June 2024

The 2025 AERA Annual Meeting Presidential Program Committee met May 21–23 in Denver for three days of brainstorming and strategic planning. Led by AERA President Janelle Scott, Executive Director Felice J. Levine, and Program Co-Chairs Catherine C. DiMartino, Huriya Jabbar, and Lorena Llosa, committee members focused on generating creative ideas for sessions, site visits, and educational opportunities in small and large groups, and laying out next steps over the coming months for developing an exciting, diverse, and inspiring Annual Meeting program for all attendees.

Scott kicked off the gathering by providing an overview of the 2025 theme, “Research, Remedy, and Repair: Toward Just Education Renewal,” focusing on the role of research in addressing harms caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and historical injustices. She emphasized the importance of cross-disciplinary and multigenerational conversations to take on educational challenges and to promote mentorship of emerging scholars.

That sparked large- and small-group discussions of the theme and its intersection with key education issues and perspectives, designed to inform the development of sessions. The participants further fleshed out session ideas that aligned with the theme, that could engage researchers from across AERA divisions and SIGs, that emphasized multigenerational participation, and that focused on the role of research.

The day before the committee meeting started, Scott, Levine, and the program co-chairs met with a group of approximately 30 scholars, directors, and consultants from various universities and organizations in the Denver area. Local attendees shared their knowledge and expertise about the region to enhance the conference experience and to inform the ways in which the Annual Meeting could benefit the community.

Participants stressed the importance of engaging with the community and leveraging social networks to ensure meaningful participation. Breakout sessions focused on identifying education-related issues in Colorado, including diversity within rural school districts, the newcomer population, the parents’ rights movement, and the decriminalization of marijuana and psychedelics, among others.

“Our gathering in Denver provided a wonderful exchange of perspectives and ideas that will inspire and shape the important work of the program committee in the coming weeks and months,” said AERA Executive Director Felice J. Levine. “We look forward to all benefiting from the hard work of the committee at the Annual Meeting next April.”