaluation Association; Wayne Au, UW Bothell; Sandra Brettler, National Board-Certified teacher at Thornton Creek Elementary in Seattle and UW Bothell Teacher Certification graduate; and Christopher Eide, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Washington-based Teachers United.
Click here for more information.

Book talk and lecture: Diane Ravitch
Thursday September 26
7:00 -8:30pm
Kane Hall 130
University of Washington, Seattle campus
Historian of education, Diane Ravitch speaks about her new book, Reign of Error: The Hoax of Privatization Movement & the Danger to America's Public Schools. This event is free and open to the public. Click here for more information.

PDK Washington Fall Conference
Common Core State Standards
October 5, 2013, 9 am - 1:30 pm
Northeastern University, Seattle
Information

Northwest Teaching for Social Justice Conference
"Rethinking Our Classrooms, Organizing for Better Schools"
Saturday October 19, 2013
8:00 - 4:30
Chief Sealth International High School
Seattle
Information