2026 Annual Meeting Home
Registration Housing | Travel
Program Information
Exhibits | Sponsorship Advertising | Affiliates
Tied to the 2025 Annual Meeting theme "Unforgetting Histories and Imagining Futures: Constructing a New Vision for Education Research." 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 Pacific Time.
9:45 am to 11:15 am
Building the World Anew: Historically-Responsive Educational Approaches Towards just and Sustainable Climate Futures Wednesday, April 8, 9:45 am to 11:15 am Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 406AB
Chair: Christina Hewko (Stanford University) Discussant: Meixi (University of Minnesota) Participants: Christopher Jadallah (University of California - Los Angeles), Michelle Hernandez Romero (University of California - Los Angeles), Lauren Arzaga Daus (University of California - Los Angeles), Sara Jasmin Diaz-Montejano (University of California - Los Angeles), Ananda M. Marin (University of California - Los Angeles), Sara E. Tolbert (Monash University), Fikile Nxumalo (University of Toronto - OISE), Tia C. Madkins (The University of Texas at Austin)
The climate crisis is here, but so are the solutions. This panel brings together scholars working across a range of disciplines and geographies who are partnering with youth, educators, and communities to engage in the collaborative work of redefining and reshaping socio-ecological relations. Collectively, they draw on a variety of frameworks to re-member and revitalize the historically-contingent everyday practices, knowledge systems, lifeways, and movements of diverse communities as integral to the work of climate futuring. These projects serve as models for educational pursuits that not only contest the systems of oppression driving climate catastrophe and its inequitable impacts; they also work to prefigure more just, sustainable, and thriving futures by opening up new forms of world-building activity in the here-and-now.
The State of the K-12 Teaching Profession: Perennial Challenges and New Possibilities Wednesday, April 8, 9:45 am to 11:15 am Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 409AB
Chair: Pamela L. Grossman (University of Pennsylvania) Discussant: Kent McGuire (William and Flora Hewlett Foundation) Presenters: Pamela L. Grossman (University of Pennsylvania), Maya Kaul (University of Pennsylvania), Sarah Schneider Kavanagh (University of Pennsylvania), Chandra L. Alston (Learning Policy Institute), Travis J. Bristol (University of California - Berkeley), Julie Jackson Cohen (University of Virginia), Kathlene Holmes Campbell (National Center for Teacher Residencies), Conra D. Gist (University of Houston), Roddy Theobald (American Institutes for Research)
The well-being of the K–12 teaching profession is foundational to the health of our multi-racial democracy. Yet, despite decades of reforms, the status of the profession in the United States has reached historic lows—threatening our ability to recruit and retain a diverse, high-quality teacher workforce. This session begins with a landscape analysis of the teaching profession, identifying three perennial challenges of the field: (1) championing quality and access in teacher education; (2) retaining and supporting a diverse, high-quality teacher workforce; and (3) developing shared measures and systems of accountability. Shifting from challenges to possibilities, panelists will then explore how each challenge can be addressed through policy and practice to build a more just and sustainable future for the teaching profession.
11:45 am to 1:15 pm
Crit Moving: Black, Brown, and Queer Coalitions for Liberated Educational Futures Wednesday, April 8, 11:45 am to 1:15 pm Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 404AB
Chair: Omi Salas-SantaCruz (University of Utah) Discussant: Daniel Gilbert Solorzano (University of California - Los Angeles) Participants: Tiffani Marie (San Jose State University), Kenjus T. Watson (American University), Tracy Lachica Buenavista (California State University - Northridge), Edward R. Curammeng (California State University - Dominguez Hills), Ed Brockenbrough (University of Pennsylvania), Nichole M. Garcia (Rutgers University), Noor Ali (Northeastern University)
Taking its cue from the rhythmic footwork of Los Angeles’s C-Walk—a testament to Black creativity under surveillance that moves forward, backward, and side to side in no fixed pattern but with strategic intent—this presidential session introduces Crit Moving as a collective practice of moving through and, at times, against dominant educational paradigms. Moving here is not a literal act but the creative, embodied, and coalitional maneuvers communities make to survive and thrive. The session invites diverse scholars working across the "Crits in education" to chart pathways that disrupt carceral, fascist, and repressive logics while mapping routes toward liberation. An intergenerational dialogue on social movements, mentorship, memory, and methodological futurity asks how coalition-centered methods move us—together and across differences—toward just educational worlds.
Designing Transformative Research for Systemic Change in Teaching and Learning Wednesday, April 8, 11:45 am to 1:15 pm Los Angeles Convention Center, Level One - Petree Hall C
Chair: Na'ilah Suad Nasir (Spencer Foundation) Discussant: Hirokazu Yoshikawa (New York University) Participants: Linda Darling-Hammond (Learning Policy Institute), Emma D. Hipolito (University of California - Los Angeles), Cheryl C. Holcomb-McCoy (American University)
This session focuses on research designed to transform educational systems by studying central issues of equity in collaboration with practitioners, community members, and policymakers. The research studies the work of exemplar teacher education programs developing culturally sustaining and responsive capacities in teachers, then follows graduates to study their instructional strategies in distinctive social contexts. Teacher education programs are partners in the research and members of a community of practice supporting shared learning. Local community members advise the study. Print and video products will be used to support learning opportunities for practitioners, and implications will be considered by a learning community of state agencies for translation into accreditation and licensing standards.
