Rebecca A. Cruz Johns Hopkins University Catherine M. Kramarczuk Voulgarides City University of New York
Allison R. Firestone San Francisco Unified School District
Logan McDermott Johns Hopkins University
Zhihui Feng Johns Hopkins University "Is Dis-Ability a Foregone Conclusion? Research and Policy Solutions to Disproportionality" Review of Educational Research, Volume 94, Issue 6, December 2023.
The 2026 Review of Research Award is presented to Drs. Rebecca A. Cruz, Catherine M. Kramarczuk Voulgarides, Allison R. Firestone, Logan McDermott, and Zhihui Feng for their article, “Is dis-ability a foregone conclusion? Research and policy solutions to disproportionality?” published in the December 2024 issue of Review of Educational Research. Cruz, Voulgarides, Firestone, McDermott, and Feng’s manuscript is a masterful contribution to the field based on a meta-ethnographic analysis of 88 peer-reviewed studies. The article elucidates the relationship between researchers’ assumptions about disability and the policy recommendations they generate, and how these are aligned with the assumptions embedded in federal policy. The authors conclude with recommendations for future research aimed at fostering policy reform that moves beyond medical and deficit models of dis-ability.
The Review of Research Award recognizes the most outstanding research review article published in the Review of Educational Research (RER) or the Review of Research in Education (RRE). The elements of an outstanding research review include: (1) significance of the contribution to advancing knowledge, (2) transparency of the methods and scope of research included in the review, and (3) uniqueness in addressing new or novel bodies of research or integrating distinctive areas. The award is granted based on substantial merit, as determined by the selection committee. The committee considers all articles published in RRE and RER from October 1 of a given year to September 30 of the next year, preceding the year in which the award is conferred.
The nomination deadline for the 2026 AERA Awards has now passed. Award winners will be announced in early 2026 prior to the AERA Annual Meeting.