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The 2024 Division B Awards 
 
(Curriculum Studies)


Greetings Good People of Division B,

This is a call for nominations for the 2024 AERA Division B Awards. Please take your invaluable time to identify and nominate worthy candidates for consideration. Below are the descriptions and details of each of the four Division B awards and the procedures for nomination. 

Please note that the deadline for all the nominations is December 1, 2023.

Looking Forward,
Theodorea Regina Berry
Division B Vice President


Ella Baker/Septima Clark Human Rights Award 
Due: December 1, 2023

The Ella Baker/Septima Clark Award honors the memory of two giants of the Black Freedom Movement, the founding mother and inspiration behind the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (Ella Baker), and the education director of the Highlander Folk School (Septima Clark). Each was a teacher, community educator, tireless behind-the-scenes organizer, and curriculum maker determined to build the bond between education and human freedom. Education and, more specifically, curriculum in a democracy are powered by the twin engines of enlightenment and freedom, linked to the radical proposition that you can change lives. Regardless of where you have been and what you have done, education promises a new beginning. That promise has a particular resonance and urgency in a democratic society, for democracy assumes the necessity of continual and dynamic revitalization, and demands, then, regeneration as its lifeblood.

In a robust and participatory democratic republic, even in an aspirational democracy, there is a common faith that every human being is of incalculable value and human rights are at the center of its concerns and goals. A democracy, theoretically at least, builds schools to fit children, not the other way around. Schools in and for democracy resist the forceful imposition of standardized ways of learning and knowing. Such schools aim to reflect the powerful principle that the fullest development of all is the necessary condition for the full development of each, and conversely, the fullest development of each is necessary for the full development of all. This is a key democratic injunction and principle. In a vital democracy education, the resistance to and rejection of obedience and conformity paves the way instead for initiative, courage, imagination, and creativity; some of the most desirable qualities for participatory citizenship. A living democracy requires courageous educators.
 

This annual award honors someone whose accomplishments illustrate the connection between curriculum studies and human rights as articulated, for example, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). The accomplishments of the honoree might be behind-the-scenes or public, established or just emerging. They should be cutting edge, bring a positive impact on a community or communities, and echo in the field of curriculum studies broadly. accomplishments resulting from their work or service may include theoretical or technical developments, conceptualizations of curriculum issues, or innovative ideas that have enhanced public understanding of human rights and curriculum or improved the lives of students, educators, or the broader community or communities. possible domains of work include local or national, international, or tribal sites of struggle; community education; k-12 public schooling; curriculum policy, etc.

A nomination must include four items:

  • 1-2 page summary of the nature and significance of the nominee’s work and a description of how it meets the criteria outlined above
  • artifacts of creative works that exemplify the nominee's contributions 
  • two letters of recommendation from scholars, practitioners, or policymakers representing the area to which a contribution has been made0

self-nominations are permitted. the four items must be scanned as one single pdf document and emailed to the 2020-2021 Division B Ella Baker/Septima Clark Human Rights Award chair no later than December 1, 2020. If the nominator has difficulties in scanning the required items, please email the award committee chair to negotiate for other communication methods. late submissions will not be reviewed.

Ella Baker/Septima Clark Recipients

2020: Daisaku Ikeda

2019: Erica Davila


Outstanding Dissertation Award
Due: December 1, 2023

The AERA Division B outstanding dissertation award committee is seeking nominations for dissertations that make outstanding contributions to the field of curriculum studies. curriculum studies research reflects a wide variety of perspectives and methodologies regarding the nature and improvement of curriculum practice, teaching, theory, and research at local, state, regional, national, and international levels. Broad areas of inquiry include curriculum in classrooms; curriculum as connected to democratic practice and social justice; curriculum theory; curriculum design, evaluation, policy, and reform; curriculum history; and educational diversity. students who have completed and successfully defended their dissertations and/or graduated with their doctorate from January 2021 through December 2021 are encouraged to submit their work. If a dissertation came out at the very end of 2020 and was not considered for last year’s competition, it may be included in the 2021 competition. Nominations may come from either faculty or from students themselves. If the dissertation is self-nominated, the committee requires a letter of faculty endorsement from a member of the student's dissertation committee. to nominate a dissertation, please include the five artifacts listed below. These artifacts must be scanned as one single pdf document and emailed to the 2020-2021 Division B dissertation award chair no later than December 1, 2021. Late submissions will not be reviewed. The five artifacts include:

1) A letter of endorsement or nomination from a faculty member of the student's dissertation committee attesting that the dissertation was completed by the student during the time period specified. The nomination or endorsement letter should include a brief clarification of the purposes, scope, and quality of the student's dissertation research, an explanation of how the dissertation contributes to the field of curriculum studies, and a discussion about why it is deserving of this award. the oral defense date also should be included.

2) A title page for the dissertation (including university/college, name of the professor chairing the dissertation committee, and a complete list of committee members).

3) The abstract of the dissertation.

4) The table of contents from the dissertation.

5) A brief summary of the dissertation (prepared by the student) that gives an overview of the dissertation research project, a description of individual chapters, and a statement that argues for how this research contributes to the field of curriculum studies. The summary should be no more than 5 single-spaced pages. 

Outstanding Dissertation Award Recipient

2020: Belen Hernando Llorenz, University of Wisconsin - Madison

Outstanding Book Award

Due: December 1, 2023

The Outstanding Book Award committee is soliciting nominations of books that will be considered, on their merits of originality and scholarly strength, as making an outstanding or original contribution to curriculum studies. The crucial significance of the work lies in its depth, scope, and meaning including but not limited to exploring the following: urgent curriculum topics, issues, and concerns; historical, social, political, economic, geographical, cultural, linguistic, and ecological contexts; innovative theoretical perspectives, forms of inquiry, and modes of representation or expression; and impact of the work on practice, policy, context, and theory. The nominated books should have 2021 publication dates. If a book came out at the very end of 2019 and it was not considered for last year’s competition, it may be included for this year’s competition. individuals (the author or another scholar) and publishers wishing to nominate a book for this award should send a letter of nomination and 5 copies of the book to the Division B outstanding book award committee chair. Please allow 2 weeks for shipping time within the U.S. and 3-4 weeks outside of the U.S. mail books and cover letters to:
 

Outstanding Book Award Recipients

2020: Samuel Rocha's Syllabus as Curriculum: A Reconceptualist Approach
 


Lifetime Achievement Award
Due: December 1, 2023


The Lifetime Achievement Award committee seeks nominations for the 2019 AERA Division B Lifetime Achievement award. Nominees should be venerable and distinguished scholars with widely recognized and continuous records of accomplishment who have made substantive contributions to the field of curriculum studies. the award will be presented at the AERA annual meeting, Division B Business Meeting in April 2021. any AERA member may make a nomination. nominations should be accompanied by the following:

  • a detailed nomination letter outlining the major achievements of the nominee
  • a copy of the nominee’s curriculum vitae
  • any number of letters of support from recognized scholars who have an informed and appreciative understanding of the nominee’s body of work 

All nominations and supporting documents are to be sent electronically in word (.doc) and/or pdf format to the Chair no later than December 1, 2020. Late submissions will not be reviewed.


Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
2020: Carter G. Woodson

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