1:45 pm to 3:15 pm
In the Hour of Chaos: Hip Hop Art and Activism with Public Enemy’s Chuck D Wednesday, April 8, 1:45 pm to 3:15 pm Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 403A
Chairs: H. Samy Alim (University of California - Los Angeles) Panelists: Chuck D (Public Enemy), Gloria J. Ladson-Billings (University of Wisconsin - Madison), Robin D. G. Kelley (University of California - Los Angeles), Lauren Leigh Kelly (Rutgers University), Tabia N. Shawel (University of California - Los Angeles)
In the Hour of Chaos: Hip Hop Art & Activism with Public Enemy’s Chuck D highlights the transformative power of Hip Hop with some of the nation’s most insightful thinkers on the art form’s social, cultural, political, and educational significance. Guided by Chuck D himself, the film tells the story of how artists, activists, and academics came together at UCLA to celebrate 50 years of Hip Hop cultural history. The all-star line-up of guests explores the profound impact of an arts movement that revolutionized the world. This panel will screen the film (43 minutes) and engage in a discussion with CHUCK D of Public Enemy along with two of the film's directors, H. Samy Alim and Tabia Shawel, as well as Robin D. G. Kelley, Gloria Ladson-Billings, and Lauren Leigh Kelly. In line with this year's theme, "Unforgetting histories and imagining futures," as we consider over half a century of the Hip Hop arts movement, we must also chart out paths for the culture's future, as well as the futures of Hip Hop Studies, Black Studies, and education research. Over much of the last four decades, Chuck D’s music and activism have taught so many of us. This film captures Chuck D at his best, engaging leading public intellectuals on the social origins of Hip Hop culture and its continued evolution. The film covers a range of topics, including Black radical movements, Hip Hop feminisms, and the global circulation of the culture within the ever-evolving, and ever-predatory, music and entertainment industries. Narrated by Chuck D, this film follows his tenure as the UCLA Hip Hop Initiative’s inaugural Artist-in-Residence. No other film captures this journey, at this critical juncture in our history, as we celebrate and critique Hip Hop with one of its most important and globally-recognized voices. And no other artist speaks so powerfully and eloquently about Hip Hop’s continued relevance in today’s “hour of chaos.” The film features leading Hip Hop voices like Joan Morgan, Robin D. G. Kelley, Jeff Chang, Davey D, Cheryl L. Keyes, Scot Brown, Gaye Theresa Johnson, Bryonn Bain, Maya Jupiter, Adam Bradley, Geneva Smitherman, Tabia Shawel, Samuel Lamontagne, and more.
3:45 pm to 5:15 pm
Freedom-Making in the Now: A Fireside Chat on Critical Challenges to Carcerality in K–16 Education Wednesday, April 8, 3:45 pm to 5:15 pm Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 406AB
Chairs: Keisha L. Green (University of Massachusetts - Amherst), Erica R. Meiners (Northeastern Illinois University) Discussant: Robin D. G. Kelley (University of California - Los Angeles) Participants: Julissa Muniz (University of California - Los Angeles), Bryonn Bain (University of California - Los Angeles), Roger Chung (Laney College), Jose Adam Murillo (University of California - Berkeley), William C. Ayers (University of Illinois at Chicago), Miguel Casar (University of Alabama), Romarilyn Ralston (The Claremont College), Tuere Jones (Bar None), Erin L. Castro (University of Utah)
How the Science of Learning and Development and the Neurosciences Can Inform Re-Envisioning Human Possibility Thursday, April 9, 9:45 am to 11:15 am Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 408A
Chair: Carol D. Lee (Northwestern University) Discussant: Ezekiel J. Dixon-Roman (Teachers College, Columbia University) Presenters: Mary Helen Immordino-Yang (University of Southern California), Megan Bang (Northwestern University), Carol D. Lee (Northwestern University), Barbara Rogoff (University of California - Santa Cruz), Cati V. de los Rios (University of California - Berkeley)
Current findings from the science of learning and development and the neurosciences move beyond historically restrictive conceptions and invite new visions of human possibility and the design of learning environments within and across settings and policy supports needed. Connecting to ongoing work in the National Academy of Education, we present and place in historical contexts research documenting learning as entailing cognition, identity, emotions and relationships interacting together to inform instruction and institutional organization to support youth to engage in transcendent thinking; empowering youth to interrogate complex conundrums in the civic domain recruiting conceptual and ethically rooted explanations. To illustrate this complexity we offer video narratives and invite the audience to examine and discuss their implications for research, practice and policy.
Shifting the Paradigm: Leveraging Mentoring Networks to Advance Educational Research Thursday, April 9, 9:45 am to 11:15 am Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 409AB
Chair: Nora Dominguez (University of New Mexico) Presenters: Carol A. Mullen (Virginia Tech), Nora Dominguez (University of New Mexico), Kathleen Mary Cowin (Washington State University - Tri-Cities)
This session examines the evolution of traditional mentoring models and their transformation into dynamic, collaborative mentoring networks that promote innovation, equity, and sustained growth in educational research. In alignment with the 2026 AERA theme, “Unforgetting Histories and Imagining Futures,” perspectives will be shared about how mentoring networks—comprising diverse, reciprocal, identity- affirming, and evolving relationships—can serve as an ecosystem for equity, innovation, and sustainability across educational contexts that advance educational research, foster personal and professional development, and address systemic inequities in academia.
2:15 pm to 3:45 pm
The Future of AI in Education: Research, Policy, and Public Impact Thursday, April 9, 2:15 pm to 3:45 pm Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 406AB
Chairs: Na'ilah Suad Nasir (Spencer Foundation), Sepehr Vakil (Northwestern University) Discussant: Ezekiel J. Dixon-Roman (Teachers College, Columbia University) Presenters: Victor R. Lee (Stanford University), Ibrahim Oluwajoba Adisa (Stanford University), Safiya Noble (University of California - Los Angeles), Tiera C. Tanksley (University of Colorado - Boulder), Prudence L. Carter (Brown University), Malik Boykin (Brown University), Allison Scott (Kapor Center for Social Impact), James L. Moore (National Science Foundation), Kumar Garg (Renaissance Philanthropy)
As artificial intelligence continues to reshape education, most conversations emphasize innovation while overlooking equity concerns, critical policy questions, and broader societal impacts. This session brings together leading scholars and practitioners from sociology, learning sciences, science and technology studies, policy, and philanthropy for a timely cross-sector dialogue. Panelists will address four high-priority areas for advancing equity in educational research on AI: what is currently known from empirical studies; ethical and social implications from STS perspectives; sociological and historical contexts; and policy considerations for K–12 and higher education. Through short spark talks and moderated discussion, the session will highlight both the risks and opportunities AI presents, and probe how research and policy can work together to shape more equitable educational systems.
