Be our editor: Which of this year’s top Washington education stories will continue into 2017?

To our new and old readers:

Since this will be our last article of 2016, we wanted to take the opportunity to thank you for reading our stories, attending our events and giving us your two cents. We’re pretty sure we have the best audience of any section in The Seattle Times newsroom. When we called for your help in the past year — whether it was through Education Lab IQ, guest essays or Ignite Education Lab — you answered every time.

So it is with great gratitude that we assembled our list of top stories for 2016, all of which you helped us create. They’re in no particular order, but are organized by 2016’s most prominent issues in Washington education.

We want to know which of our top stories you’d like to see expanded or updated. When you’re scrolling through, tap on your favorite stories in the polls next to each category, and leave us questions or thoughts in the comments area.

Happy voting, and happy new year.

– The Education Lab Team

School Discipline

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1. All Washington school districts to create truancy boards to keep kids out of court
2. We expel preschool kids three times as often as K-12 students. Here’s how to change that.
3. Highline district struggles with fallout after limiting student suspensions
4. King County tries counseling, self-reflection instead of jail for teens

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Race and Equity

1. ‘Microcosm of the city’: Garfield High principal navigates racial divide
2. Seattle’s new Youth Poet Laureate has no home — but she does have a book deal
3. Some Seattle schools end ‘tracking’ in push for equity and success
4. The revival of Foster High: School filled with refugees makes a comeback

The poll has expired. Thank you for your submissions.

School funding

1. Massachusetts is a lot like us, so why are its schools so much better?
2. Education Lab IQ: What does it mean to fully fund education? 
3. Will more money for schools really help kids? New study may have long-term answer

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Early and advanced learning

1. Seattle-area Somali community unites to embrace state’s new child-care standards
2. Teaching parents how to teach their toddlers: Seattle-area program yields lasting benefits
3. Risky change in teaching pays off at Bellevue’s Sammamish High
4. We never promised more money for IB, Seattle school leaders tell Rainier Beach High