Presidential Sessions—AERA 2023 Annual Meeting
 
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Presidential Sessions

Tied to the 2023 Annual Meeting theme "Interrogating Consequential Education Research in Pursuit of Truth," the AERA Presidential Sessions provide rich and compelling content designed to engage attendees on key issues in education research, policy, and practice. All times are in Central Time. Stay tuned for more information.

Virtual Presidential Sessions

Thursday, May 4

Consequential Issues for Educators and Education​
Thursday, May 4, 9:45 to 11:15 am CT

Moderators: Felice J. Levine (American Educational Research Association), Rich Milner (Vanderbilt University)
Panelists: Adam Alvarez (Rowan University), Travis J. Bristol (University of California - Berkeley), Gloria J. Ladson-Billings (University of Wisconsin - Madison), Camika Royal (Loyola University Maryland), Russell J. Skiba (Indiana University) 

Educators today face an unprecedented set of challenges that are affecting the health and well-being of youth in America and posing major challenges to educational practice and policy. School violence and safety; censorship and attacks on curriculum; and teacher shortages are among the issues pressing our nation’s schools. This interactive forum will give education practitioners and policy leaders an opportunity to learn from scholars, who will share evidence-based and actionable recommendations for navigating these tumultuous times to best serve young people, families, and communities.

Just Research/ers: Resisting Censorship and Mis-Education/Advancing Human Freedom Collectively
Thursday, May 4, 2:30 to 4:00 pm CT

Chair: Linda Darling-Hammond (Learning Policy Institute)
Discussant: Brian A. Williams (Georgia State University)
Presenters: Joyce E. King (Georgia State University), Mosi Deterville-Makori (Sankofa Cultural Institute, New Orleans), Gloria J. Ladson-Billings (University of Wisconsin - Madison), Gloria S. Boutte (University of South Carolina), Max Altman (Southern Education Foundation, Inc.), Natasha K. McClendon (United Negro College Fund), Brian A. Williams (Georgia State University)

Friday, May 5

Hip-Hop at 50 Years!​
Friday, May 5, 1:15 to 2:15 pm CT

Moderator: Lauren Leigh Kelly (Rutgers University)
Panelist: Jason D. Rawls (Ohio University), Toby S. Jenkins (University of South Carolina), Christopher Emdin (University of Southern California), Emery Marc Petchauer (Michigan State University), Joquetta Johnson (Baltimore County Public Schools), Tony Keith (Ed Emcee Academy), Jonathan Tunstall (University of Wisconsin - Madison)

2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the birth of hip hop culture. From the very beginning, hip hop has been tied to the field of education. At the end of summer, DJ Kool Herc and his sister, Cindy Campbell, hosted an annual Back-to-School Jam in the basement of their apartment building in the Bronx, NY to raise money for their school clothes and supplies. It is said that hip hop was born at the Back-to-School Jam held on August 11, 1973. These parties made popular the DJing, emceeing, and dancing techniques that frame hip hop culture. Now, for over five decades, hip-hop culture has permeated all corners of the globe and all aspects of our society touching business, entertainment, media, advertising, sports, and education. This session will be a cross generational conversation between the founding scholars of the Hip Hop Theories, Praxis, & Pedagogies Special Interest Group and leading hip hop education scholars to reflect on the culture’s impact on the field of education and the future of hip hop educational research.

Building Upon a Culturally Responsive Science of Learning and Development to Promote Robust Equity
Friday, May 5, 2:30 to 4:00 pm CT

Chair: Vivian L. Gadsden (University of Pennsylvania)
Moderator: David M. Osher (American Institutes for Research)
Panelist: Carol D. Lee (Northwestern University), Hirokazu Yoshikawa (New York University),  Barbara Rogoff (University of California - Santa Cruz), Kris D. Gutiérrez (University of California - Berkeley), Ezekiel J. Dixon-Roman (University of Pennsylvania), Liesel Ebersohn (University of Pretoria)

Featured Presidential Sessions

Mariana Souto-Manning Cheryl E. Matias
Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales Manka M. Varghese
Christine E. Sleeter

The Truth About the Overwhelming Presence of Whiteness 20 Years Later: Today’s Interrogations of Race, Racism, and White Supremacy in Teacher Education
Thursday, April 13, 8:00 to 9:30 am
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Hall I

Chair: Cheryl E. Matias (University of Kentucky)
Discussant: Christine E. Sleeter (California State University - Monterey Bay) 
Presenters: Mariana Souto-Manning (Erikson Institute), Cheryl E. Matias (University of Kentucky), Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales (San Francisco State University), Manka M. Varghese (University of Washington)

Though posited in 2001, Christine Sleeter called out the overwhelming presence of whiteness in teacher education, one in which still manifests twenty years later. In fact, the recent attacks on CRT in teaching is just another tell-tale sign that the field of teaching and education is still rooted in whiteness so much so that any attempts to challenge its stronghold, like CRT, get resisted. How then is teacher education to proceed in developing teachers who are equipped with the skillsets, tools, knowledge, and actions to best advocate for antiracist teaching practices? Or, shall we simply begin with, is not antiracism and/or racial justice what we truly want for teacher education? This panel honors Dr. Christine Sleeter’s work in teacher education by revisiting her postulation twenty years ago to highlight how whiteness continues to manifest in teacher education whilst also providing concrete strategies of how teacher education fights back.


Carol D. Lee Mary Helen Immordino-Yang
Na'ilah Suad Nasir Linda Darling-Hammond

Consequential Research on Learning and Development: Diverse Pathways for Learning and Integration Across Domains of Development
Thursday, April 13, 8:00 to 9:30 am
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Ballroom B

Chair: Maxine McKinney de Royston (University of Wisconsin - Madison) 
Discussant: Linda Darling-Hammond (Learning Policy Institute) 
Presenters: Carol D. Lee (Northwestern University), Mary Helen Immordino-Yang (University of Southern California), Na'ilah Suad Nasir (Spencer Foundation) 

While attention to biological processes has historically been used to warrant systems of oppression, this evolving expansive conception of human learning and development is rooted in very different principles – namely that because human malleability and diversity of pathways of development are rooted in our evolution as a species, we ignore such malleability and diversity at our peril. To address powerful truths of human possibilities, we need a science of human learning and development that does not ignore diversity, but embraces it and theorizes it.


Lori Patton Davis
Dorinda Carter Andrews

Interrogating and Reauthoring Savage Inequalities: Exploring Urban Educational Environment Truths Through Community Cultural Wealth
Thursday, April 13, 2:50 to 4:20 pm
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Hall L

Chair: Ishwanzya D. Rivers (University of Louisville) 
Discussant: Lori Patton Davis (The Ohio State University)
Participants: Raquel Farmer-Hinton (University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee), Joi D. Lewis (Joi Unlimited), Toby S. Jenkins-Henry (University of South Carolina), Marvin Lynn (University of Colorado - Denver), Mirelsie Velazquez (University of Oklahoma), Dallas Watson (Macalester College), Tara J. Yosso (University of California - Riverside), Dorinda Carter Andrews (Michigan State University)

Based upon the forthcoming edited book Reauthoring Savage Inequalities: Narratives of Community Cultural Wealth in Urban Educational Environments (SUNY), this session provides a panel presentation of scholars who are committed to decidedly telling the truth about growing up, being educated, and thriving in urban education environments. Using Kozol’s Savage Inequalities as a starting point, the panel analyzes how Kozol’s work is too often situated as a foundational text for understanding urban education. Yet, the book is under-nuanced and devoid of the lived experiences of people being educated in these spaces. Further, it has not been subjected to “deep, sustained, and systematic interrogation” (Milner, 2022, n. p.). In essence, Savage Inequalities presents a narrative that is not situated “at the center of co-constructing with communities’ agendas of consequence” (Milner, n. p.). Utilizing Yosso’s (2005) Community Cultural Wealth Model (CCWM) as an act of co-constructing and counter-narrativizing, this panel will serve as a space for analysis for participants who represent diverse perspectives, ways of knowing, and the creation of knowledge while also illuminating the nuances of unjust, dominating, and hegemonic depictions of teaching and learning in urban communities. Panelists expound on how unnamed structures, people, and practices transformed these communities into a wealth of aspirational, navigational, resistance, and social capital that provided, and still provide access to, and success in urban educational practices.


