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The 2025 AERA Annual Meeting is the single largest gathering of scholars in the education research field and is a showcase for groundbreaking, innovative work in a diverse array of areas. Dates, times, and locations will be added as they become available. All times are in Mountain Time.
AERA Presidential Address Friday, April 10, 5:45 pm to 7:15 pm Concourse Hall, Los Angeles Convention Center, Level One
Speaker: Maisha T. Winn (Stanford University)
Learn from the wisdom and knowledge of AERA President Maisha T. Winn. The Presidential Address is an annual “can’t miss” event, where the state and future of the field are examined and attendees are inspired.
2026 AERA Distinguished Lecture
Speaker: Bryan Brayboy (Northwestern University)
2026 Awards Ceremony Luncheon Thursday, April 9, 11:45 am to 1:45 pm Concourse Hall, Los Angeles Convention Center, Level One
The Awards Ceremony Luncheon will be a highlight of the 2026 AERA Annual Meeting. AERA encourages Annual Meeting participants to add the luncheon to their registration and to help honor notable accomplishments and achievements, across career stages, in education research.
2026 AERA Annual Meeting Opening Plenary Wednesday, April 8, 5:45 pm to 7:15 pm Concourse Hall, Los Angeles Convention Center, Level One
Participants: Daniel Gilbert Solorzano (University of California - Los Angeles), Jarvis R. Givens (Harvard University), Stacy H. Lee (Texas Tech University), Veronica Terriquez (University of California - Los Angeles), Amanda R. Tachine (University of Oregon)
2026 Wallace Foundation Distinguished Lecture
Speaker: Bianca J. Baldridge (Harvard University)
Title: (Re)memory, Community-based Education, and ‘Youth Work’ as the Process of Futuring
In the 2026 Wallace Foundation Distinguished Lecture, Bianca J. Baldridge reflects on her community-engaged scholarship, her theoretical contributions to community-based education and critical youth work practice, and her empirical research with youth workers across the United States. Dr. Baldridge will demonstrate how youth workers teach to transgress—pushing beyond the boundaries of systems and paradoxes within the field as they co-envision possibilities in their work alongside youth. By elevating the role of educators working outside traditional school walls, she will urge the audience to rethink ‘schooling,’ expand our notions of who educators are, and support and invest in youth workers who make significant sacrifices to support our children. Using her current research with Black youth workers across the US, she connects contemporary youth work to a long tradition of resistance, emphasizing the knowledge carried from the past to confront present realities.
Dr. Baldrige’s talk will raise important questions, such as: in today’s social and political climate, what can we remember, recollect, and reassemble about the constellation of educational and learning environments that can transform young people's lives? How can we, as education researchers, learn from history to guide our approach in honoring the wisdom and agency within communities, including all educators and youth? How can we envision community-based education and youth work as a process of futuring and world-building toward educational justice? A joyful reflection on how communities have fought to educate, inspire, and protect youth from societal harm, Dr. Baldridge’s Wallace lecture will emphasize the crucial connection between the past, present, and future of community-based youth work.