For doctoral student He Ren (He Ren (Pronunciation /xɤ̂ ʐən˧˥/ or "huh zhen")), statistics is not just about complicated math. It is a way to better understand how people learn, grow, and experience the world.
In this Q&A, Dr. Tyrone C. Howard (Ph.D. '98, Curriculum & Instruction) reflects on his journey into education, his decades-long relationship with founding series editor Dr. James A. Banks, and what it means to take the helm of the Multicultural Education Series at Teachers College Press as it marks its 30th anniversary. In his responses, he shares what drives his commitment to justice in education, the voices he hopes to elevate through the series, and what keeps him grounded outside of his work.
The University of Washington College of Education is once again ranked among the nation’s top education schools, according to the 2026 U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate Schools rankings.
As dual enrollment grows rapidly nationwide, including a sharp rise in participation across Washington state, Dr. Julia Duncheon is studying what accelerated college pathways mean for students’ learning and development. While these programs promise affordability and access, her research highlights important tradeoffs that often go unnoticed. Drawing on student stories and classroom insights, she explores how institutions can balance efficiency with the deeper purposes of higher education.
UW College of Education alumna Dr. Britney Holmes (MIT ’14) has spent nearly two decades working to create schools where every child — and every adult — can belong. After serving as a teacher, assistant principal and principal in Seattle Public Schools, Holmes now partners with districts and organizations nationwide through And Still We Rise to help leaders build more equitable and inclusive systems.
The 2026 Research & Inquiry (R&I) Conference brought together 22 doctoral students to share their work and celebrate an important milestone in their Ph.D. journeys. Through thoughtful and compelling presentations, students explored topics ranging from data-informed policy to critically sustaining teacher identity in hegemonic spaces, as well as themes of agency, resistance and collective action.
In his work, Malcom L. King invites us to reconsider one of education’s simplest, most radical acts: listening. A doctoral student at the University of Washington College of Education, King studies how young Black children express agency and shape relationships in school. His research challenges adults to move beyond managing children toward truly learning from them. At the heart of his work is a belief that when children are treated as meaningful partners, not passive participants, schools become more just, humane and connected places for everyone.
In honor of Black History Month—and in recognition that Black history is always unfolding—we asked faculty, staff, alum, community partners, and students to share a book by a Black author that has shaped how they understand Black life, culture and history. Their recommendations remind us that these stories are ongoing, essential, and deeply human. Explore the list, borrow from your local library, and support the places doing the year-round work of preserving and celebrating Black history.
In this Q&A, Dr. Jeannine Dingus-Eason reflects on her new book, A Thousand Worries: Black Women Mothering Autistic Sons, a powerful examination of Black mothering, advocacy, and care at the intersections of race, disability, gender, and class. Drawing from scholarship, lived experience, and community narratives, the book centers voices that are too often excluded from dominant conversations about autism.
Daniel Yi, a PhD student in Organizational and Policy Studies at the UW College of Education, explores how admissions practices and early college programs — often designed to help students — can unintentionally widen inequality. Drawing on his experience teaching in very different school settings, Daniel studies how access, privilege and policy shape who gets ahead, and how schools can create more equitable pathways to college.