Antonia Darder Kris D. Gutiérrez
Tyrone C. Howard Gloria J. Ladson-Billings
Ernest D. Morrell Na'ilah Suad Nasir
Pedro A. Noguera Sonia Nieto

Talk Time with the OGs: Big Homies That Risked It All To Make Pursuits of Hard Truths More Possible in Research and Practice
Thursday, April 13, 4:40 to 6:10 pm
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Ballroom B

Participants: Antonia Darder (Loyola Marymount University), Kris D. Gutiérrez (University of California - Berkeley), Tyrone C. Howard (University of California - Los Angeles), Gloria J. Ladson-Billings (University of Wisconsin - Madison), Ernest D. Morrell (University of Notre Dame), Na'ilah Suad Nasir (Spencer Foundation), Pedro A. Noguera (University of Southern California), Sonia Nieto (University of Massachusetts - Amherst) 

This session is an open dialogue between some of the most influential scholars of our lifetimes that have dedicated their lives to truth telling. These paragons of racial and social justice will talk amongst themselves, to the benefit of the AERA community, about their learnings, their regrets, and their dreams. No Presidential session in the history of AERA has provided this kind of space for so many senior scholars of color with the expressed intent of truth telling. Given the conference theme, the state of our nation, and the present opportunity in our field, this session is on time and in the tradition of the “good trouble” that comes from truth telling in spaces such as AERA.


Ty Douglas Shaun Harper
Keith Harrison John Nathaniel Singer
Joy G Gayles Joseph Nehemiah Cooper
Eddie Comeaux

Athletes are (=) Scholars: (Re)positioning Black Athletic Genius to Answer the Educational Crisis
Thursday, April 13, 4:40 to 6:10 pm
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower – Ballroom Level – Grand Hall I


Chair: Ty Douglas (University of California, Berkeley)
Discussant: Shaun R. Harper (University of Southern California) 
Participants: Keith Harrison (University of Central Florida), John Nathaniel Singer (Texas A&M University - College Station), Joy G. Gayles (North Carolina State University), Joseph Nehemiah Cooper (University of Massachusetts - Boston), Eddie Comeaux (University of California - Riverside) 

Given the persistent presence of Black students on K-20 athletic teams, concurrent academic performance gaps along racial lines, and resurgence of Black athlete activism in the 21st century, this session addresses a timely and important issue related to the theme of “Interrogating Consequential Education Research in the Pursuit of Truth”. Topics such as academic neglect, athletic exploitation, cognitive and behavioral misdiagnoses, mental and physical abuse, and liberatory, pedagogical, and conceptual approaches will be discussed toward the intentional centering of Black academic brilliance through athletics and as an answer to the educational crisis.


Sharon Nelson-Barber Venus E. Evans-Winters
A. Lin Goodwin

Next-Generation Solutions: International Youth Forum on Emerging Initiatives and Potential Impacts
Friday, April 14, 11:40 am to 1:10 pm
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Hall J

Chair: Sharon Nelson-Barber (WestEd) 
Discussant: Venus E. Evans-Winters (African American Policy Forum)
Session Organizer: A. Lin Goodwin (Boston College) 

This session seeks to explore how young people think about the present moment and the future, how they grapple with some of the ‘big’ questions, challenges and issues affecting individuals and social groups locally, nationally, and globally. How are youth contemplating and engaging socio-political issues that face their generation? Some of the issues have potential impacts of unprecedented scale and scope and often without enough controversy. For example, the impact of climate change and associated environmental damage, social dislocation; global economic crises; food and water insecurity; high youth suicide rates; rising levels of child poverty and preventable poverty-related diseases; interpersonal violence, armed conflict, and cultural and religious warfare between peoples and nations, racism and racial inequality, white supremacy and imperialism; and many other problems that are linked to over-population and consumption.

This session is premised on the understanding that many of our most vulnerable youth are already being called upon and are civically engaged as activists who are responsive to the unique needs and priorities of their communities. The focus of this session is therefore to acknowledge (1) the power of the youth citizenry, (2) center their lived experiences, and (3) prioritize their calls for research, policy, and action.


Celia Rousseau Anderson Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy
Thandeka K. Chapman Jessica T. Decuir-Gunby
Jamel K. Donnor Gerardo R. López
David O. Stovall Tara J. Yosso

Critical Race Theory, Truth-Telling, and "Consequential Education Research"
Friday, April 14, 11:40 am to 1:10 pm
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Hall I

Moderators: Adrienne D. Dixson (University of Kentucky), Enrique Aleman (Trinity University)
Participants: Celia Rousseau Anderson (The University of Memphis), Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy (Arizona State University), Thandeka K. Chapman (University of California - San Diego), Jessica T. Decuir-Gunby (University of Southern California), Jamel K. Donnor (William & Mary), Gerardo R. López (Michigan State University), David O. Stovall (University of Illinois At Chicago), Tara J. Yosso (University of California - Riverside) 

The wave of anti-CRT legislation in over 35 states in the U.S. has raised concerns for public educators, school systems and public colleges and universities over curriculum and the viability of Academic Freedom as an ideal supported and protected by educational administrators. Moreover, the attack on everything associated with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and the attempts to attribute all to CRT, indeed reinforce the notion that critical scholarship on equity has indeed been consequential. This session will feature presentations by leading scholars in CRT and Education on what “truths” CRT has helped to reveal about education and racial equity. Panelists will discuss what we “know” now because of our engagement with CRT, that we didn’t know before as it relates to teacher education, education policy, educational leadership, higher education, curriculum, educational research, and community engagement.


Marc Lamont Hill Crystal R. Sanders
James D. Anderson Jarvis R. Givens
Leslie T. Fenwick

Why Brown Matters, Especially Now: Unsettling Histories of Desegregation
Friday, April 14, 2:50 to 4:20 pm
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Ballroom B

Discussant: Marc Lamont Hill (Temple University)
Presenters: Crystal R. Sanders (The Pennsylvania State University), James D. Anderson (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Jarvis R. Givens (Harvard University), Leslie T. Fenwick (Howard University)


Kevin Brown
Matthew Patrick Shaw

The State of Law and Education in the United States
Saturday, April 15, 8:00 to 9:30 am
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Hall L

Chair: 
Matthew Patrick Shaw (Vanderbilt University)
Discussant: Matthew Patrick Shaw (Vanderbilt University), Preston C. Green (University of Connecticut), Dana Thompson Dorsey (University of South Florida - Tampa) 
Participants: Derek Black (University of South Carolina School of Law), Kevin Brown (Indiana University Law), Rachel Moran (University of California - Irvine) 

The past ten years have been seismic in reshaping the relationship between law and education in the United States. The proposed Presidential Program panel addresses these changes in a town- hall conversation and engages education researchers to address pressing contemporary topics in education law. These include, but are not limited to: the pending case before the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to end race-conscious decision-making in higher education (Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard College); the Maine school-funding case that serves as a backdoor for requiring public funding of religious education (Carson v. Makin); curricular issues emerging across the country on critical race theory (CRT) and LGBTQ+ people and histories; inclusion of students with disabilities; and the proverbial “Holy Grail” in education law, its establishment as a Constitutionally protected right.