4:15 pm to 5:45 pm
Looking Back, Looking Forward, Imagining Futures: CORIBE’s Black Education Research Agenda -- Impacts 20 Years Later Thursday, April 9, 4:15 pm to 5:45 pm Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 408A
Chair: Gloria J. Ladson-Billings (University of Wisconsin - Madison) Discussant: Kofi Lomotey (Western Carolina University) Presenters: Joyce E. King (Georgia State University), Linda C. Tillman (University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill), Sonya Douglass (Teachers College, Columbia University), Gloria S. Boutte (University of South Carolina), Zeus Leonardo (University of California - Berkeley)
This session considers impacts of AERA’s Commission on Research in Black Education (CORIBE) and the Commission’s research and action agenda after 20 years. The primary conceptual questions addressed across five papers guided the Commission’s inquiries and landmark publication: Black Education: A Transformative Research and Action Agenda for the New Century:
Looking back at CORIBE’s contributions and impacts and looking forward the papers will imagine ways to further democratize research processes in the future, affirming the healing centrality of culture in education research, curriculum, teaching and learning for human freedom.
Nothing About Us Without Us: Attending to Youth Desires for Their Educational Futures Thursday, April 9, 4:15 pm to 5:45 pm Los Angeles Convention Center, Level One - Petree Hall C
Chairs: Nicole Mirra (University of California - Los Angeles), Limarys Caraballo (Teachers College, Columbia University), Estrella Torrez (Michigan State University), Jamila Lyiscott (University of Massachusetts - Amherst) Discussants: Michelle Fine (Graduate Center - CUNY), Ernest D. Morrell (University of Notre Dame) Presenters: Limarys Caraballo (Teachers College, Columbia University), Shreya Sunderram (Graduate Center - CUNY), Vaughn W.M. Watson (Michigan State University), Jamila Lyiscott (University of Massachusetts - Amherst), Joanne E. Marciano (Michigan State University), L. Trenton S. Marsh (University of Central Florida), Nicole Mirra (University of California - Los Angeles), Estrella Torrez (Michigan State University), Dana E. Wright (Mills College at Northeastern University)
This presidential session centers the voices, experiences, and desires of young people, the group that will be most impacted by the decisions that we make about our collective social futures. This year’s theme urges the educational community at all levels to delve deeply into the histories and movements that have brought us to this sociopolitical moment and then expand outward to articulate our freedom dreams for future generations. Such futuring cannot be accomplished without the meaningful participation of youth. This session convenes a group of youth and adult researchers who have dedicated their careers to developing theoretical, methodological, and practical tools to support intergenerational and interdisciplinary public scholarship that positions young people as agentic experts of their educational experiences.
Wake & Whirlwinds: (Re)Constructing Global Black Southern Girlhood Stories Amidst Climate Change and Implications for Educational Research Thursday, April 9, 4:15 pm to 5:45 pm Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 406AB
Chair: Tamara Butler (College of Charleston) Discussant: April D. Baker-Bell (University of Michigan) Presenters: Tiffany O. Harris (College of Charleston), Taryrn T.C. Brown (University of Florida), Bria Harper (Wofford College), Kiana González Cedeño (Texas Christian University), Jessica Berry (The O.K.R.A. Soup Foundation), Lauren Elizabeth Reine Johnson (University of Illinois at Chicago)
Grief as Remembrance: An Antidote to Institutional Trauma Across Educational Contexts Friday, April 10, 11:45 am to 1:15 pm Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 404AB
Chair: Stephanie Cariaga (California State University - Dominguez Hills) Discussant: Stephanie Cariaga (California State University - Dominguez Hills) Presenters: Sharim Hannegan-Martinez (University of Michigan), Sakeena Everett (University of Connecticut), Chandni Desai (University of Toronto)
Building upon a special issue in the Journal of Trauma Studies in Education titled “Grief as an Invitation to Heal: Extending Trauma-Informed Pedagogies, Research, and Praxis”, this interactive presidential session will name the “ways in which schools [and the academy] try to suppress, delegitimize, and punish grief, especially when felt and expressed by those most critical of and most impacted by systems of oppression” (Hannegan-Martinez & Cariaga, 2023). Drawing from literature across trauma-informed care, healing-centered engagement, women of color feminism, and settler colonialism, panelists will explore how Students and Teachers of Color, Black women educators, and Palestinian academics and students respectively counter institutional trauma, erasure of grief, and scholasticide with an intentional praxis of grief and remembrance, both locally and globally.
Re-remembering the Past and Envisioning the Future to Mobilize the Present: Community Organizers, Activist Scholars, and Funders Connecting Movements for Educational Justice Friday, April 10, 11:45 am to 1:15 pm Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 406AB
Chair: Mark R. Warren (University of Massachusetts - Boston) Discussant: Vajra M. Watson (University of Redlands) Presenters: Patrice M. Hill (University of California - Davis), Denisha Coco Blossom (University of California - Davis), Bettina L. Love (Teachers College, Columbia University), David O. Stovall (University of Illinois at Chicago), Patrice M. Hill (University of California - Davis), Letha Muhammad (Educational Justice Alliance), LuzMarina Serrano (Genders & Sexualities Alliance Network), Michael Wotorson (Schott Foundation for Public Education), Gisele C. Shorter (Nellie Mae Education Foundation), Precious Waldron-Lopez (Schott Foundation for Public Education)
In the face of assaults on students, families, educators, scholars, and funders, we have an urgent need to connect and work towards aligning efforts to further mobilize educational justice. This involves redefining our narrative and strategy as we build powerful networks and ecosystems within and across stakeholder groups. The struggle for educational and racial justice is not new. We need to re-remember and learn from those past struggles while envisioning a new future of liberatory learning. This town hall session brings activist scholars, funders and community organizers working with students and families on the ground into a conversation that informs how we embody a new way of being with one another that reimagines, reconfigures, and repositions our collective possibilities.
