2021 Award Recipients 

Edmunds, J.A., Unlu, F., Furey, J.L., Glennie, E.J.,  Arshavsky, N. (2020). What Happens When You Combine High School and College? The Impact of the Early College Model on Postsecondary Performance and Completion. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 42(2), 257-278

Early college programs enable students to graduate in 6 years with both a high school diploma and an associate degree or 2 years of college credit.  Prior research reveals the many positive benefits of these programs. In this outstanding study, the authors investigate the longer-term outcomes for graduates who continue on to college. Using a rigorous, lottery-based experimental design, they find that students not only complete college in less time than peers who follow a traditional path through high school and college, but also do so while achieving comparable GPAs. The committee admired the article’s clear findings and nuanced discussion, which have far-reaching implications for educational policymakers and administrators.

The Palmer O. Johnson Memorial Award is presented annually in recognition of the most outstanding article published in an AERA journal. The elements of an outstanding article include: (1) significance of the contribution to advancing knowledge, (2) methodological sophistication and rigor, and (3) uniqueness in terms of problem specification or approach. Articles published in any one of the following AERA journals are eligible for consideration: AERA Open, American Educational Research Journal (AERJ), Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis (EEPA), Educational Researcher (ER), or Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics (JEBS), except those articles that emanate from AERA public lectures. The selection committee considers all research articles published in the volume year immediately preceding the year in which the award is conferred. The award is granted based on substantial merit, as determined by the selection committee.

Past Recipients