Angela Valenzuela
Kris D. Gutiérrez

Toward the Fulfillment of Full Personhood: The Persistent Invisibility of Latinx Communities Across Institutions 2.0
Saturday, April 15, 8:00 to 9:30 am
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Ballroom B

Chair: Kris D. Gutiérrez (University of California - Berkeley) 
Discusssants: Angela Valenzuela (The University of Texas at Austin), Guadalupe Valdes (Stanford University) 
Presenters: Alfredo J. Artiles (Stanford University), Cecilia Rios-Aguilar (University of California - Los Angeles), Krista L. Cortes (University of Pennsylvania), Amalia Z. Dache (University of Pennsylvania), Laura K. Munoz (University of Nebraska-Lincoln), Manuel L. Espinoza (University of Colorado - Denver), Sofia A. Villenas (Cornell University), Cindy Cruz (University of Arizona), Luis Urrieta (The University of Texas at Austin), Dolores Calderon (Western Washington University), Anne-Marie Nunez (University of Texas El Paso), Gina Ann Garcia (University of Pittsburgh)

The demand for “paramount national citizenship” was the creed of the abolitionists after the civil war. And it has been an ambition of Mexican immigrants who settled in the US since the first communities were formed: to be treated equally and justly. (See: J. Gomez-Quiñones “Roots of Chicano Politics.”) A call to be treated as fully human has endured within and across the hugely diverse Latinx communities.

This session reconvenes intergenerational pairs of Latinx scholars to engage and elaborate a range of relevant topics that both remain central or at the edges of new scholarship with implications for the field, the academy, and communities. The pairs will engage a series of questions to create dynamic conversations that will cumulatively contribute to the larger focus on achieving full personhood as a community.


Ivory Toldson Ebony McGee
Dawn G. Williams Allyson Leggett Watson
Anthony Pittman VerJanis Peoples
Ivan Banks

Black College Leadership in Pre-K–12 Education
Saturday, April 15, 8:00 t0 9:30 pm
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Hall I

Chair: Ivory A. Toldson (Howard University), Ebony O. McGee (Vanderbilt University) 
Participants: Dawn G. Williams (Howard University), Allyson Leggett Watson (Florida A&M University), Anthony A. Pittman (Claflin University), VerJanis Peoples (Southern University and A&M College), Ivan Banks (Alcorn State University)

This session will explore educational equity, inclusion, belonging, and justice in the context of Black College leadership. Many HBCUs began as institutions to prepare Black teachers for a segregated America. Although their focus has expanded since the nineteenth century, HBCUs remain significant producers of African American teachers. Today, as the United States grapples with educational disparities, lack of diversity among education professionals, systemic racism, and the recent politically-inspired assaults on Critical Race Theory, this panel will explore the need for HBCU leadership in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade education. This session will amplify the research and perspectives of HBCU leaders, including four education deans, to explore how these institutions help school districts optimize education for Black teachers.

Topics the panelists will discuss include: HBCU teacher preparation; building HBCU and PK–12 partnerships; culturally responsive teaching; inclusive assessment practices; and HBCU leadership in STEM education. This panel is ideal for educational researchers, school teachers, and administrators who want to learn from HBCU leadership in teacher preparation as a resource to improve education, as well as HBCU alumni who have been the direct beneficiaries of their leadership.


kihana miraya ross Jaleel Rashaad Howard
Brianna Marche' Harvey Ayinde Rochon

Disrupting Antiblackness in the Pursuit of Educational Equity, Truth, and Justice
Saturday, April 15, 9:50 to 11:20 am
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Hall L

Chair: Tyrone C. Howard (University of California - Los Angeles)
Discussants: kihana miraya ross (Northwestern University), Keara L. Williams (University of California - Los Angeles)
Participants: Jaleel Rashaad Howard (University of California - Los Angeles), Brianna Marche' Harvey (University of California - Los Angeles), Gene F. McAdoo (University of California - Los Angeles), Ayinde Rochon (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) 

The education of Black youth continues to be an area of inquiry. The challenges that Black students face remain the same in the face of racism, dehumanization, and structured policies and ingrained policies that create obstacles for their success. The need to name race, racism, and specifically anti-Black racism is important in this moment of truth, dare we say consequential truth. Our research, science, and evidence must move to identify methods, theories, curriculum, instruction, evaluation, and evidence that exemplifies where and how anti-Blackness occurs, and how it is disrupted. In this ongoing pandemic era with over a million deaths, a national youth mental health crisi, growing educator and staff shortages and calls for a racial reckoning are just a few of the characteristics that influence the current state of education This session has great relevance for education systems, racial justice advocates, and researchers looking to explore truths, methods and frameworks that seek to capture the complexities of what Solórzano & Perez Huber (2020) refer to as every day racism for Black students at P-20 education levels. Even more importantly, there is a new sense of urgency around research partnerships that center on solutions, guided by how to best serve Black youth, educators, communities, and school systems to highlight the consequential truths in pursuit of racial justice.


Jeremiah Abiade Matthew Patrick Shaw
Nicole Perez Venus E. Evans-Winters
Elizabeth Todd-Breland Tia C. Madkins

The Role of Resistance in Medical, Legal, and Educator Professional Identity Formation: A Conversation in Chicago
Saturday, April 15, 11:40 am to 1:10 pm
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Hall J

Chairs: Mildred Boveda (The Pennsylvania State University), Tasha R. Wyatt (Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences)
Participants: Jeremiah Abiade (University of Illinois at Chicago), Matthew Patrick Shaw (Vanderbilt University), Nicole Perez (University of Illinois at Chicago), Venus E. Evans-Winters (African American Policy Forum), Elizabeth Todd-Breland (University of Illinois at Chicago), Tia C. Madkins (The University of Texas at Austin)

This combined Division I & K session is designed to examine the role and practices of “professional acts of resistance” to address systemic epistemological harm and material injustices within our training and educational programs. These acts can include direct forms of challenge, such as protests and strikes, or more subtle forms, like nonconformity, non-compliance, and “foot-dragging.” In each case, these acts are a conscious attempt to shift the dynamics and openly challenge the long-standing consequences of situational power relations reified by the extant literature and professional education research.
Drawing on the work of Chicago-based scholars across several fields of study (e.g., medical, legal, higher education), this session underscores the critical role resistance plays in professional identity formation, the role resistance plays in professions, and the need for educational researchers to capture the experiences of those who resist. As researchers, we need to focus our attention on how individual acts of resistance are transformed into collective action, how educators decide when to support resistors in their efforts, and the central role that research plays in unveiling our collective struggle to address systemic harm and injustice.


Russell J. Skiba

Structural Racism and School Discipline: Replicating the Racialized Hierarchy through Coercion and Control
Saturday, April 15, 2:50 to 4:20 pm
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Hall I

Chair: Russell J. Skiba (Indiana University)
Discussant: Ellen Reddy (Nollie Jenkins Family Center, Inc.)
Presenters: Aaron Kupchik (Dept of Sociology and Criminal Justice), Cresean Hughes (University of Delaware), Geoff Ward (Washington University in St. Louis), Tyler Whittenberg (Advancement Project), Britany Beauchesne (Indiana University - Bloomington), Russell J. Skiba (Indiana University), Angela Groves (Advancement Project), Ashley White (University of Wisconsin - Madison), Harold Jordan (American Civil Liberties Union), Thomas Mowen (Bowling Green State University), Benjamin W. Fisher (University of Wisconsin - Madison), Samantha Viano (George Mason University), Aishia Brown (University of Louisville), Alex Widdowson (University of Louisville), John H. Boman (Bowling Green State University)

The murder of George Floyd, and the national discourse in its wake, significantly increased awareness in both the popular press and academic venues, of the contribution of structural/systemic racism in maintaining a racialized hierarchy based on skin color. This session will explore how various elements of a coercion- and control-based model of school discipline are integral in the reproduction of the cycle of discrimination and disadvantage that continues to replicate our nation’s racialized caste system.