Sankofa Pedagogies: Designing and Implementing Reparative Black Studies Curricula Friday, April 10, 11:45 am to 1:15 pm Los Angeles Convention Center, Level One - Petree Hall C
Chairs: Tolani Britton (University of California - Berkeley), Hilary E. Walker (University of California - Berkeley) Panelists: Sonya Douglass (Teachers College, Columbia University), Latosha Guy (King Drew Magnet School), Michael Hines (Stanford University), Shaunté Yvette Hill (Santa Clara University), Joyce E. King (Georgia State University), Jeremy Martin (University of California - Berkeley), Jacquelyn Ollison (University of the Pacific), Mauro Sifuentes (University of San Francisco), Hilary E. Walker (University of California - Berkeley), Honey Walrond (University of California - Berkeley)
In this presidential session, we will discuss what educators need to know to teach a Black Studies curriculum in public secondary schools. Panelists - including researchers, a historian, and classroom and community-based educators from across the country - will share research and practice-based insights into how Black studies and reparations foster liberatory learning spaces and cultivate cultural consciousness among students and educators. This session will also explore the enabling and constraining policies around implementing Black studies at the state and district levels. In this session, we will highlight research findings, lessons from the curriculum development process and implementation across contexts.
AERA's Past, Present, Future: A Conversation with Dr. Tabbye M. Chavous and Dr. Felice J. Levine Friday, April 10, 1:45 pm to 3:15 pm Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 408A
Facilitator: Rich Milner (Vanderbilt University) Participants: Tabbye Maria Chavous (American Educational Research Association), Felice J. Levine (American Educational Research Association), Liesel Ebersohn (University of Pretoria), Marlon Lee Moncrieffe (British Educational Research Association)
As AERA ushers in a new era of leadership, it is crucial to honor unforgetting histories and futuring for education research to learn from past challenges, navigate ongoing tensions, and imagine uncharted possibilities in pursuit of commitments to educational equity and justice. Join us for an intergenerational and global conversation with AERA’s new executive director, Dr. Tabbye M. Chavous and AERA’s immediate past executive Director, Dr. Felice J. Levine who will be joined by the World Educational Research Association President, Liesel Ebersöhn, facilitated by Past President H. Richard Milner III. Together these panelists will reflect on their engagement throughout the world, the possibilities of interorganizational collaborations, and hopes for building equitable futures. Importantly, this session will explore how the power of unforgotten histories and vibrant collaboration generate new possibilities for education research for decades to come.
Historicizing Los Angeles: Envisioning New Educational Futures in Latinx Radical Imaginations Friday, April 10, 1:45 pm to 3:15 pm Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 403A
Chair: Kris D. Gutiérrez (University of California - Berkeley) Presenters: Laura K. Munoz (University of Nebraska - Lincoln), Alfredo J. Artiles (Stanford University), Gina Ann Garcia (University of California - Berkeley), Krista L. Cortes (University of Pennsylvania), Amalia Z. Dache (University of Pennsylvania), Cecilia Rios-Aguilar (University of California - Los Angeles), Anne-Marie Nunez (University of Texas - El Paso), Luis Urrieta (University of Texas at Austin), Omi Salas-SantaCruz (University of Utah), Dolores Delgado Bernal (Loyola Marymount University), William Perez (Loyola Marymount University), Cindy Cruz (University of Arizona)
Inspired by Los Angeles—the creative space where solidarities are built, futures are rehearsed, and radical educational imaginaries are part of its history—an interdisciplinary, intergenerational collective of Latinx scholars reimagine the possible, crafting a new analytical framework and transformative lens through which to develop historicized perceptions of the multiple worlds of Latinidad; a new framework that aspires to the “not-yet-here,” the proleptic imagination. Mindful of historical inequities, misrepresentations, homogenizations, and erasure of Latinx communities, a different social imagination is leveraged—one that rejects the binaries that maintain deficit views of individuals and communities, benefitting some, while further marginalizing, invisibilizing, and harming others; focusing instead on the pluralities, the multiplicities of what it means to be Latinx educationally and in civic/social life.
Indigenous Education Across Tovaangar: Past, Present, Trans-Indigenous, and Future Horizons Friday, April 10, 1:45 pm to 3:15 pm Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 406AB
Chair: Ananda M. Marin (University of California - Los Angeles) Panelists: Theresa J. Stewart-Ambo (University of California - Los Angeles), Kelly Leah Stewart (University of California, Los Angeles), Kēhaulani Vaughn (University of California - Riverside), Charles Sepulveda (The University of Utah)
In the Gabrielino/Tongva language, Tovaangar means “the world” and geographically represents the Los Angeles Basin and the Southern Channel Islands. This presidential session brings together Tongva, Acjachemen, and Kanaka Maoli scholars and leaders to discuss Southern California–based efforts and movements in relation to Indigenous education and sovereignty across past, present, Trans-Indigenous, and future horizons. Speakers will address the #LandBack and land-tax movements, Southern California mission schools, the uptake of institutional land acknowledgements, and critiques of land-grant institutions’ expropriation of Indigenous lands, waters, and Peoples. The session poses the following central questions: What becomes possible when unforgetting is led by Tribal communities and accountable to Indigenous homelands? How do sovereignty and self-determination shape decolonial futures?
Honoring Youth Mental Health through Abolitionist Education: K-12 Students Researching Radically Healing Futures Friday, April 10, 3:45 pm to 5:15 pm Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 403A
Chair: Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz (Teachers College, Columbia University) Discussants: Bettina L. Love (Teachers College, Columbia University), Wendi S. Williams (American Psychological Association) Participants: Patrick Camangian (University of San Francisco), Joy Diaz-Noriega (Downer Elementary School), Seth Duncan (University of California - Los Angeles), Tiera C. Tanksley (University of Colorado - Boulder), Keara L. Williams (University of California - Los Angeles)
This K-12 student panel–trained as critical ethnographers–will explore how abolitionist education can address the mental health needs of and support futurity for Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC), LGBTQIA+, including multilingual students, as well as those experiencing poverty. Fifth-graders will examine how queer-, trans-, race- and translanguage-affirming abolitionist education is radically healing and imaginative for multilingual QTBIPOC, their school, and their community. High school students in a residential summer program centering culturally holistic care explore how abolitionist education improves the academic readiness and mental health of Black youth through the cultivation of joy and critical hope. Abolitionist and healing-centered scholars will frame the implications of the students’ research while the American Psychological Association President will inquire how pedagogy helped youth be “radically well together.”
