January 2018

The AERA Professional Development and Training Program is excited to offer more than 30 courses designed to enhance research skills and increase capacity during the 2018 AERA Annual Meeting in New York City. Courses are aimed at various levels (basic, intermediate, advanced) to reach graduate students, early career scholars, and other researchers who seek to increase their knowledge and enhance research skills.

This year, several courses emphasize large-scale national and international data sets such as ECLS-K, NAEP, TIMSS, PISA, and the Stanford CivicLEADS Archive. Led by an expert faculty of researchers and scholars who were often involved firsthand in developing these data sets, participants will learn about accessing data and about the structure of the data sets and will ask research questions that can be addressed with specific data sets. The courses are especially useful for researchers who are conducting secondary data analysis and those seeking a community of data users with whom to network and share ideas.

Many of this year’s courses reflect the rich methods used in education research and focus on statistical techniques such as HLM, power analysis, and propensity score matching, as well qualitative methods that include coding data and autoethnography. Graduate students and early career scholars seeking to learn about the academic writing and publishing process will benefit from the time-honored course “How to Get Published,” as well as courses focusing on developing proposals and communicating research.

Education practitioners in local school districts, state departments of education, research organizations, and others will find courses on developing evaluations and designing surveys.  Other highlighted courses address timely science policy issues such as student privacy for researchers and data sharing at the article-publishing stage.

“We are pleased to offer a full roster of courses that address many relevant and useful research training needs,” said George L. Wimberly, AERA director of professional development. “These courses are taught by the strongest scholars and researchers in their fields.”

The AERA Professional Development and Training Committee advises on the Annual Meeting Program course selection based on the salience of the topics to education research and training and the overall quality of the proposals.

For the complete roster of courses, visit AERA 2018 Professional Development and Training Courses. The extended courses begin the morning of Thursday, April 12. The mini-courses will occur Friday through Monday, April 13–16.

Potential participants can register for the courses by logging in and updating their 2018 AERA Annual Meeting registration (www.aera.net). Course participants should bring a laptop. For complete course descriptions, please click here Questions about the professional development and training courses should be sent to profdevel@aera.net.