Stephanie J. Rowley James D. Anderson
Valerie Kinloch Fred Arthur Bonner
James L. Moore William F. Tate
Eboni M. Zamani-Gallaher

The 26th Conversations With Senior Scholars on Advancing Research and Professional Development Related to Black Education
Saturday, April 15, 2:50 to 4:20 pm
Hyatt Regency Chicago, West Tower - Lobby Level - Crystal Ballroom C

Presenters: Michael Cunningham (Tulane University), Joy Ann Williamson-Lott (University of Washington), Wanda J. Blanchett (Rutgers University), Stephanie J. Rowley (University of Virginia), Olga M. Welch (Duquesne University), James D. Anderson (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Donald Easton-Brooks (University of Nevada - Reno), Kofi Lomotey (Western Carolina University), Jomills H. Braddock (University of Miami), Toks S. Fashola (American University), Will J. Jordan (Wallace Foundation), Valerie Kinloch (University of Pittsburgh), Carol D. Lee (Northwestern University), Fred Arthur Bonner (Prairie Vew A&M University), Lillian Brown Poats (Texas Southern University), Paula Groves Price (North Carolina A&T State University), Walter R. Allen (University of California - Los Angeles), Phillip J. Bowman (University of Michigan), William T. Trent (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Howard C. Johnson (Syracuse University), Monika Williams Shealey (Rowan University), Eugene L. Anderson (Columbia University), Mary E. Dilworth (Independent Researcher), Monica B. Mitchell (MERAssociates), James Earl Davis (Temple University), Carol Camp Yeakey (Washington University in St. Louis), Caesar R. Jackson (North Carolina Central University), James L. Moore (The Ohio State University), Na'ilah Suad Nasir (Spencer Foundation), Margaret Beale Spencer (University of Chicago), Gloria J. Ladson-Billings (University of Wisconsin - Madison), Jerome E. Morris (University of Missouri-St. Louis), Bernard Oliver (Georgia Gwinnett College), Charles I. Rankin (Kansas State University), Tamara Bertrand Jones (Florida State University), Stafford Hood (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), John B. Diamond (Brown University), Tyrone C. Howard (University of California - Los Angeles), William F. Tate (Louisiana State University), H. Richard Milner (Vanderbilt University), Maisha T. Winn (University of California - Davis), Vivian L. Gadsden (University of Pennsylvania), Eboni M. Zamani-Gallaher (University of Pittsburgh), Jerlando F. L. Jackson (Michigan State University), Chance W. Lewis (University of North Carolina - Charlotte), Joyce E. King (Georgia State University), Gaëtane Jean-Marie (Rowan University), Victoria Showunmi (UCL Institute of Education), Shaun R. Harper (University of Southern California), Ivory A. Toldson (Howard University), Don Pope-Davis (The Ohio State University), Marvin Lynn (University of Colorado - Denver), Laura P. Kohn-Wood (University of Miami)

Initiated at the 1997 Annual Meeting in Chicago, the 2023 session of “The Continuation of Conversations with Senior Scholars on Advancing Research and Professional Development Related to Black Education” is now back in Chicago 27 years later. This will be number 26 in this popular and widely heralded series. (The COVID-19 pandemic caused the cancellation of the 2020 session). The 25th session was successfully held in April 2022 in San Diego.

We were granted Presidential Session status in1999 in Montreal—thus, the Chicago session will mark 25 years as a Presidential Session. We have some of the most notable education scholars in the country participate as topic discussion leaders. In 1997, we started with 12 tables and now we will have 21 tables for 2023. Over the years, we have averaged approximately 10-12 participants per table, not counting topic leaders. In the 2018 and 2019 meetings in San Antonio and Toronto, respectively, many estimated the participant numbers as in the 300 range. Even with the threat of COVID-19 still lingering, we had a large number in San Diego. We expect higher participation levels in Chicago.

As in past sessions, we will need enough room and tables for the expected number of participants. The number of participants per topic table varies and can range from 7 or 8 to up to 30 or more. Further, we continue to need enough chairs where participants can form large circles needed for popular topics. Notably, the room and accommodations in San Diego were wonderful.


Additional Presidential Sessions

Thursday, April 13

9:50 to 11:20 am

Consequentiality of Engagement Research With, For, and About Families
Thursday, April 13, 9:50 to 11:20 am
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower – Ballroom Level – Grand Hall I

Chair: Lori Ann Delale-O'Connor (University of Pittsburgh)
Participants: Ann M. Ishimaru (University of Washington), Cheryl A. Fields-Smith (University of Georgia), John B. Diamond (Brown University), Rema E. Reynolds Vassar (Eastern Michigan University) 

This session is focused on the consequentiality of research (and practice) in collaboration with families, with a specific focus on families of Color and their (dis)connections to formal K-12 educational spaces. Four academic researchers and 2 family engagement practitioner leaders come together to interrogate and discuss the centering of families in education—both in terms of current practice and future possibility. As president Milner noted in the program theme, “Without deep, sustained, and systematic interrogation, we may not advance humanizing, opportunity centered projects of impactful consequence.” This session pushes us to consider the educational projects done with, for, about, and by families.

What is (In)Effective About the Concept of “Effective” Teaching and (How) Should it Be Replaced? A Discussion
Thursday, April 13, 9:50 to 11:20 am
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Ballroom B

Chair: Deborah Loewenberg Ball (University of Michigan)
Participants: Drew H. Gitomer (Rutgers University), Gloria J. Ladson-Billings (University of Wisconsin - Madison), Jarvis R. Givens (Harvard University),  Guillermo Solano-Flores (Stanford University), Suzanne M. Wilson (University of Connecticut)

This session will feature a conversation among a group of scholars with different areas of expertise who have confronted different issues about the construct and methods associated with “effective” teaching. Their discussion will trace the histories of this concept of ""effective teaching,” as well as different conceptions of “good teaching,” and consider how it interacts with approaches to teaching that have purposefully diverged from normative practice—that are culturally resonant and sustaining, and deeply embedded in the values of non-dominant communities. Participants will consider possible challenges to dominant policies and approaches to determining ""effectiveness,"" as well as possible responsible and responsive re-imaginings of ways to appraise the quality of instruction and how it supports students’ development. This session is designed to resonate with President Rich Milner’s mission for us to consider consequential research through careful critical reviews of the literature.

11:40 am to 1:10 pm

Coalition of Black Education Deans. Truth and Consequences: Leading in a Post-Truth Era
Thursday, April 13, 11:40 am to 1:10 pm
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower – Ballroom Level – Grand Hall I

Chair: Laura P. Kohn-Wood (University of Miami)
Participants: Donald Easton-Brooks (University of Nevada - Reno), Don Pope-Davis (The Ohio State University), Valerie Kinloch (University of Pittsburgh), Marvin Lynn (University of Colorado - Denver), Kimberly A. White-Smith (University of San Diego), Michael E. Dantley (Miami University) 

In this symposium session, the leadership group of the relatively new Coalition of Black Education Deans will lead a discussion that clarifies the issues related to leading schools and colleges of education during a time when education is a highly contested political space. While not new, the contours of the current culture wars implicate the priorities, values and vision of academic education researchers, practitioners, and leaders, requiring solidarity, strategies and uncompromising work to emerge. Such work must interrogate inequity, offer evidence-based solutions to systemic issues, and serve to advance the promise of education to support social mobility and preserve democracy. 

Consequential Educational Research for Humanizing Black and Latinx Boys Across the K-12 Spectrum
Thursday, April 13, 11:40 am to 1:10 pm
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Hall J

Chair: Roderick L. Carey (University of Delaware)
Discussant: James Earl Davis (Commissioner)
Presenters: Roderick L. Carey (University of Delaware), Camila Polanco (University of Delaware), Holly Abrams (University of Delaware), Latrice Marianno (University of Delaware), Sophia Sunshine Vilceus (University of Delaware), Nathaniel Bryan (Miami University), Prince Johnson, Victor M. Rios (University of California - Santa Barbara), Jonathan M. Ibarra (University of California - Santa Barbara), Rebeca Mireles-Rios (University of California - Santa Barbara), Chezare A. Warren (Vanderbilt University), Dorinda Carter Andrews (Michigan State University), Terry Kyle Flennaugh (Michigan State University), Adrian H. Huerta (University of Southern California)

The papers in this session will draw on thorough consequential research in their literature reviews and will present deeply and richly theoretical paper presentations. While literature reviews will be key to establish a lineage of thought, to arrive at the type of consequential truth urged by President Milner, most papers will draw on the voices of boys themselves as they qualitatively reflect on and speak back to factors related to their educational development.

