COE Faculty Research
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://digital.lib.washington.edu/handle/1773/51005
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Item type: Item , This is where we go: the quantum healing possibilities in languaging Black humanity(2026-04-03) Afolalu, Lakeya; Smith, Patriann; Austin, TashaHomogenizing narratives dehumanize racially minoritized groups while obscuring the mechanisms and structures of white supremacy that ultimately harm everyone. Through an intimate conversation, Black women scholars from African American, Caribbean, and African backgrounds, the paper aims to thicken solidarities across Black diasporic difference. By exploring intraracial overlaps and tensions, this dialogue disrupts narratives that flatten Black diasporic identity diversity, erase Black global linguistic varieties, and silence varied Black histories. In turn, the conversation reveals that authentic solidarity emerges from honoring intracultural nuances, confronting internalized colonial logics, and centering youth voices alongside intergenerational knowledge. Design/methodology/approach This conversation formalized years of informal discussions among three Black diasporic women scholars. Grounded in established trust and our positionalities, the dialogue flowed organically in response to open-ended questions that enabled the authors’ distinct rhetorical and cultural traditions to emerge. In doing so, the authors embodied the very linguistic practices they analyzed by transgressing academic rhetoric to speak in various Black global languages. The authors’ linguistic fidelity honors Black feminist and transnational epistemologies, emphasizes relational knowledge production, and offers a rhetorical illustration of solidarity-building in practice. Findings While the authors’ dialogue defies traditional ‘findings,’ key themes emerged. Thickening Black diasporic solidarities requires confronting internalized colonization and moving beyond divisive reactions toward intraracial healing. Self-definition aids in healing generational trauma. Linguistic creativity, from Negro spirituals to digital literacies, are essential for collective integenerational resistance. Spiritual joy differs from externally imposed, performative happiness, and fear of professional/personal loss inhibits authentic solidarity work. Multicultural education must integrate Black linguistic diversity into teacher preparation programs in ways that transgress deficit framings. While racialization flattens Black heterogeneity, dialogues like this one function as critical spaces of refuge, fugitivity and diasporic healing. Originality/value The authors’ dialogue models the very solidarity it theorizes, as the authors speak and make meaning in Black languages while analyzing Black linguistic diversity. In doing so, the authors make visible intraracial tensions that homogenizing narratives erase and theorize dialogue as a refuge for Black women scholars navigating racialized violence. They center youth as generational innovators and demonstrate the necessity of confronting internalized colonization. This conversation emphasizes that solidarity arises from honoring intracultural differences. Insights from the authors’ conversation have implications for multicultural education across various learning spaces, including teacher preparation programs, classrooms and community- and youth-centered organizations.Item type: Item , How Washington’s Transition to Kindergarten program addresses childcare deserts: Current state funding caps and proposed funding cuts exacerbate gaps in access to early learning and disproportionally harm higher-poverty communities(2026-02-27) Knight, David S; Mou, Merina; Hines, ElizabethEarly childhood care and education (ECE) plays a critical role in supporting childhood development, providing children with fundamental rights that are outlined in the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child. Moreover, research shows investments in ECE provide long-term benefits for the individual and for society that far outweigh societal costs. Effective ECE systems provide caregivers with the opportunity to join the workforce if they choose, providing additional economic benefits to society. Washington state operates two state-funded ECE programs, the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program and Transition to Kindergarten, or TK. Governor Ferguson’s proposed 2026 budget cuts funding for TK, a move that would have devastating effects on the state’s ECE system, especially within the most under-resourced areas of the state. This brief explains the important role that TK fills in addressing childcare deserts within Washington’s ECE system. We demonstrate that districts located in childcare deserts rely more heavily on TK. The brief offers policy recommendations for local and state policymakers.Item type: Item , Teacher Retention and Turnover During the COVID-19 Era: How Changes in Attrition Differed across Teachers and Schools in Washington State(2024-03) Knight, David S; Candelaria, Christopher A; Sun, Min; Almasi, Pooya; Xu, Lu; Liu, AlexItem type: Item , Principal Retention and Turnover During the COVID-19 Era: Do Students Have Equitable Access to Stable School Leadership?(2023-12) Knight, David S.; Candelaria, Christopher A.; Sun, Min; Almasi, Pooya; Shin, Jinseok; DeMatthews, DavidItem type: Item , Creating an Adequate and Equitable School Finance System in Washington State: Recommendations for State Policymakers(University of Washington, 2023-12) Knight, David S.; Baker, Bruce; Srikanth, Ajay; Weber, Mark; Fujioka, Kendall