Stolen School: What Desegregation Took and One Black Community's Fight to Get it Back Friday, April 10, 3:45 pm to 5:15 pm Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 411 (Theatre)
Chair: kihana miraya ross (Northwestern University) Participants: Shannon Paige Clark (University of Maryland - Eastern Shore), Dino Robinson (Shorefront Legacy Center), Oliver Ruff (Evanston / Skokie School District 65), Monique Parsons (McGaw YMCA)
We are thrilled to see President Winn’s thoughtful theme for this year’s AERA Annual meeting, and we are excited to participate in collective thinking around the role of research in interrogating what it means as a community to un-forget. And Evanston, Illinois represents a quintessential example of the power of looking back to look forward. Between the imminent opening of a new school in the historically Black 5th ward and ongoing conversations about “educational reparations” (ross, 2021), Evanston is a dynamic context to investigate how Black communities and families work towards educational justice for Black children, past and present, in school and in out of school spaces. This session will introduce you to Evanston, our broader research on reparations, methodological reflections on oral histories and documentary production, and implications for futuring for education and educational research (Winn, 2025). You will then watch STOLEN SCHOOL, a 35-minute documentary, and engage in conversation with a multigenerational, interdisciplinary group to discuss how we continue to look back so that we may move forward in and beyond Evanston.
Unforgetting the History of Racism and Education in the US: Imagining a Future for DEI and Multicultural Education Research, Policies, and Practices Friday, April 10, 3:45 pm to 5:15 pm Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 406AB
Chair: James A. Banks (University of Washington) Discussant: Tyrone C. Howard (University of California - Los Angeles) Presenters: Gloria J. Ladson-Billings (University of Wisconsin - Madison), Royel M. Johnson (University of Southern California), Michael Vavrus (Evergreen State College), Michelle Fine (Graduate Center - CUNY), Christine E. Sleeter (California State University - Monterey Bay), Angela M. Banks (William & Mary Law School), Shaun R. Harper (University of Southern California)
Cultivating Change through Critical Imagination and Collective Liberation in Childhood Saturday, April 11, 9:45 am to 11:15 am Los Angeles Convention Center, Level One - Petree Hall C
Chairs: Nicol R. Howard (Chapman University), Kira J. Carbonneau (Washington State University) Discussant: Stephanie R. Toliver (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) Presenters: Betzabe Torres Olave (University of Leeds), Belinda Mendelowitz (University of the Witwatersrand), Marilyn Fleer (Monash University), Ayana Allen-Handy (Drexel University), Carolina Valdez (California State University - Fullerton)
This Presidential Session explores critical imagination as a transformative framework for understanding childhood experiences, development, and early learning across diverse educational contexts. Drawing from Robin D.G. Kelley's work on "freedom dreams" and the "Black radical imagination," alongside recent scholarship on transformative agency, the session examines how children's natural capacity for imagination serves as a tool for resistance, healing, and collective knowledge production. Presentations demonstrate how children use critical imagination through storytelling, speculative thinking, and creative expression to navigate complex realities while envisioning possibilities for transformation. The session positions children's imaginative practices as legitimate forms of cultural knowledge that can inform educational research methodologies and pedagogical approaches, challenging traditional frameworks that may suppress rather than cultivate children's capacity for envisioning liberatory futures. Implications for teacher knowledge are discussed throughout, emphasizing how educators can integrate these frameworks into practice.
New and Emerging Histories of Education in the American West and Pacific Saturday, April 11, 9:45 am to 11:15 am Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 404AB
Chair and Discussant: I. Jonna Perillo (University of Texas - El Paso) Panelists: Michael Hines (Stanford University), Derek Taira (University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa), Gonzalo Guzmán (Macalester College), Matthew G. Kelly (University of Washington)
In 2016, historian Nancy Beadie and coauthors challenged the field of History of Education, writing that, a handful of exceptions notwithstanding, “virtually no scholarship… has highlighted the West or the historiography of the West as making a distinct contribution to the history of education as a field….” The decade since, however, has seen substantial growth towards these goals, with scholars pursuing ambitious new works and offering analyses of the role of the West in our understanding of schooling and its relation to settler colonialism, racialization, indigenous counter stories, and transnational politics in the Pacific and beyond. This session highlights these new voices, putting them in conversation to ask how these histories speak to the present, and where the field should go from here.
Reimagining Educational Possibilities for Immigrant-Origin Students in an Era of Exclusion Saturday, April 11, 9:45 am to 11:15 am Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 406AB
Chair: Carola Suarez-Orozco (Harvard University) Discussant: Paola Uccelli (Harvard University) Presenters: Carola Suarez-Orozco (Harvard University), Erika Lee (Harvard University), Jongyeon Joy Ee (Loyola Marymount University), Lisa Fortuna (University of California - Riverside), Karen Hunter Quartz (University of California - Los Angeles), Chandler Patton Miranda (Molloy University)
This session critically examines how historical and contemporary exclusionary policies shape the developmental, social, and academic trajectories of immigrant-origin youth in the U.S. and globally. Anchored in an interdisciplinary, whole-child framework, the session juxtaposes systemic xenophobia and policy-driven marginalization with asset-based approaches that foster resilience, belonging, and equity in schools. Drawing upon research from history, developmental psychology, and educational policy, the panel delineates the impacts of injustices on immigrant-origin students while reimagining equitable, humane educational contexts for them. The session integrates empirical research and historical analysis to advance a vision for inclusive education and imagines equitable futures for immigrant-origin students.