When You See Her, You See Me: Authentic and Consequential Mentoring for Black Women
Thursday, April 13, 11:40 am to 1:10 pm
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Ballroom B

Chair: Cynthia B. Dillard (Seattle University)
Moderators: Cynthia B. Dillard (Seattle University), Bettina L. Love (University of Georgia)
Participants: Kristen Duncan (Clemson University), Damaris C. Dunn (University of Georgia), Amber Neal (Purdue University), Yaribel Mercedes (Teachers College, Columbia University)

This session will feature a kitchen table conversation where Dillard and Love will both engage and facilitate a cross-generational, full-circle dialogue about the nature of mentoring for Black women and people of color. A Black feminist kitchen table conversation aims to build community while deepening understanding and exploring ideas that cultivate and expand sisterhood. Here, we will interrogate both authentic and consequential mentoring experiences that have shaped our academic lives and careers as Black women both as mentors and mentees.

2:50 to 4:20 pm

Asian American Education Scholars Speaking Truth to the U.S. Empire
Thursday, April 13, 2:50 to 4:20 pm
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Ballroom B

Chair: Stacey J. Lee (University of Wisconsin - Madison)
Discussant: Roland Sintos Coloma (Wayne State University) 
Presenters: Kevin Kumashiro (Kevin Kumashiro Consulting), Lin Wu (Western Oregon University), Thomas M. Philip (University of California - Berkeley), Ruchi Agarwal-Rangnath (University of San Francisco), Bic H. Ngo (University of Minnesota), Phitsamay Sychitkokhong Uy (University of Massachusetts - Lowell), Sohyun An (Kennesaw State University), Noreen Naseem Rodriguez (University of Colorado - Boulder)

This proposed session brings together Asian American education scholars representing diverse ancestral lineages across Asia: China, Japan, South Korea, India, Vietnam, Laos, Pakistan, and the Philippines. Although we are at various career stages and live in different geographical regions, we aim to leverage our academic and experiential knowledge to speak truth to the U.S. empire through interactive dialogue, counterstorytelling, poetry, oral history, and traditional academic presentations. We hope our focus on empire will entice other educators to undo U.S. imperialism in their research and teaching and advance justice for and with the Asian Diasporas in the United States.

How Untruths Get Manufactured, Disseminated, and Embraced: Examining Critical Race Theory
Thursday, April 13, 2:50 to 4:20 pm
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Hall J

Participants: Rebecca Jacobsen (Michigan State University), Stephanie Masta (Purdue University), Gloria J. Ladson-Billings (University of Wisconsin - Madison), Andrew Patrick Daire (Virginia Commonwealth University), Taifha Alexander (University of California - Los Angeles)

This session will highlight the current crisis of truth across the United States, specifically focusing on how untruths are developed, disseminated, and embraced by large swaths of individuals. Critical Race Theory (CRT) will be the focal topic, highlighting the history of the concept, trends since its development, and current facts and misinformation surrounding CRT within education and across society. The core tenets of CRT are (a) the notion that racism is ordinary and not aberrational; (b) the idea of an interest convergence; (c) the social construction of race; (d) the idea of storytelling and counter-storytelling; and (e) the notion that White individuals have been recipients of civil rights legislation (Hartlep, 2009). A diverse panel of individuals will be involved in order to break down Critical Race Theory, discuss the current trends in media and social media involving CRT, and examine the mistruths related to CRT in educational and societal realms.

4:40 to 6:10 pm

Infusing Computational Thinking and Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Pedagogy in K-12 Learning Spaces
Thursday, April 13, 4:40 to 6:10 pm
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Hall L

Chair: Keith E. Howard (Chapman University) 
Discussants: Nicol R. Howard (University of Redlands), Roxana Hadad (University of California - Los Angeles)
Presenters: Carla Strickland (University of Chicago), Andrea Ramirez-Salgado (University of Florida), Lauren Weisberg (University of Florida), LaToya Chandler (University of Florida), Maya Israel (University of Florida), Kristin A. Searle (Utah State University), Aubrey Rogowski (Utah State University), Colby Tofel-Grehl (Utah State University), Mengying Jiang (Indiana University - Bloomington), Imelda Nava-Landeros (University of California - Los Angeles), Heather F. Clark (University of California - Los Angeles), Symone Gyles (University of Washington - Bothell), Tiera C. Tanksley (University of Colorado - Boulder), Carla Strickland (University of Chicago), Kristin A. Searle (Utah State University), Imelda Nava-Landeros (University of California - Los Angeles), Sharin R. Jacob (University of California - Irvine), Sharin R. Jacob (University of California - Irvine), Mark Warschauer (University of California - Irvine)

The Journal of Computer Science Integration (JCSI) issued a special call for contributions from researchers and practitioners that deepen conceptualizations of culturally responsive-sustaining pedagogies (CRSP) in computational thinking (CT) practices and concepts – to amplify truths about CRSP despite current attacks on its theoretical foundation. The papers in the special issue attend to the multiple ways CT is integrated into learning spaces and content areas, utilizing a culturally responsive-sustaining lens that informs the integration of CT formally or informally. Additionally, the submissions were from various research orientations, such as empirical studies, case studies, and theoretical foundations that highlight the stories of Black, Latine, Native, and indigenous learners. Unique to this special issue is the inclusion of practitioner contributions and their responses to researchers' articles.


Friday, April 14

8:00 to 9:30 am

The “Truths” and Politics of School District Governance, Leadership, and Social Justice in a Time of Increasing Controversy
Friday, April 14, 8:00 to 9:30 am
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Ballroom B

Chair: Janelle T. Scott (University of California - Berkeley) 
Discussants: Erica O. Turner (University of Wisconsin - Madison), Terah T. Venzant Chambers (Michigan State University)
Presenters: Ann LoBue (Teachers College, Columbia University), Sonya Douglass (Teachers College, Columbia University), Carrie Sampson (Arizona State University), Mary Lou Fulton (Teachers College, Columbia University), Ruth María López (University of Houston), Alfonso Ayala (San Jose State University), Jasmine Pham (University of Toronto), Emily N. Nunez-Eddy (Arizona State University), René Espinoza Kissell (University of California - Santa Cruz), Jacinto Ramos (Texas Christian University)

This proposed session includes a combination of papers that offer an overview of recent research on local governance that include both old and new concerns. Additionally, at the crux of these concerns are analyses of how local governance shapes educational equity and justice in education. And finally, in response to the call for proposals for the 2023 AERA meeting, this proposed session will address the role of education research in the pursuit of truth about school district governance.

9:50 to 11:20 am

Abbott Elementary: Millennial Educators Rewriting the Script
Friday, April 14, 9:50 to 11:20 am
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Hall L

Chair: Mary E. Dilworth (Independent Researcher)
Participants: Génesis Aguilar Chávez (Howard County Government), Loren Saxton Coleman (Howard University), Saadiq Cooper (Philadelphia PA School District), Keith C. Catone (Roger Williams University), Madeline Will (EdWeek)

The goals of this symposium are to better understand how education research is used in broadcast media i.e., network television; the extent to which the mockumentary, Abbott Elementary, reflects the day-to-day reality of urban PK-12 teachers of color; and identify ways to mutually advance social justice and equity issues in the education research and mass media sectors.

Mental Health Concerns on the Rise: What can K-12 and Higher Education Do?
Friday, April 14, 9:50 to 11:20 am
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Hall GH

Chair: Venus E. Evans-Winters (African American Policy Forum)
Discussant: Amber D. Dumford (University of South Florida - Tampa)
Participants: Ahmad Rashad Washington (University of Louisville), Michelle F. Trotman Scott (University of West Georgia) 

Mental health issues have been on the rise since the early 2000s, and the COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated those already climbing numbers. Racism and inequality also play contributing factors in this growing issue. While 50% of all mental health issues present before the age of 14 and 75% by age 24, schools and higher ed institutions are understaffed and unable to support our students. Untruths and perceived stigma cause solving this problem to seem insurmountable. What can K-12 and higher education do to transform the current environment and solve this systematic problem?

