At a glance
The Teacher-Scholar Empowerment Initiative supports UW graduate students who simultaneously work as K–12 teachers, a… Read full summary
- Funding received
- 2025-2026
- Mini
- Awarded
- $4,950
- Funding partners
-
- Services and Activities Fee (SAF)
- Website & social links
The Teacher-Scholar Empowerment Initiative supports UW graduate students who simultaneously work as K–12 teachers, a population balancing demanding dual roles with limited institutional support. Through experience-mapping sessions, the project will document challenges related to financial stress, time management, and identity. Findings will be translated into accessible resources, including a digital newsletter with practical tools and curated support services. The initiative will also host monthly peer gatherings to foster community, reduce burnout, and support well-being. By centering the voices of educator-scholars, this project builds sustainable support systems that strengthen student success, professional development, and resilience in the face of growing challenges in education. Funds will be used to compensate participants, student leads, and a student working on transcription.
The Teacher-Scholar Empowerment Initiative will research and address the unique challenges faced by UW graduate students who simultaneously work as K-12 teachers in local schools. As Washington's flagship state university, UW has historically trained countless educators for local K-12 schools while also serving as the primary institution where practicing teachers pursue advanced degrees. This dual mission creates a significant but underserved population on our campus.
An estimated 200+ student-teachers across Education, STEM, and Humanities programs currently balance teaching with graduate coursework. These students face unique pressures: managing dual professional identities, navigating time constraints between classroom and coursework, and experiencing significant financial stress. Unlike their peers in STEM fields who often receive substantial stipends, teacher-students earn modest K-12 salaries while paying graduate tuition. With recent state education funding cuts and nationwide teacher shortage crisis, these educator-scholars need institutional support more than ever.
Our project will support Teacher-Scholars by:
Community Insights & Storytelling: Conduct “Experience Mapping” sessions with 20+ student-teachers to document their experiences, challenges, and support needs. Special focus on financial stress, time management struggles, and identity navigation between being an authority figure in K-12 classrooms while being a student on campus.
Accessible Resources & Digital Newsletter: The Team will translate findings into immediate, asynchronous support via a curated digital newsletter, tentatively titled the “Teacher-Scholar Monthly Dispatch.” The content will include: Visual strategy guides focused on practical tools and coping strategies; Direct, clearly labeled links to relevant UW wellness, academic, and financial aid resources that are often difficult to locate
Wellness & Community Building (Peer Support Group): To combat isolation and burnout, the project will host monthly in-person gatherings centered on wellness, solidarity, and peer connection. Each session will have a designated theme (identity navigation, financial stress, time management, etc.) and structured activities designed to foster meaningful dialogue among participants. These gatherings will provide a safe, closed space for Teacher-Scholars to share experiences and challenges with others who understand their dual roles. The sessions will foster mutual support and collective problem-solving through facilitated small-group discussions and resource-sharing. Over time, these regular meetings will function as a peer-accountability network that promotes well-being, persistence, and a shared sense of professional identity among educator-scholars.
Joy Zheng
Project lead
- joyzheng@uw.edu
- Affiliation
- Student
- Years
- 2 year(s) remaining at UW
- Affiliated groups
- College of Education
Xiaoyi Yang
Team member
- xyang32@uw.edu
- Affiliation
- Student
- Years
- 1 year(s) remaining at UW
- Affiliated groups
- College of Art and Science
Hui Zhang
Team member
- hellohui@uw.edu
- Affiliation
- Student
- Years
- 3 year(s) remaining at UW
- Affiliated groups
- College of Education
Ariel Liu
Team member
- arielliu@uw.edu
- Affiliation
- Student
- Years
- 4 year(s) remaining at UW
- Affiliated groups
- College of Education
Nancy Hertzog
Team member
- nhertzog@uw.edu
- Affiliation
- Faculty
- Affiliated groups
- College of Education
Request amount and budget
Plans for financial longevity
After CSF funding ends, the project will continue through low-cost, student-led maintenance rather than ongoing financial support. All core products, including the newsletter series and resource Kits will be permanently stored and remain freely accessible, eliminating future hosting or access costs. These materials are designed as durable resources that can be reused and expanded over time.
