SOE Grants and Partnerships

Select Funded Faculty Projects & Grants

TELL Equity - (Teaching English Language Learners)

Duration: 2022-Present

Amount Awarded: $1,198,496

Principal Investigator: Louie, Belinda (Professor)

https://www.tacoma.uw.edu/tellequity

https://www.tacoma.uw.edu/news/3m-grant-prepare-teachers-english-language-learners

Project TELL-Equity aims to increase the capacity of Grades K–8 pre-service and in-service teachers 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; and, (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. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the project PI is Dr. Belinda Louie.

AAPI THRIVE - (Tacoma Husky Retention and Inclusive Vision of Excellence)

Duration: 2022-Present

Amount Awarded: $1,989,942

Principal Investigator: Endo, Rachel (Dean and Professor)

https://www.tacoma.uw.edu/chancellor/thrive

The Tacoma Husky Retention and Inclusive Vision of Excellence (AAPI THRIVE) project develops and provides support for Asian-American and Pacific Islander students, addressing three major gaps: 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; and, 3) Serious lack of connection and engagement of AAPI students with the campus community. These three gaps are addressed through five components, as follows: Component I: Improving academic support for first-year, first-time in college AAPI students; Component II: Establishing and implementing a faculty learning community with emphasis on inclusive pedagogy; Component III: Developing new culturally relevant courses and implementing an Asian American Studies Minor; Component IV: Creating a welcoming campus environment that connects AAPI students with faculty, other students, and the larger campus community; and, Component V: Creating an AAPI Mental Health and Wellness workshop series and use digital storytelling to destigmatize mental health and encourage positive help-seeking behaviors. The project is led by PI Dr. Rachel Endo, and is funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

NSF EQ-STEMM - (Strengthening Teaching with Elementary Mathematical Modeling)

Duration: 2021-Present

Amount Awarded: $577,122

Principal Investigator: Aguirre, Julia (Professor)

Equity and Strengthening Teaching with Elementary Mathematical Modeling (EQ-STEMM) focuses on equity-centered professional development (PD) designed to improve mathematics teaching and learning through mathematical modeling (MM) in grades K-5. Project goals include: a) increasing equitable participation and learning of mathematical modeling for culturally and linguistically diverse children; b) developing and testing tools and resources to strengthen MM instruction that leverages students’ lived experiences and cultural funds of knowledge; and, c) developing and refining a model for an innovative practice-based PD that includes on-line hybrid learning spaces for teachers in diverse settings. EQ-STEMM is led by PIs from the University of Arizona, University of Washington Tacoma, Montana State University, and George Mason University. The UW Tacoma component was led by the School of Education’s Dr. Julia Aguirre. This work is funded by the National Science Foundation.

ALPINE - (Academic Learning Pathways in Indigenous Native Education)

Duration: 2022-2023

Amount Awarded: $125,000

Principal Investigator: Hardison-Stevens, Dawn (Assistant Professor Native American Education)

The ALPINE initiative aims to empower Native peoples by building capacity within Tribal schools and education systems to increase the number of Native educators, Tribal certification, and Native-advised teacher preparation programs. The goal is to build capacity within schools with high Native populations, Tribal compact schools, and education systems to empower Native peoples and enhance their entry into the field of education. ALPINE will focus on Tribal certification and Native-advised teacher preparation programs, ultimately increasing the number of Native educators.

In honorable collaboration, the UW-Tacoma and the School of Education acknowledge the presence of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians' traditional lands as concepts grow with the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction’s Office of Native Education, various Tribes, and local communities to enhance Native education. ALPINE encompasses several key objectives:

1. Partnership Development fosters connections between UWT-SOE, Tribes, and communities to certify Native educators and integrate Indigenous knowledge into educational frameworks.
2. Community Engagement involves Tribal communities recruiting Indigenous educators, ensuring outreach methods engage families effectively.
3. Student Support encourages Native students to pursue dreams and degrees in education and facilitates pathways from high school to higher education.
4. Collaboration Among Learners promotes confidence and understanding through shared experiences and validating cultural knowledge.
5. Graduate Education Support aims to help Native individuals pursue advanced degrees while respecting Tribal sovereignty.
6. Local Outreach enhances educator capacity through partnerships respecting Tribal sovereignty, such as the Muckleshoot Tribe and Tribal College, Northwest Indian College, South Puget Sound, and Olympic Peninsula areas.

Overall, ALPINE seeks to restore and uplift Native education, creating sustainable pathways supporting the growth of Native educators across Washington and beyond inspired by an ancestral dream related to academic pathways and climbing mountains. The vision emphasized an alpine environment or experience as Ancestral guided wordplay developed while envisioning higher elevations with 'The Mountain,' 'Mt. Tahoma,' 'Taquoma,' 'təqʷuʔməʔ' or 'the mother of waters,' a place commonly referred to as "Mt. Rainier." With several considerations of photo representations, one kept coming back around from photographer and UW professor Dr. Elli J. Theobald, who, after contact, permitted the ALPINE image. The photo includes Mt. Tahoma, seen from many directions, circling the lands of several Indigenous peoples and Tribes since time immemorial. The analogies are broad, consisting of the higher alpine elevations and across horizons, viewing the diverse landscapes, as each altitude provides varied opportunities, like that of the Sacred Circle.

TELL PD - (Teaching English Language Learners)

Duration: 2017-2023

Amount Awarded: $2,260,118

Principal Investigator: Louie, Belinda (Professor)

Teaching English Language Learners through Professional Development (TELL-PD) aims to support educators improve academic performance for English language learners. The project had four primary goals: 1) Provide support to preservice teachers completing a WA teaching certification with an EL endorsement license; 2) Provide principals and inservice teachers with hybrid professional development modules to improve EL instruction; 3) Provide support for inservice teachers enrolled in an online endorsement program; and, 4) Help parents, families, and community members expand and enhance their skills, strategies, and knowledge to communicate and to collaborate to support ELs’ learning. TELL-PD was funded by the U.S. Department of Education, and led by PI Dr. Belinda Louie.

M2C3 - (Mathematics Modeling with Cultural and Community Contexts)

Duration: 2016-2019

Amount Awarded: $491,722

Principal Investigator: Aguirre, Julia (Professor)

The Mathematics Modeling with Cultural and Community Contexts (M2C3) Project is a national collaborative mathematics education research project funded by the National Science Foundation. The project focuses on teaching and learning of mathematical modeling in grades 3-5. It involves 4 institutions: University of Washington Tacoma, University of Arizona, Queens College – City University of New York, and Washington State University. The M2C3 project is a research project aimed at enhancing mathematical modeling in grades 3-5 by modifying instruction to create math experiences for students that connect to lived experiences in families and communities. UW Tacoma work was led by Dr. Julia Aguirre.