The COVID Effect: Rethinking Learning, Data Systems and Truth for Justice
Friday, April 14, 9:50 to 11:20 am
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Hall J

Chair: Tyrone C. Howard (University of California - Los Angeles) 
Discussant: Janelle T. Scott (University of California - Berkeley) 
Participants: Thomas S. Dee (Stanford University), Andrew Ho (Harvard University), Lucrecia Santibanez (University of California - Los Angeles), Joseph P. Bishop (University of California - Los Angeles), Susanna Loeb (Brown University)

Studying the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on students and schools and the opportunities it provides for authentic change is the kind of consequential research that can have real effects on public policy and practice. This research, and the calls it makes for better data and systems to inform educational service delivery, asks uncomfortable questions about what was done, what should have been done, and how we can learn from this experience to construct a more equitable future. Session researchers will push boundaries of ideas, methods and data by providing a rigorous assessment of student academic outcomes, enrollment, school climate and social-emotional outcomes during and after the pandemic. Studies include a mix of quantitative and qualitative findings that probe the effects of the virus, economic uncertainty, health impacts, school closures, and online learning on classroom teachers, school counselors, school psychologists, principals and district administrators. Their experiences, along with rigorous analysis of survey and administrative data, will uncover truths around pandemic response and our current condition. Finally, scholars will discuss recommendations for policy and practice as we move forward.

11:40 am to 1:10 pm

Countering the Silencing Intent of Attacks on Critical Race Theory
Friday, April 14, 11:40 am to 1:10 pm
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Hall K

Chair: Christine E. Sleeter (California State University - Monterey Bay)
Presenters: Daniel Gilbert Solorzano (University of California - Los Angeles), Ashley Whitlock Burns (Strom Thurmond High School), Angela Valenzuela (The University of Texas at Austin), Chala Holland (Naperville School District)

This session will examine some of the key factors involved in turning CRT into a political cudgel that is being used, not to examine how race works, but rather to silence serious attention to race in education institutions. After the chair provides an overview of the purpose of the session and a brief synopsis of what the research says about the impact on students of teaching about race and racism, four panelists will each speak for about 12 minutes. Panelists were selected for their expertise in the following areas:

  • Critical Race Theory: Its origins, purpose, and intellectual trajectory
  • How media frame issues to the public
  • State legislation banning teaching about race vs. grassroots efforts to adopt ethnic studies at the state level
  • Public schools’ efforts to address race and racism in an anti-CRT climate

2:50 to 4:20 pm

Si El Norte Fuera el Sur/If The North Was the South: Examining Other(ed) Truths and Connections Across the Globe
Friday, April 14, 2:50 to 4:20 pm
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Hall L

Chair: Pedro E. Nava (Santa Clara University)
Participants: Diana Michelle Barrero (University of Toronto), Luis Urrieta (The University of Texas at Austin), Fikile Nxumalo (University of Toronto), Licho Lopez Lopez (University of Melbourne), Jose Cossa (Pennsylvania State University)

Contested notions of truth have long been a part of the lives of historically marginalized peoples across the globe. This session will highlight the voices, experiences, and diverse modes of expression of people outside of the United States who have fought to ensure that their realities and truths can be represented in ways that are meaningful and accurate to them–regardless of mainstream acceptance or rejection of the forms and content. How are these other(ed) “truths” being shared, and what responses and reactions have these truths elicited across spatial contexts? What can be learned from our colleagues across diverse communities and contexts when it comes to speaking a community(ies) truth?

The Audacity to Dream: What Does Mathematics Education Have to Do With It?
Friday, April 14, 2:50 to 4:20 pm
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Hall J

Chairs: Maxine McKinney de Royston (University of Wisconsin - Madison), Melissa Adams Corral (The University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley), Kari Kokka (University of Nevada - Las Vegas)
Presenters: Maisha Moses (The Young People's Project), Gabrielle Elizabeth Bernal (University of Michigan - Ann Arbor), Jennifer Dao (Nepantla Teachers Community), Jerica Jurado (Nepantla Teachers Community), Michelle Cody (Willie L. Brown Jr. Middle School)

We argue that in order for mathematics education research to be consequential now and in the future, we must: 1) listen to and learn from the needs and desires of youth and families of the global majority; 2) center them as living data archives that guide mathematics education research (as opposed to the normative constructions of “literature” and mathematical ways of knowing, being, and doing that have historically been privileged); and 3) collectively conceptualize what it means for mathematics education research to be in solidarity with and answerable to youth, family, and communities in the global majority at this moment and in the future.


Saturday, April 15

8:00 to 9:30 am

Investigations into the Working Conditions of Leaders of Color: Illuminating the Truth about Recruitment, Retention, and Turnover
Saturday, April 15, 8:00 to 9:30 am
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Hall K

Chair: Mark Anthony Gooden (Teachers College, Columbia University)
Discussant: Mark Anthony Gooden (Teachers College, Columbia University) 
Presenters: Mark Anthony Gooden (Teachers College, Columbia University), Stephanie Levin (Learning Policy Institute), Crystal A. Moore (Stanford University), Sandra Phillips-Sved (San Francisco Unified School District), Travis J. Bristol (University of California - Berkeley), Rebecca Cheung (University of California - Berkeley)

In aligning with the conference theme, we ask, what is role of leaders of color in determining “truth” in schools? Specifically, who decides what schools should teach and learn, and how? How do leaders of color effectively engage with constituents of the educational enterprise as they construct their notions about truth as they leverage their positions to attempt to influence the education of all students? For example, would a school board member be more influenced by a layperson with no educational research background or a culturally responsive school leader when it comes to understanding the recent mischaracterization of critical race theory (CRT) and its impact on school culture, particularly student well-being? The answer to these questions rest at the intersection of policy and practice, increasingly begging us to explore how leaders of color are recruited, retained, supported as they become more culturally aware? Exploring these questions will clarify how education research can improve the working conditions of principals of color. We also argue that recruiting and retaining culturally responsive leaders of color is a huge influence on equity (Radd et al, 2021; Khalifa, Gooden, & Davis, 2016).

9:50 to 11:20 am

Systems for Equitable Educational Assessment
Saturday, April 15, 9:50 to 11:20 am
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Hall K

Moderator: Matt Silberglitt (WestEd)
Participants: Philip L. Bell (University of Washington), Randy E. Bennett (Educational Testing Service), Ayesha Boyce (Arizona State University), Molly Marian Faulkner-Bond (WestEd), Brian Gong (Center for Assessment), Danielle Guzman-Orth (Educational Testing Service), Fiona Hinds, Sheryl S. Lazarus (University of Minnesota), William R. Penuel (University of Colorado - Boulder), Stephen L. Pruitt (Southern Regional Education Board), Aileen Reid (University of North Carolina - Greensboro)

Federal requirements for K–12 educational assessment in the US aim to ensure that all students receive the same educational opportunities. Top-down responses to these requirements that focus on a single summative assessment are limited in their ability to address this aim. In more impactful approaches, statewide assessment is part of a coherent system of instruction and assessment that informs teachers’ interactions with students in time for teachers to use assessment data effectively. Students benefit from sociocognitive and sociocultural formative assessment that recognizes the student in the process of assessment and that provides timely, specific feedback. Teachers benefit from professional learning that supports the design, development, and use of classroom assessments for achieving equity. This session will address building coherent systems of instruction and assessments from the bottom up, the ways that teachers can be involved in their design and use, and future directions toward equitable K–12 educational assessment systems.

