October 2026 Newsletter

Top Stories

UC Davis Creates a One-Year Path to the Classroom

Aspiring teachers will soon be able to earn a teaching credential and master’s degree at UC Davis in just one year through the School of Education’s new Master of Education (M.Ed.) program, which will welcome its first cohort in July 2027. “We’re creating a more accessible pathway into the profession while remaining focused on preparing teachers who can create equitable and meaningful learning opportunities for the students and communities they serve,” said Alexis Patterson Williams, chair of Teacher Education. The M.Ed. replaces the six-quarter M.A. in Education pathway, which will be phased out as current students complete their degrees. Read the UC Davis Master of Education program announcement.

Educational Talent Search Receives $8.2 Million in New Grants

The School of Education has received five U.S. Department of Labor Educational Talent Search (ETS) grants totaling $8.2 million. The five-year grants will support the ongoing work of ETS branches in Sacramento, Solano, Yolo, and Shasta counties, reaching more students across Northern California. “There are so many students who need these services,” said Samuel Blanco III, director of Pre-College TRIO Programs. “They really look to our advisors to help them with college applications, financial aid, scholarships, and letters of recommendation.” Learn how the new ETS grants will support students.

Expanding Equity in Educational Research Speaker Series: Exploring Learning Through Art and Community

Award-winning director, screenwriter, and producer Luiza Botelho and University of Connecticut literacy scholar, educator, and artist Dr. Grace D. Player presented at the School of Education’s Expanding Equity in Educational Research Speaker Series. Organized by Profs. Darnel Degand and Danny C. Martinez, the event explored the importance of creative practice and community-based learning in identity formation, and included a screening of Botelho’s short film “BELA LX-404.” View photos from the 2026 Expanding Equity in Educational Research Speaker Series.

Why UC Davis for a Teaching Credential?

Hear from Faith Johnston, Cred. ’25, M.A. ’26, about how support from her professors and peers helped her grow into a confident first grade teacher. Visit us on YouTube or Instagram for more student and alumni stories.

Presentations and Citations

In addition to serving as keynote speaker for the Getting Down to Facts III Bay Area Convening, Michal Kurlaender presented research on student transitions from high school to college during a State Board of Education learning session to better understand UC requirements for admission.

In other news: Research co-authored by Kristine Jan Cruz Espinoza was cited in a joint amicus brief filed by Asian Americans Advancing Justice and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in support of the federal Hispanic-Serving Institutions program…Kevin Gee led the advocacy organization Western Justice Center in a training on how to navigate statewide policy, funding, and governance. Visit our conference page for a complete roundup of recent research presentations.

Student and Alumni News

From language learning and food insecurity to technology use and the socioemotional impacts of AI, the School of Education’s newest Ph.D. students are exploring questions rooted in their lived experiences. Meet three members of the 2026 cohort and learn more about the research interests, goals, and accomplishments they bring to UC Davis.

Tico Zendejas, Ed.D. ’18, was hired as the inaugural director of the new Transforming CalWORKs program under UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education–Human Services. In this role, Zendejas will provide strategic, operational, and programmatic leadership for UC Davis’s statewide CalWORKs training, technical assistance, and coaching partnership with the California Department of Social Services.

Natalia Valadez, Cred. ’10, M.A. ’11, has been teaching social studies at Norwalk High School for 15 years, where she has helped expand civic learning opportunities for students through hands-on experiences. In August, Norwalk High received the California Civic Learning Award, one of the state’s highest recognitions for excellence in civic education, for activities spearheaded by Valadez and her colleagues. “It is especially meaningful to me to receive this recognition for work that grew out of my passion for political science, education, and civic engagement that I developed while at UC Davis,” she said.

Recent Publications

Acevedo, N. & Cuellar, M. (2026). Beyond Individual Social Mobility: Black and Latine Students Envisioning Liberatory Purposes of Community College. Innovative Higher Education.

Chévez, C., Quiteño, M., Roque, A., & Rodríguez, G. (2026). Between Power and Recognition: Experiences of Women in Leadership Positions. Envigado: Institución Universitaria de Envigado.

Erbstein, N., London, J.K., Poudel, B.R., & Nakarmi, N. (2026). Critical Community Development Education: Assessing Virtual Exchange as a Third Space. In: Tzoumis, K.A. (ed) Handbook of Using Virtual Exchange Across Disciplines. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Cham.

Hanlin, P., Mak, E.*, Mauer, E., Uchikoshi, Y., & Zhou, Q. (2026). Measuring utterance-level variations in cognitive demand of parents’ book-sharing language: An item response modeling approach. Methods in Psychology, 15.

Hart, C.M.D., Baker, R., Hill, M.*, Alonso, E., & Xu, D. (2026). Online Student Performance Under Synchronous and Asynchronous Instruction in California Community Colleges. Research in Higher Education, 67(16).

Higgs, J.M., Kaimana, M., & Isero, M. (2026). Leveraging Onto-Epistemic Heterogeneity for “Outward” Exploration: Cultivating Critical AI Awareness in the ELA Classroom. Journal of the Learning Sciences.

Leung-Gagné, M., Sorensen, L., Kini, T., Patrick, S.K., Carver-Thomas, D., Tan, T.S., Darling-Hammond, L., Smith, T.M., & Li, Y. (2026). California’s teacher shortages: Trends in supply, demand, and turnover. Learning Policy Institute.

Rios, O. & Albano, T. (2026). Advancing Item Writing Methods with Large Language Models and Subject Matter Experts. Applied Measurement in Education.

Shaughnessy, M., Garcia, N., Krug O’Neill, M., Loewenberg Ball, D., Wilkes II, C.E., Willis, A.T., Bobsin Salazar, S., & Selling Bruot, S.K. (2026). A formative approach to understanding (and supporting) prospective teachers’ capabilities with modeling mathematical thinking. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education.

Winn, M.T., Winn, L.T., Anderson-Thompson, A., Naseer, M.*, Calvin, C., & Ortiz-Gonzalez, I. (2026). Restorative Justice as Praxis for Worldbuilding. In: Goodwin, A.L., Hargreaves, A., Showunmi, V., Stone-Johnson, C., & Weiner, J. (eds) Third International Handbook of Educational Change. Springer Nature Reference.

*School of Education alumni