Call for 2026 Annual Meeting Submissions Now Open—Deadline July 25 AERA encourages submissions for participation in the 2026 Annual Meeting. The association hopes to receive paper and session submissions that expand the breadth of knowledge in education research as a field.
AERA and SREE File Motion for Preliminary Injunction to Pause Termination of IES Contracts and Employees After filing a lawsuit, on April 14, on behalf of AERA and the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness that challenged the Trump administration’s unlawful dismantling of the Institute of Education Sciences, Democracy Forward, a national legal organization, filed a follow-up motion on April 30 for a preliminary injunction to ask the court to pause the administration’s termination of IES contracts and employees while the case is being heard. Read more
2025 Virtual Research Learning Series to Kick Off June 3—Register Now AERA will launch the 2025 Virtual Research Learning Series on June 3. Read more
AERA Members Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences Five AERA members have been elected to the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Read more
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2025 Annual Meeting Draws Some 14,000 Attendees to Denver, Felice Levine Honored for Years of Service The 2025 Annual Meeting brought some 14,000 education researchers and other scholars, policy leaders, and practitioners to Denver, Colorado, on April 23-27 for five days of immersion in cutting-edge research, scholarly exchange, connection and networking, and professional development. Read more
AERA 2024–2025 President Janelle Scott Calls for Further Connecting the Field to Promote Education Remedy and Repair 2024–2025 President Janelle Scott delivered her presidential address, “Education Research for a Time Such as This: Rupture, Remedy, and Repair,” to a packed audience on Friday, April 25, at the 2025 Annual Meeting in Denver. Read more
Walker and Penuel Give Major Annual Meeting Lectures Disrupting Assumptions and Sparking New Ideas The 2025 AERA Distinguished Lecture and the 2025 Wallace Foundation Distinguished Lecture were given during the Annual Meeting in Denver by two prominent scholars, Vanessa Siddle Walker and William Penuel. Read more
AERA Award Winners Address Major Education Issues in High-Profile Lectures The 2025 Annual Meeting featured four prominent lectures given by 2024 AERA award recipients. Read more
Research and Science Policy Forum Series Assesses Research Directions in Time of Uncertainty The 2025 AERA Annual Meeting featured 18 invited sessions in the Research and Science Policy Forum, which included conversations with education research leaders and discussions on emerging education research issues and priorities. Read more
READY Program Brings High School Students to Annual Meeting This year, as part of the AERA Research Engagement and Development with Youth Program, six competitively selected teams of high school students participated in the 2025 Annual Meeting in Denver. Read more
Editor’s Note: The story above on AERA and SREE (“AERA and SREE File Motion for Preliminary Injunction to Pause Termination of IES Contracts and Employees”), and the following stories in this section, address the major developments impacting federal education policy and funding. For an excellent overview of current issues, readers may wish to also browse the May 23 issue of Education Counsel’s E-Update.
Judge Blocks Dismantling of Education Department, Temporarily Reinstates Hundreds of Employees On May 22, a federal judge in Boston issued a preliminary injunction on actions taken by the Trump administration to launch a reduction in force in the Department of Education and dismantle the department by executive order. Read more
NSF Continues Grant Terminations as Layoffs and Closure of Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM Division Are on Hold The National Science Foundation has continued to terminate awarded grants, with over 1,700 grants reported by NSF. Read more
Trump Administration Issues “Skinny” FY 2026 Budget Outline with Proposed Cuts for NSF, NIH On May 2, the Trump administration released an outline of the president’s FY 2026 budget request. Read more
President Trump Issues Executive Order on “Gold Standard Science” On May 23, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that calls for federal agencies to commit to “gold standard science” in response to claims of a reproducibility crisis and misleading use of evidence. Read more
NIH Updates: Public Access Policy Implementation Deadline Moved Up, Leadership Changes for Individual Institutes On April 30, the National Institutes of Health announced an update to the timing for the implementation of the NIH 2024 Public Access Policy. Read more
AERA Recognizes 2024 Outstanding Journal Reviewers At the 2025 Annual Meeting, AERA honored 62 scholars as the 2024 Outstanding Reviewers for their exemplary service to AERA’s journals. Read more
Call for Editors: Review of Research in Education 2027, 2029
AERA members who have recently passed away
Lynn S. Fuchs, 75, died on May 7. She was the Dunn Family Professor of Psychoeducational Assessment, Emerita, at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development. She was an AERA Fellow and recipient of the 2014 AERA Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education Award. Read more
William Schmidt, 82, died on May 26. He was a University Distinguished Professor and founder and director of the Center for the Study of Curriculum Policy at the College of Education at Michigan State University. He was an AERA Fellow, recipient of the AERA Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education Award in 2022, and served as chair of the governing board of the AERA-NSF Grants Program from 2001 to 2017.
The unseen connection between student absenteeism and teacher burnout eSchool News, May 22
Perspective | Teacher recruitment and retention: Every leader’s imperative EdNC, May 21
Tips to help lessen summer learning loss ABC News, May 21
LSU President Dr. William F. Tate IV Named 22nd President of Rutgers University Diverse Issues in Higher Education, May 19
Three-fourths of NSF funding cuts hit education The Hechinger Report, May 12
Education researchers sue Trump administration, testing executive power The Hechinger Report, May 5
Education research takes another hit in latest DOGE attack The Hechinger Report, May 1
More AERA in the News
AERA Highlights is published by the American Educational Research Association monthly to inform members and others interested in education research about the latest news and developments in AERA and in the field.
Editor: Felice J. Levine Managing Editors: Tony Pals and John Neikirk Contributors: Marla Koenigsknecht, Audrey Poe, Rebecca Rock, Madelyn Smith, Christy Talbot, Martha Yager