The Emancipatory Pursuit of Truth in Schooling and Urban Education: Intergenerational Linkages Across the Past, Present, and Future
Saturday, April 15, 9:50 to 11:20 am
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Hall GH

Chair: Kofi Lomotey (Western Carolina University)
Discussant: Jerome E. Morris (University of Missouri-St. Louis)
Presenters: Julian Vasquez Heilig (University of Kentucky), Jerome E. Morris (University of Missouri-St. Louis), Michelle Fine (City College of New York - CUNY), Gloria J. Ladson-Billings (University of Wisconsin - Madison)

11:40 am to 1:10 pm

Whose Truth Matters in Education Research? Deconstructing, Reconstructing, and Advancing Indigenous Truths in the Pacific Region (and Beyond)
Saturday, April 15, 11:40 am to 1:10 pm
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Ballroom B

Chair: Margaret J. Maaka (University of Hawaii - Manoa)
Discussant: Huia Tomlins Jahnke (Massey University)
Participants:Kekailoa Perry (University of Hawaii - Manoa), Te Rina Warren (Massey University), Maung T. Nyeu (New York University), Kamuela M Kimokeo (Windward Community College), Tanya L.M. Samu (University of Auckland)

The world-wide colonization of indigenous communities and their interests through education is not a singular issue but formed through multiple sites, in multiple ways and often simultaneously. Education research has often been complicit in maintaining power over what ideas and findings matter and from whose perspective is prioritised in the pursuit of truth. As well, educators are implicated in neo-colonial relations of power and privilege. Education and schooling are complex sites of cultural oppression and therefore require a broad range of complex responses; different disciplinary bases that canvass a range of educational and schooling sites and issues. Issues of race, inequality and justice systematically impede indigenous, brown and black folk participating in the pursuit of truth through education. Oppressed peoples know the power that history education has in shaping their cultural and political identities. Renowned African American historian Carter G. Woodson wrote of the indoctrination of Black communities who were miseducated to believe they were inferior in every class they entered and every book they read (1993). Miseducation was much more than a contemporary critique of the system but a cycle that results from the mis-educated continuing to teach and mis-educate others. For this reason, indigenous peoples have developed alternative methodological approaches to research, in our search for what counts as truth. To this point, as Fijian and Tongan anthropologist Epeli Hauʻofa explains, indigenous people need to “actively reconstruct [their] histories, rewrite [their] geography, create [their] own realities, and disseminate these through [their] own educational institutions and [their] societies at large.” Failure to do so would relegate them to “mental reservations” rooted in narratives of “passive submission.”

Drawing on various perspectives, this session explores the effectiveness of indigenous approaches that positions research as critical and potentially transforming for our communities who are the most impacted by imperialism, colonialism, racism and oppression underpinning much of the miseducation indigenous peoples experience.

2:50 to 4:20 pm

In Pursuit of "Truth" in Research on Teachers, Teaching, and Teacher Preparation
Saturday, April 15, 2:50 to 4:20 pm
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Ballroom B

Chair: Marilyn Cochran-Smith (Boston College)
Discussant: A. Lin Goodwin (Boston College)
Presenters: Marilyn Cochran-Smith (Boston College), Reid Jewett Smith (Disability Inclusion), Thomas M. Philip (University of California - Berkeley), Veer Kothari, Andy Castro (University of California - Berkeley), Christian Asante (Boston College), Nicole Mockler (The University of Newcastle)

Across presentations, this symposium takes up a number of key themes and questions about teachers, teaching, teacher education, and/or teaching materials that are closely related to the AERA 2023 program theme: (1) What is the role of print media discourses in shaping public “truths” about teacher preparation and teachers’ work? How do these discourses compare to those generated by empirical research? What impacts do they have? (2) How are “truths” represented in teaching materials about highly politicized and controversial scientific and socio-political topics? How do these vary across transnational boundaries? How are they shaped by politics and policies at both local and larger levels? (3) How do teachers negotiate multiple “truths” in the everyday decisions they make regarding how and what they teach in schools and classrooms? How are these decisions embedded in situation-specific contexts? How are they influenced by differential power relationships in schools and society? (4) How are “data,” “evidence,” and “truth(s)” constructed in public, policy, and research discourses about teachers and teacher preparation, teachers’ work in schools and classrooms, and the materials teachers use in multiple subject areas?

The Essential Value of the Justice-Impacted Voice in (and in the Design of) Educational Research Related to Exclusion and How This Voice, When Combined with System Research, Can Add Nuance and Complexity to Our Understanding
Saturday, April 15, 2:50 to 4:20 pm
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Hall K

Presenters: Majid Mohammad (University of California - Santa Barbara), William Freeman (The Education Trust), Stanley Andrisse (From Prison Cells To PhD), Jason O'Malley (Re-entry Coaching Academy), Avery Agles (Princeton University), Eden M. Badertscher (University of Maryland - College Park), Otis Jennings (Elicit, LLC), Jodie Lambert, Amy Shapiro (Bard Prison Initiative), Michelle Daniel Jones (New York University), Joanna Weidler-Lewis (University of Colorado - Boulder), Bryant O. Best (Vanderbilt University), Bettie Ray Butler (University of North Carolina Charlotte), Roderick L. Carey (University of Delaware), Howard Henderson (Texas Southern University), Jameel Spann (Freedom Community Center), Christopher Etienne (Princeton University), Kofi Marfo (University of South Florida), Adham El-sherbeini (HydroWorks), Summer Sprofera (Branch Brook Park), Barry Pinckney (Working World), Dameon Stackhouse (Somerset County Human Services), George Bogner (Nestle R&D), Boris Franklin (New Jersey Together)

In this session, a group of authors who contributed to a special issue of the journal Urban Education focusing on the voices of directly impacted people and their allies in STEM education and careers, will discuss their research, which spans diverse methods and methodologies, to illuminate exclusion in STEM and the cradle-to-prison pipeline in action. This issue challenges our field to center the brilliant voices of justice-impacted people, as Leonard & Martin (2013) and others have advocated strongly to center the brilliant voices of Black learners. However, we are still left with difficulty in understanding the complexity within the system itself; thus, their voices are necessary to understand what it could mean to impact the system for transformative change versus simply addressing smaller pieces in isolation, as is too often the case in educational research. To address this limitation, the discussant will work with the authors to connect their research to valid and complex system-focused research around STEM education for people who are or were incarcerated (Badertscher et al, 2021). The research methodology is Community-based System Dynamics (Hovmand, 2014; CBSD).


Sunday, April 16

8:00 to 9:30 am

Knock Before You Enter: Heart Works, Truths, and Pedagogies of Black Women and Girls
Sunday, April 16, 8:00 to 9:30 am
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Hall J

Chairs: Abiola Farinde-Wu (University of Massachusetts - Boston), Bettie Ray Butler (University of North Carolina Charlotte)
Discussant: Venus E. Evans-Winters (African American Policy Forum)
Presenters: Abiola Farinde-Wu (University of Massachusetts - Boston), Ayana Allen-Handy (Drexel University), Bettie Ray Butler (University of North Carolina Charlotte), Natalie S. King (Georgia State University), Jemimah L. Young (Texas A&M University), Esther Oganda Ohito (Rutgers University-New Brunswick), Amirah Loury (University of Maryland), Yolanda Sealy-Ruiz

This presidential session has gathered dynamic emerging and seasoned Black women scholars to speak on the work that is needed. Work that entails dismantling teacher implicit biases that police Black girls and funnels them into the school-to-prison pipeline. Work that recenters Black women’s writings/literacies as political, raced and gendered acts of resistance and restoration. This session asked the question, “How are Black women and girls doing in these united states” and troubles the perception that Black women and girls are doing well despite endemic racist, gendered, and structural impediment in their paths.