The peer community established through this project is intended to sustain itself organically. Relationships among Teacher-Scholars will continue through personal connections, peer networks, and shared professional identities rather than through funded programming. Informal gatherings or check-ins may continue as participant-driven activities without dedicated financial resources.
To support continuity with minimal cost, the team will create a concise operational Kit documenting essential processes, including how to maintain the newsletter and Kits, and facilitate the peer community. This documentation will allow future leaders to maintain and adapt the project without additional funding.
Overall, the project is financially sustainable, scalable, and designed to persist beyond the initial CSF funding period.
Phase 1: Branding, Networking & Recruitment (Months 1–2)
Goal: Project Establishment.
- Month 1: The Foundation
- Week 1: Team kickoff meeting to finalize the brand identity and core messaging.
- Week 2: Create professional Flyers and Digital Assets specifically for the College of Education (CoE) lounge, STEM departments, and Humanities halls.
- Week 3: Meeting with CoE Teacher Program Leads, faculty advisors, and Graduate School coordinators to explain our mission, request listserv access, and secure faculty support for announcing the initiative to their advisees.
- Week 4: Launch the “Community Storyteller” application. We will recruit 20+ students to act as paid consultants for the project.
- Month 2: Relationship Building
- Week 1: Distribute flyers and host a “Pop-up Info Booth” in Miller Hall to meet potential participants in person.
- Week 2: Select and onboard the first cohort of 10 Storytellers.
- Week 3: Conduct initial “Storytelling Sessions” (1-on-1 consultations) to identify top needs.
- Week 4: Inaugural Peer Support Group Meeting: “Building Our Collective Identity.”
Phase 2: The Resource & Support Cycle (Months 3–7)
Goal: Deliver consistent, high-value support via digital and in-person channels.
- Month 3: Launching the Dispatch
- Newsletter Issue #1.
- Activity: Host the monthly Peer Support Group.
- Month 4: Efficiency & Survival
- Newsletter Issue #2.
- Activity: Onboard the second cohort of 10 Storytellers to share their time-saving strategies.
- Month 5: Financial & Institutional Navigation
- Newsletter Issue #3.
- Activity: Monthly Peer Support Group focusing on financial stress and persistence.
- Month 6: Identity & Wellbeing
- Newsletter Issue #4.
- Activity: Complete all 20+ Storytelling sessions.
- Month 7: Resource Consolidation
- Newsletter Issue #5.
- Activity: Final Monthly Peer Support Group of the academic year.
Phase 3: Synthesis & Sustainability (Months 8–9)
Goal: Ensure the project’s impact continues long after the funding cycle ends.
- Month 8: The “Growth Toolkit” : Compile all newsletter strategies, templates, and links into a single, high-quality “Teacher-Scholar Growth Toolkit” PDF.
- Month 9: The Handoff
- Finalize the Project Impact Report (documenting engagement, attendance, and feedback) for the CSF committee.
- Host a leadership transition meeting to hand over the newsletter listserv and “Operations Kit” to the next year’s student coordinators.
Plans for long-term project management
Dr. Hertzog, a faculty member in the College of Education (CoE) and the Teacher Education Program, will provide consistent consultation to support project continuity. Continuity will be sustained through two complementary strategies: (1) an ongoing pipeline of Education School graduate student leaders and (2) a formal working relationship with the Teacher Education Program within CoE.
Faculty advisors, including Dr. Hertzog and her team, will announce the initiative during advising sessions and share related materials with their advisees. The current project team includes faculty and PhD students at various stages of their graduate programs in CoE, including members with three to four years remaining before graduation. These students are well positioned to continue leading the initiative beyond the initial funding period and to mentor incoming leaders. Because teacher-scholars cycle through programs each year, leadership is intentionally designed to transition naturally as cohorts graduate. New coordinators and facilitators will be recruited from students already engaged in the initiative, creating a consistent and invested pool of future leaders.
To support long-term stability, the project team will establish and maintain a working relationship with staff in the Teacher Education Program. CoE staff will serve as institutional partners who can provide continuity across student leadership transitions, assist with onboarding new leaders, and help maintain access to communication channels and shared resources.