Advancing Justice through Transformation: Reflections on Institutional Leadership for Educational Futures Saturday, April 11, 11:45 am to 1:15 pm Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 406AB
Chair: Terry K. Flennaugh (Michigan State University) Participants: Terry K. Flennaugh (Michigan State University), Marcelle M. Haddix (University of Wisconsin - Madison), Marcos Pizarro (California State University - Los Angeles), Mariana Souto-Manning (Erikson Institute), Shabnam Koirala-Azad (University of San Francisco), Pedro A. Noguera (University of Southern California)
Destabilizing forces have challenged existing notions of what it means to lead institutions. This symposium of educational deans and university leaders reflect the belief that education done right holds the power to build new worlds. It explores the power and potential of reclaiming—with others of all levels and entry points—the idea that educational institutions should be rigorous and relevant centers of learning that inspire socially transformative change in individuals, communities, and society. The symposium reflects on what it might mean to lead in a reimagining of our institutions; strengthen collectives; cultivate constructive and mutually respectful relationships; and commit to modes of learning required to unlearn a set of attitudes and approaches, ironically often learned in institutions of higher education.
Ethnic Studies Futures: Unforgetting as a Path to Reimagining Education Saturday, April 11, 11:45 am to 1:15 pm Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 404AB
Chair: Jessica Lee Stovall (University of Wisconsin - Madison) Discussant: Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales (San Francisco State University) Presenters: Michelle A. Purdy (Washington University in St. Louis), Sade Bonilla (University of Pennsylvania), Taylor Milan Hall (Learn4life Metro Atlanta Regional Education Partnership), Farzana Tabitha Saleem Adjah (Stanford University), Jessica Lee Stovall (University of Wisconsin - Madison), Roxana Daylen Dueñas (Los Angeles Unified School District), Abram Jackson (Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco and the Black Teacher Project), Spencer Pritchard (Berkeley High School and the Black Teacher Project), Jesse Hagopian (Seattle Public Schools)
This presidential session explores Ethnic Studies as a critical site for unforgetting histories and imagining equitable education futures. Rooted in student and community-driven movements to fight for representation in schools, the discipline of Ethnic Studies offers powerful models for engaging past social movements to shape liberatory futures. We convene scholars and practitioners to examine how identity-affirming frameworks, particularly those led by Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and Asian communities, can inform present-day policy and curriculum. Emphasizing intergenerational dialogue, this session invites participants to co-construct new narratives, methodologies, and research agendas that prioritize challenging dominant narratives and uplifting civic engagement. In a time of curricular erasure and political backlash, Ethnic Studies serves as a foundation for innovation and collective futurity in education research.
Scaling Equity-oriented Innovations for Just Education Futures: Navigating Power Relations During Contentious Times Saturday, April 11, 11:45 am to 1:15 pm Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 403A
Chair: Jennifer Higgs (University of California - Davis) Discussant: Cynthia E. Coburn (Northwestern University) Panelists: Kris D. Gutiérrez (University of California - Berkeley), Laura E. Hernandez (Learning Policy Institute), Nichole D. Pinkard (Northwestern University), Jose Eos Trinidad (University of California - Berkeley), Shirin Vossoughi (Northwestern University)
Amidst political challenges, how do we ensure educational innovations fostering just futures reach minoritized students in all learning contexts? How do we spread and sustain approaches explicitly attending to justice, dignity, and social transformation? In this symposium, early, mid and senior scholars from the learning sciences, policy, history, and organizational/social movements sociology mine the past to surface lessons about spread and scale that can inform these challenges. Panelists will discuss: power’s central role in efforts to spread and scale; how efforts to spread and scale can inadvertently undercut efforts to foster just futures; and power-attentive strategies for spread and scale during contentious times. This session will spark a robust dialogue on navigating power for more just educational futures and collective thriving.
Comedy as a Form of Joy and Rebellion in Times of Crisis Saturday, April 11, 1:45 pm to 3:15 pm Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 409AB
Chair: Sepehr Vakil (Northwestern University) Participants: Pedro A. Noguera (University of Southern California), Safiya Noble (University of California - Los Angeles), Na'ilah Suad Nasir (Spencer Foundation)
Comedy as a form of joy and rebellion in times of crisis takes inspiration from the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, bringing together comedians and scholars for an hour of laughter, critique, and reflection on the field of education. Hosted by Mike Knight, co-host of A Professor and a Comedian Walk Into a Bar, and headlined by internationally touring comedian and former math teacher Zainab Johnson, the luncheon blends stand-up comedy with short, satirical “spark talks” from leading education scholars, including Pedro Noguera, Safiya Noble, Na’ilah Nasir, Sepehr Vakil, and Micia Mosley. The session will close with remarks from AERA President Maisha Winn, grounding the comedy in a larger vision of justice and community in education research.
Growing Communities for Purpose: Adaptability and Scalability in Education Justice Work Saturday, April 11, 1:45 pm to 3:15 pm Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 408A
Chair: Kira J. Carbonneau (Washington State University) Discussants: Kakali Bhattacharya (University of Florida), Rita Kohli (University of California - Riverside), Danny C. Martinez (University of California - Davis) Presenters: Terri N. Watson (City College of New York - CUNY), Danielle R. Filipiak (Michigan State University), Imogen Herrick (University of Kansas), Shannon B. Wanless (University of Pittsburgh), Jingjing Sun (University of Montana), Katherine C. Rodela (Washington State University), Kevin Kumashiro (Independent Consultant), Tingting Li (Washington State University)
This Presidential Session invites educators, researchers, and community leaders to critically examine what it means to expand educational work without compromising purpose, integrity, or local relevance. Rooted in the AERA 2026 theme of Unforgetting Histories and Imagining Futures, the session highlights how communities have long organized for educational justice and how these histories can guide adaptable, future-facing models of change. Using interactive roundtables, participants will engage in dialogue and reflection that center the ethical and political dimensions of scalability: whose values are preserved, whose knowledge is centered, and how growth can remain accountable to community voices. The session’s intent is to model participatory research and collective sensemaking that sustains justice while shaping transformative futures in education.