9:50 to 11:20 am

Interrogating Consequential Education Research in Pursuit of Truth: Perspectives of AERA Past Presidents
Sunday, April 16, 9:50 to 11:20 am
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Hall J

Chair: James A. Banks (University of Washington)
Participants: Alan H. Schoenfeld (University of California - Berkeley), Gloria J. Ladson-Billings (University of Wisconsin - Madison), Deborah Loewenberg Ball (University of Michigan), Shaun R. Harper (University of Southern California)

Interrogating Educators' Working Conditions in the Era of Intersecting Crises
Sunday, April 16, 9:50 to 11:20 am
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Ballroom B

Chair: Melissa Braaten (University of Colorado - Boulder)
Discussant: Sarah L. Woulfin (University of Texas at Austin)
Presenters: Lora Bartlett (University of California - Santa Cruz), Doris A. Santoro (Bowdoin College), Joshua Childs (The University of Texas at Austin), Mary Alvirez (Austin ISD), Allison C. Atteberry (University of Virginia), Jeffrey J. Rozelle (Knowles Science Teaching Foundation) 

This session will unite researchers and practitioners to surface pressing, timely knowledge on educators' working conditions in the Covid-era. We will ask about the 'truths' of teaching and leading amid intersecting pandemics. We will also ask about the daily challenges of teaching and leading in the absence of a hard re-set (Ladson-Billings, 2021). Further, we will offer opportunities for researchers to share future directions for cross-cutting research that captures the working conditions of educators and offers insights as to innovative ways to improve working conditions to produce more equitable experiences and outcomes.

11:40 am to 1:10 pm

Consequential Research for Youth Programs: Insights about Racial Reckoning and Equity from Scholars, Youth Workers, and Young People
Sunday, April 16, 11:40 am to 1:10 pm
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Ballroom B

Chairs: Bianca Jontae Baldridge (Harvard University), Deepa Sriya Vasudevan (Wellesley College) , Daniela Kruel DiGiacomo (University of Kentucky), Ben Kirshner (University of Colorado - Boulder), Sam Mejias (Parson School of Design)
Discussants: Deb Maroney (American Institutes for Research), Nichole D. Pinkard (Northwestern University), Jane M. Quinn (City University of New York (CUNY)), Vanessa Roberts (University of Colorado - Boulder)
Participants: Virginia Downing (University of Wisconsin - Madison), Edom Tesfa (Harvard University), Bianca Jontae Baldridge (Harvard University), Deepa Sriya Vasudevan (Wellesley College), Ben Kirshner (University of Colorado - Boulder), Sam Mejias (Parson School of Design), Carl Greer (University of Wisconsin - Madison), Sanaa Kahloon (Harvard University), Connor Daniel Flick (Western Kentucky University), Daniela Kruel DiGiacomo (University of Kentucky), Moisés Gabriel Contreras (Harvard University) 

This session is consequential for the education research field in two ways. First, we share findings about the current landscape of community-based education for racially minoritized youth in the US based on research with various actors in the OST sector, including scholars, practitioners, youth participants, and policy influencers. Given how the contemporary moment of hyper-partisanship, hyper-polarization, and mis/disinformation has amplified inequities between social groups and further silo competing perspectives (Klein, 2020), bringing together various stakeholder perspectives is critical work. Second, presentations draw explicitly on varied theoretical and methodological approaches, including critical race theory, sociology of education, learning sciences, and participatory action research, to surface tensions and contradictions facing the OST sector.

Moving from Racial Violence and Trauma to Solidarity and Healing
Sunday, April 16, 11:40 am to 1:10 pm
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Hall K

Chair: Esther Oganda Ohito (Rutgers University-New Brunswick)
Discussant: Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz (Teachers College, Columbia University)
Presenters: Debi Khasnabis (University of Michigan), Simona Goldin (University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill), Katrin O. Robertson (Wholemindesign Studio for Teaching and Learning), Addison Duane (University of California - Berkeley), Sharim Hannegan-Martinez (University of Kentucky), Adam Alvarez (Rowan University), Cynthia B. Dillard (Seattle University), Charisse Cowan Pitre (Seattle University), Paige Gardner (Seattle University)

The presenters in this session acknowledge that racial violence and trauma stem from white, settler colonialism. They also recognize that it is necessary to move trauma research and scholarship in educational contexts away from pathological discourses that seek to normalize People of Color as their bodies and communities respond to the violence targeting their marginalized identities. In this session, we consider the overarching questions:

  • What are the existing forms and impacts of racial violence and trauma on marginalized people of color inside, outside, and across various educational spectrums?
  • How can our work and scholarship influence a greater movement toward solidarity across identity lines?
  • What are some ways we can cultivate healing opportunities for collective wounds in and around educational contexts?
  • Essentially, our goal in this session is to name the types of mechanisms that can promote healing and solidarity in and around educational contexts. Our hope is that policymakers, practitioners, and researchers would take the contributions we share and build on them in ways that challenge notions of reductionism and determinism but also encourage collective healing across multiple domains and identity spaces (Alvarez & Farinde-Wu, 2022).

2:50 to 4:20 pm

Educating for Civic Reasoning and Discourse: Preparing Young People to Wrestle with Complex Truths in the Public Domain
Sunday, April 16, 2:50 to 4:20 pm
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Ballroom B

Chair: Gregory A. White (National Academy of Education)
Discussants: Carl Cohn (Claremont Graduate University)
Participants: Carol D. Lee (Northwestern University), Alan H. Schoenfeld (University of California - Berkeley), Marcia Linn (University of California - Berkeley), Korah Wiley (University of California - Berkeley), Abby Reisman (University of Pennsylvania)

One goal of public education in a democracy is to support students in learning to grapple with the complexities of our efforts as humans to live together, forming social contracts that embody our mutual expectations of support. In the context of the United States, this social contract is complex and deeply contested (as indeed it is in other countries). As we engage with one another in the civic domain, we wrestle with questions of truth – truth of facts, truth of judgements we make about historical and contemporary actions in the civic domain. The presentations in this symposium capture recommendations from the recent report by the National Academy of Education, Educating for Civic Reasoning and Discourse. The report recommends that preparation for civic reasoning and discourse should be taught across all the content areas and across the full K-12 grade spectrum. The demands of learning to engage in civic reasoning and discourse are complex conceptually and developmentally and cannot be learned in a single civics or U.S. history course. The report argues that civic reasoning and discourse entail knowledge (conceptual and procedural), epistemology (a disposition to value complexity), ethics (including empathy for others), democratic principles, and dispositions to listen to others, value multiple points of view, and weigh competing evidence. A major contribution of the report is warranting arguments about the conditions that need to be in play in order for students at different points in their development to engage this complex problem space in what we know from the Science of Human Learning and Development.

Living Within and Beyond the Algorithm in the Pursuit of Truth
Sunday, April 16, 2:50 to 4:20 pm
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Hall J

Moderator: Mark Anthony Gooden (Teachers College, Columbia University) 
Participants: Christopher Emdin (University of Southern California), Angel Jones (Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville) 

4:40 to 6:10 pm

The Uvalde School Shooting: Whose Truth Matters?
Sunday, April 16, 4:40 to 6:10 pm
Hyatt Regency Chicago, East Tower - Ballroom Level - Grand Ballroom B

Chairs: Betty M. Merchant (The University of Texas - San Antonio) 
Participants: Idalia De La Cruz (Southwest College Junior College), Raquel Esquivel (Knippa ISD), Ana Maria Herrera, Monica Herrera (Eagle Pass ISD), Cruz Mata (Southwest Texas Junior College), Maria Villarreal (Carrizo ISD) 

In this session, the Wintergarden Cohort (consisting of 17 University of Texas San Antonio doctoral students) analyzes the responses of 7 independent public-school districts in the Wintergarden Region (i.e. Southwest Texas) in the aftermath of the shooting that occurred in the neighboring school district of Uvalde. The Wintergarden Region (named because of its significance as an agricultural area) is located in the Southwest region of Texas along the Mexico border. The closest urban area is San Antonio, which is anywhere from 60 to 140 miles away from the much smaller cities in the Region. The often conflicting and sensationalist tone of the media coverage of this tragedy has only highlighted the elusive nature of the “truth.” As Latinx educators, we are very much aware of the on-going, and oftentimes, exploitative nature of the press coverage that the Uvalde district has been subjected to, over the last several months. We believe that our session can play a significant role in helping both academics and practitioners understand our “truth” regarding the heightened threats to school safety and the challenges we and other educators face, when trying to provide a secure teaching and learning environment within the context of a gun culture, such as ours, that pervades our state.