The digital newsletter and resource Kits are central to the project’s sustainability. These materials are designed as permanent, cumulative resources rather than time-limited products. The newsletter will remain accessible to future leaders, serving as institutional memory, while the Kits document core practices and supports. Together, these resources enable new coordinators to build upon existing work rather than start from scratch and also function as effective recruitment tools.
Problem statement
UW trains a lot of local teachers and serves as the main place practicing teachers get advanced degrees. But the 200+ graduate students juggling full-time teaching with graduate coursework are basically invisible on campus. No one's really supporting them.
The Real Problem
Teacher-scholars have pressures that normal graduate support doesn't touch. They're authority figures in their classrooms, then students on campus. They're exhausted managing both. Time-wise, they're stuck between teaching loads and coursework deadlines.
Why Now
Education funding cuts and the teacher shortage make this worse. Many teacher-scholars are burning out. They're forced to choose between teaching and their degree: something UW shouldn't make them do.
What's Missing
Nobody has actually documented what these students experience. There's no peer support network. There's no toolkit or practical help for their specific situation. UW knows they exist but hasn't invested in solutions. We're filling that gap by listening to teacher-scholars, building community, and giving UW concrete recommendations for how to support them better.
Problem context
Filling a Gap in Existing Support
UW has strong graduate support systems: financial aid offices, teaching centers, wellness services, and departmental programs. But these weren't designed for teacher-scholars, who don't fit neatly into any single category. Graduate programs treat them as part-time or distracted. K-12 teacher networks don't reach grad students. No existing program connects these two worlds.
Complementing Current Initiatives
Our project works with existing UW infrastructure, not against it. Our outreach strategy centers on direct collaboration with faculty advisors and program staff. We will meet with CoE Teacher Program Leads and Graduate School coordinators early in the project to explain our mission, secure listserv access for recruitment communications, and request faculty endorsement when reaching out to students. Faculty advisors will be asked to announce the initiative during advising sessions and share materials with their advisees. Departmental coordinators will help us identify teacher-scholars within STEM and Humanities programs who may not be visible through Education channels alone. This faculty-supported outreach ensures we reach students across disciplines while lending credibility to our recruitment efforts. We connect teacher-scholars to existing wellness and financial aid resources, but package information specifically for their situation. We amplify what UW already offers by making it accessible to people juggling dual roles.
Collective Action
The newsletter, Growth Toolkit, and community findings become shared assets that UW departments and the Graduate School can use. Findings inform policy conversations across multiple offices. Recommendations go to Graduate School leadership, school districts, and department heads, creating momentum for systemic change. The peer network itself builds collective power: teacher-scholars become visible advocates for better institutional support.
The Difference
We don't duplicate existing services. We build the connective tissue missing between them, center teacher-scholar voices, and create evidence that drives broader institutional change.
Measure the impacts
| Impact / goal | Metric(s) of success | UW stakeholders impacted |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Direct support & resource accessibility for Teacher-Scholars; 2 Reduced isolation among Educator-Scholars | Metric 1: Recruit and compensate 20+ Teacher-Scholars to share their strategies and experiences. Metric 2: Establish monthly Peer Support Groups. Metric 3: Produce the "Monthly Dispatch" Newsletter and "Growth Toolkit" PDF for the UW community. | Undergraduate, Graduate, Alumni, Academic staff, Admin staff |
Communication tactics and tools
We'll share newsletter, Growth Toolkit releases and project updates through CoE listservs, graduate program coordinator networks, and K-12 district contacts. These are trusted channels where teacher-scholars already get information.
Outreach communication plan
Education faculty can use findings in courses. School districts get insights into better supporting teacher-pursuing-degrees. Future teacher-scholars see themselves represented and know support exists. UW leadership has concrete evidence justifying investment in this population. We'll present findings at graduate school forums, share via UW communications channels, and invite media coverage highlighting teacher-scholar stories.
Student involvement
4 students serve as project coordinators, compensated for planning, recruiting participants, editing newsletters, and managing the peer network. This provides work experience for education students. Engaged teacher-scholars become co-facilitators and guest speakers, developing mentorship and teaching skills. They lead workshops, share expertise on newsletter and guide incoming participants.