Faculty in the School of Education are encouraged to pursue research interests through grants. As such, many resources are available to help them prepare and submit grant proposals. Review and approval guidelines have been developed to help in this process, as outlined below. Further resources are also included in the links on this page.
Current Grants (2022 - 2023)
PI: Dr. Belinda Louie
Funder: U.S. Department of Education
Duration: 2017 to 2023
Amount Awarded: $2,742,769
Overview: Project goals for TELL-PD aim at supporting educators to improve academic performance for ELs: 1) preservice teachers complete WA certification with EL endorsement license; 2) principals and inservice teachers complete hybrid professional development modules to improve EL instruction; 3) inservice teachers take online endorsement program; and 4) Parents, families, and community will expand and enhance their skills, strategies, and knowledge to communicate and to collaborate to support ELs’ learning.
PI: Dr. Belinda Louie
Funder: U.S. Department of Education
Duration: 2022 to 2027
Amount Awarded: $2,995,811
Overview: Project TELL-Equity aims to increase the capacity of Grades K–8 pre-service and in-service teachers in to provide effective and equitable language and literacy instruction for English learners. This instruction will promote learning and meaning-making by building on students’ experiences and knowledge, and their linguistic, cultural, and cognitive resources. TELL-EQUITY has 4 goals to support the needs of the LEA partner school districts and to address the grant priorities in providing PD that will improve instruction for English learners: 1) Increase the certification and EL endorsement rates of preservice teachers, 2) Improve effective instruction for ELs by increasing the number of inservice teachers with EL endorsements, 3) Support strategies that promote school readiness of ELs and their transition from early childhood education programs to elementary school programs. (4) Ensure ELs’ equitable access to education by facilitating ELs’ language and literacy growth professional activities for educators and parents on linguistically and culturally responsive instruction. This project will serve to 507 unduplicated participants: 75 preservice teachers resulting in certification and state EL endorsement licensure, 150 inservice teachers resulting in state EL endorsement, 6 inservice kindergarten teachers in year 3 will receive PDs and follow-up mentoring in Early Childhood Shared Reading (Competitive Priority 1treatment group), 6 inservice kindergarten teachers will receive PDs in year 3 on multicultural picture books (Competitive Priority 1 control group), and 120 inservice teachers, 30 principals, 90 parents, and 30 district liaisons receiving six hours of equity PD during the annual summer institutes.
PI: Dr. Julia Aguirre
Funder: National Science Foundation
Duration: 2020 to 2024
Amount Awarded: $577,122
Overview: Advancing Equity and Strengthening Teaching with Elementary Mathematical Modeling (EQ-STEMM) is a Level II, Early Stage Design and Development project in the Teaching Strand. EQ-STEMM focuses on equity-centered professional development (PD) designed to improve mathematics teaching and learning through mathematical modeling (MM) in grades K-5. MM gives students equitable access to complex problem solving, quantitative reasoning and communication skills required for participation in STEM-related disciplines and civic engagement. Project goals are to a) increase equitable participation and learning of mathematical modeling for culturally and linguistically diverse children; b) develop and test tools and resources to strengthen MM instruction that leverages students’ lived experiences and cultural funds of knowledge; and c) develop and refine a model for an innovative practice-based PD that includes on-line hybrid learning spaces for teachers in diverse settings. EQ-STEMM builds on two previously funded NSF projects focused on MM in the elementary grades (M2C3-EHR CORE and IMMERSION-STEM-C). EQ-STEMM is led by PIs from the University of Washington Tacoma, University of Arizona, Montana State University, and George Mason University. Their collaboration will accelerate research in elementary MM and support the design, and testing of innovative, online/hybrid PD that reaches K-5 teachers in diverse geographic contexts.
PI: Dr. Rachel Endo
Funder: U.S. Department of Education
Duration: 2022 to 2027
Amount Awarded: $1,989,942
Overview: The University of Washington Tacoma (UWT) is the most racially and ethnically diverse campus of the University of Washington tri-campus system. UWT has been designated as an AANAPISI-eligible institution since 2017 and is applying as a first-time candidate for AANAPISI PART A funds to develop and enhance support for its AAPI students. A university whose mission focuses on serving primarily urban students, most of whom are commuters, UWT was founded in 1990 and is located in historic downtown Tacoma, Washington, in Pierce County. More than 51% of the students come via transfer, the majority from one of five community colleges located within commuting distance. 25% percent of the University’s students are Asian American (23%) and Pacific Islander (2%): comprising the second largest student population at the institution and reflecting the largest growing population in the University, Pierce County, and Washington State.
Major Gaps in Service: With leadership from the Office of Equity and Inclusion, the AANAPISI Development Team identified three major gaps in service to Asian American and Pacific Islander students, including: 1) disparity in retention rates between full-time, first-time in college AAPI students and transfer students, 2) severely limited faculty development in high-impact, best practices of inclusive teaching and curriculum development 3) serious lack of connection and engagement of AAPI students with the campus community.
Solutions: UWT’s proposal embodies five components to address identified gaps:
Component I: Improve academic support for first-year, first-time in college AAPI students with designated AAPI sections of Summer Bridge and RISE (Race, Identity and Social Engagement) Scholars first-year learning community.
Component II: Establish and implement a faculty learning community with emphasis on inclusive pedagogy to better serve AAPI and other historically underrepresented and underserved student populations.
Component III: Develop new culturally relevant courses and implement an Asian American and Studies Minor.
Component IV: Create a welcoming campus environment that connects AAPI students with faculty, other students, and the larger campus community.
Component V: Create an AAPI Mental Health and Wellness workshop series and use digital storytelling to destigmatize mental health and encourage positive help-seeking behaviors
PI: Dr. Dawn Hardison-Stevens
Funder: WA State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI)
Duration: 2022-2023
Amount Awarded: $125,000
Overview: Our purpose at the University of Washington Tacoma (UWT) campus is to continue building and growing seamless Academic Learning Pathways in Native Education (ALPINE) in partnership with Native and Tribal programs and colleges that establish teacher and educator academic pathway capacity building for Tribal schools, Tribal compact schools, Tribal school districts, and Tribal Education Departments. A collaborative, consultative, and unified system works with Native peoples and Tribes to strengthen the need for Native educators to join the education field through enhancement of Tribal certification and Tribally governed teacher preparation and residency programs to increase Native educators across Washington State and beyond.
