Welcome

Researchers from the University of Washington’s College of Education and community partners collaborated with families, communities and educators from across Washington state to create a bold, direction-setting “roadmap” for reducing barriers of institutional racism in Washington state’s P-12 education system. Funded by the Washington Education Association (WEA) and the National Education Association (NEA), this project aimed to understand the level and types of investments and practices (i.e., policies, decision-making, and actions, and within Washington’s specific historical context) needed to address and eliminate systemic educational inequities from the perspective of families, students and communities that have been historically underserved.

We engaged with communities of color, including students of color, teachers and administrators of color and their networks, as well as other educators throughout the state through various research efforts, focus groups, and other forms of data collection. This research is driven by the fact that non-dominant communities have lacked authentic opportunities to describe and influence the types of investments and policies they believe are most needed to address educational justice in P-12 education in our state.

The Roadmap Report summarizes four core principles that emerged across the thirteen individual projects and provides guidance for enacting sustainable organizational practices toward educational justice.

Reports

A Roadmap to Reducing Barriers to Educational Justice in Washington State: Overview

Project co-leads: Manka Varghese, Ana Elfers & Marge Plecki

Individual Project Reports

Native Perspectives on Educational (In)equity in Washington State: Reclaiming Educational Sovereignty

Dana Arviso, University of Washington, Seattle; Anne Marie Guerrettaz, Washington State University, Pullman; Laina Phillips, Wellpinit High School; Melodi Wynne, Spokane Tribal Network

Paramount Duty of the State: A Brief History of Educational Equity and Inequality in Washington State

Nancy Beadie, University of Washington, Seattle

Who Gets to be a Child? Mothering Young Children of Color with Disabilities and the Politics of Resisting Normalcy

Maggie Beneke, University of Washington, Seattle, Shayla Collins, The Arc of King County, and Selma Powell, University of Washington, Seattle

Working Towards Educational Justice at State and District Levels: Perspectives of Educational Leaders

Ana Elfers and Marge Plecki, University of Washington, Seattle

How Retention and Mobility Outcomes Differ for Teachers of Color in Washington State

Ana Elfers, Marge Plecki, Ni Bei and Youngwon Kim, University of Washington, Seattle

STEM Learning as Care Work

Katie Headrick Taylor, Jiyoung Lee, Erin Riesland, and Mack Ikeru, University of Washington, Seattle

Resources, Challenges and Possibilities in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse School Districts

Eric J. Johnson, Washington State University, Tri-Cities

Establishing Priorities for Education Finance Under Fiscal Uncertainty: Recommendations for Washington State Policymakers

David S. Knight and Marge Plecki, University of Washington, Seattle

A Community Perspective on Educational Justice in the Time of COVID

Sharonne Navas, Equity in Education Coalition

Restoring the ‘Education Debt’: Equity Priorities for Children and Families in BIPOC and Immigrant Communities in Washington

Soojin Oh Park and Kaixin Li, University of Washington, Seattle

Achieving Educational Justice for Washington’s Students of Color

Aneesa Roidad and Dhani Srinivasan, Seattle, WA

“We know what’s right for kids”: Washington State Educators for Racial Justice Speak Up and Speak Back

Manka Varghese, University of Washington, Seattle

Spaces of Belonging: Learning with and from Black-Led Community Organizations and Community Members of Color

Shaneé A. Washington, Kaleb Germinaro, Kayla Chui, and Jessica Ramirez, University of Washington, Seattle