A Brief History of UCDS

Our school was born on the campus of the University of Washington in 1911 as a preschool and kindergarten for children of faculty and students. During those years the school was a lab setting for educational researchers and students from the education department. The philosophy of our school shifted through the decades as educators asked different questions about teaching and learning. In 1976 the Child Development Research Group at the University received one of six national demonstration grants funded by the U.S. Office of Gifted and Talented Education to conduct a comprehensive examination of giftedness in young children. When this project ended in 1981, interested parents and educators formed a private, 501(C)3 non-profit organization to enable this unique program for academically capable children to continue.

Once we left the UW, the early school functioned as a parent cooperative with a group of founding families sharing the governance. There were 15 families in this core group and between 20 and 30 children in the school. Researcher Wendy Roedell left the University to help parents found the school, acting as the school's first headmistress. When Wendy left the school two years later parents worked passionately to keep the school's vision alive. This part of the school's history is significant. Even in its infancy, the teachers and parents held the school's vision collectively. Although during this time the school lacked a single strong leader to articulate this vision, the group of teachers and parents was small enough and invested enough to talk constantly about educational theory and practice. Much of the discussion happened informally as parents painted walls, built cupboards, hired teachers, and assisted in classrooms. The conversations were often spirited and passionate as parents worked to maintain an educational environment they saw as an essential part of their child's life.

The school found a stable facility in 1985 when it was able to move into a city-owned property on the border of the Wallingford and Fremont neighborhoods. The building was formerly a city print shop and parents worked long hours to transform the buildings and grounds into a school for young children. In 1987 the school added first grade with the plan to add a grade each subsequent year until the school served students through the fifth grade. At this point the school had 60 students and had hired a full time principal. Although the board of trustees was comprised mainly of current parents, the governance and administrative structure of the school were separate. Despite the fact that parents and teachers remained passionate about the school, the frequent conversations and consensus building, critical to the shared vision of the school in its earliest days, were no longer possible once the school reached this size. In that year a group of trustees began a search for a larger facility that would house the school. The school was fortunate to find a vacant Catholic school building in the University District that was owned by the Blessed Sacrament Parish. The school moved its elementary program into this building over the summer and in the fall of 1990, UCDS became a school with two campuses.

The school quickly grew to accommodate 32 to 36 students at each grade level, preschool through 5th grade. In the fall of 1999, the school reached its mature size of just under 300 students. During this time of rapid growth UCDS has experienced many changes in its administrative, governance, and organizational structure. These support structures have been built carefully and currently resemble the infrastructure of a mature independent school.

In 2003, the Early Elementary Program moved from the leased Fremont space to a new, state-of-the-art facility built on at the University District Campus. This facility also houses the music, art, science and technology specialists, along with the EDP program and Administration. The preschool and kindergarten, the Early Elementary Program, serves approximately 100 children and the first through fifth grade, Elementary Program, serves approximately 200 children. Teachers from both programs work together in Faculty Committees to plan curricula, parent education and professional development opportunities, admission events, and school-wide projects. In addition, faculty works closely to place students, develop new curricula and teaching practices, and mentor each another.