School Boards, Local Democracy, and the Pursuit of Educational Justice Saturday, April 11, 1:45 pm to 3:15 pm Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 406AB
Chair: Julie A. Marsh (University of Southern California) Discussant: Carrie Sampson (Arizona State University) Participants: James C. Bridgeforth (University of Delaware), Terah T. Venzant Chambers (Michigan State University), Julie A. Marsh (University of Southern California), Briana Mullen (Education Justice Academy), Rachel M. Perera (The Brookings Institution), Elizabeth Todd-Breland (University of Illinois at Chicago)
Local school boards have long played a significant role in the character and function of K-12 schooling – by establishing district policies, providing fiscal oversight, and serving as spaces for community voice and representation. They have also regularly served as sites for political struggle, at times perpetuating inequity, and at others challenging it. This presidential session brings together a multidisciplinary, multigenerational, multiracial, and geographically diverse panel of education scholars, some of whom have served as school board members, who are deeply engaged in research and practice of democracy and justice-oriented leadership. Through structured discussion, participants will examine the historical role of school boards and the opportunities that exist to build more inclusive, justice-oriented spaces that foster local democracy.
Archiving Art as a Legacy to Preserve Pasts/Futures Saturday, April 11, 3:45 pm to 5:15 pm Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 406AB
Chairs: Justin A. Coles (University of Massachusetts - Amherst), Darnel Degand (University of California - Davis), Grace D. Player (University of Connecticut) Discussant: James Haywood Rolling (Syracuse University) Presenters: Luis Genaro Garcia (California State University - Sacramento), Cierra Kaler-Jones (Rethinking Schools), Ankhi Guha Thakurta (Boston College), Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz (Teachers College, Columbia University), John Jennings (University of California - Riverside)
This panel invites artist-scholar-educators to explore, through their own artistic practices, art’s utility as a methodological, theoretical, and practical disruption to harm carried out in educational spaces shaped by whiteness, heteropatriarchy, capitalism, and settler colonialism. We contend that the arts are born of and carry forward ancestral knowledges and ways of knowing. They reform and hybridize in response to the contexts from which they arise. For historically marginalized people, art has been a means of survival, jubilation, teaching, and mapping towards freedom. Thus, we conceptualize and explore art educational futuring, understanding art as a matter of form and communication, and, moreover, as a socio-political tool that reflects the histories, presents, and futures of dynamically diverse communities, including their onto-epistemologies.
Navigating Children's and Young Adult Literature in an Era of Contested Literacies: Possibilities for Education Research and Teaching Saturday, April 11, 3:45 pm to 5:15 pm Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 403B
Chair: E. Sybil Durand (Arizona State University) Particpants: James Joshua Coleman (Arizona State University), Angel Daniel Matos (Bowdoin College), Stephanie R. Toliver (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Sarah Park Dahlen (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Fabienne Doucet (New York University), Kate Capshaw (University of Connecticut), Rafael Rogers (Clark University), Jung E. Kim (Lewis University), JaNay E. Brown-Wood (California State University - Sacramento), Autumn A. Griffin (University of North Carolina - Charlotte), shea wesley martin (The Ohio State University), Patricia Enciso (The Ohio State University), Deborah A. Appleman (Carleton College), Ebony Elizabeth Thomas (University of Michigan), Jon M. Wargo (University of Michigan)
In today’s volatile U.S. political climate—from cases like Mahmoud v. Taylor to executive orders targeting so-called “radical indoctrination”—children’s and youth literature is a vital space for shaping and contesting narratives of identity, equity, and belonging. This AERA Presidential session, “Navigating Children’s and Young Adult Literature in an Era of Contested Literacies,” examines how this literature fosters empathy, resistance, and social change amid debates over diversity, censorship, and curriculum reform. Leading scholars and educators will explore literature’s role in helping youth navigate sociopolitical realities, build critical thinking, and imagine just futures. The session highlights the urgent responsibility and radical potential of diverse stories to cultivate resilient, informed, and engaged citizens, both in and beyond the classroom.
The 29th Conversations With Senior Scholars on Advancing Research and Professional Development Related to Black Education Saturday, April 11, 3:45 pm to 5:15 pm Los Angeles Convention Center, Level One - Petree Hall C
Chairs: Henry T. Frierson (University of Florida), Rodney K. Hopson (American University) Particpants: Kimberley Edelin Freeman (Howard University), Nicole Patton-Terry (Florida State University), Adrienne D. Dixson (Pennsylvania State University), Stephanie J. Rowley (University of Virginia), Saundra M Tomlinson-Clarke (Rutgers University), Olga M. Welch (Duquesne University), James D. Anderson (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Kofi Lomotey (Western Carolina University), Edmund W. Gordon (Teachers College, Columbia University), Donald Easton-Brooks (University of Nevada - Reno), Toks S. Fashola (American University), Will J. Jordan (The Wallace Foundation), Valerie Kinloch (Johnson C. Smith University), Carol D. Lee (Northwestern University), Fred A. Bonner (Prairie View A&M University), Lillian B. Poats (Texas Southern University), Paula Groves Price (North Carolina A&T State University), Sonya Douglass (Teachers College, Columbia University), Carl A. Grant (University of Wisconsin - Madison), Howard C. Johnson (Syracuse University), Monika Williams Shealey (Temple University), Mary E. Dilworth (Independent Researcher), Monica B. Mitchell (MERAssociates), Adriane E. L. Dorrington (National Education Association), James Earl Davis (Temple University), Kimberly Griffin (University of Maryland), Carol Camp Yeakey (Washington University in St. Louis), Gloria J. Ladson-Billings (University of Wisconsin - Madison), John B. Diamond (Brown University), Margaret Beale Spencer (University of Chicago), Jerome E. Morris (University of Missouri - St. Louis), Bernard Oliver (Georgia Gwinnett College), Tamara Bertrand Jones (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Kevin E. Favor (Lincoln University), Jori N. Hall (University of Illinois at Chicago), Linda Darling-Hammond (Learning Policy Institute), Jamel K. Donnor (College of William & Mary), Tyrone C. Howard (University of California - Los Angeles), Rich Milner (Vanderbilt University), Maisha T. Winn (Stanford University), Vivian L. Gadsden (University of Pennsylvania), Eboni M. Zamani-Gallaher (University of Pittsburgh), Darris Roshawn Means (Clemson University), Caesar R Jackson (North Carolina Central University), Chance W. Lewis (University of North Carolina - Charlotte), James Moore (National Science Foundation), Jerlando F.L. Jackson (Michigan State University), Joyce E. King (Georgia State University), Gaëtane Jean-Marie (Rowan University), Stephen D. Hancock (North Carolina A&T State University), Victoria Showunmi (University College London - IOE), Timothy K. Eatman (Rutgers University - Newark), Shaun R. Harper (University of Southern California), Ivory A. Toldson (Howard University), Robert Q. Berry (Indiana University), Marvin Lynn (University of Colorado - Denver), Kimberly A. White-Smith (University of San Diego), Laura P. Kohn-Wood (University of Miami), Kenneth Alonzo Anderson (Howard University), Keena N. Arbuthnot (Louisiana State University), Talitha M. Washington (Howard University), Walter R. Allen (University of California - Los Angeles), Wanda J. Blanchett (Rutgers University)
Initiated at the 1997 Annual Meeting in Chicago, the 2026 session of “The Continuation of Conversations with Senior Scholars on Advancing Research and Professional Development Related to Black Education” covers 30 years. This presidential session will have some of the most notable education scholars in the country participating in heading tables as topic discussion leaders.
Understanding the Moment Across Multiple Marginalities: Navigating Attacks on Intersectional Educational Futures Sunday, April 12, 9:45 am to 11:15 am Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 404AB
Chair: Sharim Hannegan-Martinez (University of Michigan) Discussant: Shamari Reid (New York University) Presenters: Nolan L. Cabrera (University of Arizona), John B. Diamond (Brown University), Harper B. Keenan (University of British Columbia), Qui Alexander (University of Toronto), Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales (San Francisco State University), Theresa Montano (California State University - Northridge)
Recent attacks on teaching Critical Race Theory, queer and trans* issues, DEI (broadly defined), and Ethnic Studies justify themselves through accusations of threatening parental authority and child safety, soiling traditional American narratives, and resisting ideological influence in the classroom. It frames intersectional and critical education as radical political indoctrination, promoting evil, un-American, and divisive attitudes. Yet these policies alienate historically and multiply marginalized students from an empowering education. This panel convenes experienced people in the field who can (a) clearly document the blueprint that has led to these attacks/bannings while (b) offering guidance from their extensive research about how to maintain this work in times of repression. They will also offer insights to further develop these educational approaches in tumultuous times so they maintain their critical edge.
Unforgetting Deficit Depictions: Disrupting Education Systems of Injustice to Unlock the Hidden Geniuses Sunday, April 12, 9:45 am to 11:15 am Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 406AB
Chair and Discussant: Tyrone C. Howard (University of California - Los Angeles) Presenters: Jaleel R. Howard (University of California - Los Angeles), Jennifer M. Wilmot (University of Kansas), Subini Ancy Annamma (Stanford University), Brianna Marche' Harvey (California State University - Fullerton), Tyrone C. Howard (University of California - Los Angeles), Julissa O. Muñiz (University of California - Los Angeles), Armando Lizarraga (University of Texas at Austin), Lin Wu (Western Oregon University), Gholdy Muhammad (University of Chicago), Rich Milner (Vanderbilt University), John Nathaniel Singer (Texas A&M University)
In this presidential session, the authors give attention to students who are among the most overlooked, over-surveilled, persistently punished, consistently reviled and misunderstood in schools. The hidden geniuses are what we refer to them in this presidential session. The students that are often labeled as undesirable, and unworthy of love, affirmation and teaching in schools. We not only place a spotlight on some of these hidden geniuses, but we lift up the pedagogies, practices, principles, and policies that are essential to creating the schools that best serve and support them. Moreover, we discuss how schools and classrooms can be transformed into the types of learning communities that recognize their genius.
Unforgetting Histories and Dreaming for the Future of Mathematics Education Sunday, April 12, 11:45 am to 1:15 pm Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 404AB
Chairs: Megan L. Franke (University of California - Los Angeles), Maisie L. Gholson (University of Michigan) Panelists: Maisie L. Gholson (University of Michigan), Rochelle Gutierrez (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Elizabeth De Freitas (Adelphi University), Jasmine Y. Ma (New York University), Tesha Sengupta-Irving (University of California - Berkeley)
There is no more important time to both challenge and learn from our history as mathematics educators; to rethink the purpose of education and the role mathematics plays in it, and to consider the approaches and methods of research that can enable collective learning towards our dreams for the future. We pose the question: What are your most significant concerns in mathematics education at this moment? What should we “unforget” and leverage to dream for the future? The chairs and panel will guide a collective conversation to support mathematics education researchers in a moment of un-forgetting and dreaming together across methodological, theoretical, and philosophical perspectives. We invite our mathematics education colleagues to join us in this conversation.
Unforgetting in an Era of Erasure: Resisting Anti-Justice Attacks and Envisioning Futures for Higher Education Sunday, April 12, 11:45 am to 1:15 pm Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two - Room 406AB
Chairs: Walter R. Allen (University of California - Los Angeles) Discussant: Julian Vasquez Heilig (Western Michigan University) Presenters: Kimberly Jenkins Robinson (University of Virginia School of Law), Veronica Adele Jones (University of North Texas), Kaleb L. Briscoe (University of Oklahoma), Uma Mazyck Jayakumar (University of California - Riverside), Rican Vue (University of California - Riverside), Royel M. Johnson (University of Southern California), Terrill O. Taylor (University of Maryland)