The Districts in Research and Reform Special Interest Group (SIG) honors scholars who reflect the SIG goals of promoting research that features central office administrators and/or school board members as main actors in reform or that considers educational reforms and practices that are district-wide in nature. To do so, the SIG holds biennial award competitions to honor dissertations or publications that make significant conceptual, methodological, and practical contributions to the field.

Dissertation Award 2023

• Caitlin I. Brecklin, District at the Edge: Policy, Community, Place and Belonging in a School Closure Debate, PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison 

Publication Award(s) 2022

• Lok-Sze Wong, University of North Texas; Cynthia E. Coburn, Northwestern University; and Ayah Kamel, Northwestern University 
  • Wong, L., Coburn, C. E., & Kamel, A. (2020). How central office leaders influence school leaders' decision making: Unpacking power dynamics in two school-based decision-making systems. Peabody Journal of Education, 95(4), 392-407. https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2020.1800175
• Katrina E. Bulkley, Montclair State University; Julie A. Marsh, University of Southern California; Katharine O. Strunk, Michigan State University, Douglas N. Harris, Tulane University, Ayesha K. Hashim, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
  • Bulkley, K. E., Marsh, J. A, Strunk, K. O., Harris, D. N., & Hashim, A. K. (2020). Challenging the one best system: The portfolio management model and urban school governance. Harvard Education Press.

 Dissertation Award(s) 2021

• René Espinoza Kissell, From ‘School System’ to a ‘System of Schools’: Race, Power, and Marketization of Urban District Governance in California, PhD, University of California, Berkeley 

• Taylor Allbright, Tough Conversations and Missed Opportunities: Implementing District Policies for Racial Equity, PhD, University of Southern California

Publication Award(s) 2020

• Sarah L. Woulfin, University of Connecticut
  • Woulfin, S. L. (2018). Mediating Instructional Reform: An Examination of the Relationship Between District Policy and Instructional Coaching. AERA Open. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858418792278

Dissertation Award(s) 2019

• Chelsea P. Tracy-Bronson, Inclusive Education in Practice: District-Level Special Education Administrators' Leadership,  PhD, Syracuse University

 Publication Award(s) 2018

• Julie A. Marsh  and Michelle Hall, University of Southern California 
  • Marsh, J. A., & Hall, M. (2018). Challenges and choices: A multidistrict analysis of statewide mandated democratic engagement. American Educational Research Journal, 55(2), 243-286.

Dissertation Award(s) 2017

• Kelly McMahon, Striking a Balance with School Accountability: Design and Use of Progress Reports and Quality Reviews in New York City, PhD, University of Michigan

 Publication Award(s) 2016

• Brett Lane (Institute for Strategic Leadership and Learning), Chris Unger (Northeastern University) and Phomdaen Souvanna (ABT Associates)
  • Lane, B., Unger, C., & Souvanna, P. (2014). Turnaround practices in action. A three year analysis of school and district practices, systems, policies, and use of resources contributing to successful turnaround efforts in Massachusetts’ Level 4 schools. Institute for Strategic Leadership and Learning. Retrieved from http://www. mass. gov/edu/docs/ese/accountability/turnaround/practices-report-2014. pdf

Dissertation Award(s) 2015

• Michael DeArmond, Good Ideas and Engagement Aren't Enough: School District Central Offices and the Micro-Politics of Implementing Comprehensive Human Resource Reform, PhD, University of Washington

Outstanding Dissertation Awardees from Previous Years:

• Thomas D. Shelton  (2011)
• Sarah Diem (2011)
• Elizabeth N. Farley-Ripple (2009)
• Laurence B. Boggess (2009)

Outstanding Publication Awardees from Previous Years:

• Katrina E. Bulkley, Jeffrey R. Henig, & Henry M. Levin (2012)
• Peggy E. Johnson & Janet H. Chrispeels (2012)
• Charles T. Kerchner, David J. Menefee-Libey, Laura S. Mulfinger, & Stephanie E. Clayton (2010)
• Jonathan A. Supovitz, J. (2008)
• Meredith I. Honig, M. (2008)

 Publication Award(s) 2012

• Bulkley, K. E., Henig, J. R., & Levin, H. M. (2010). Between public and private: Politics, governance, and the new portfolio models for urban school reform. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
• Johnson, P. E., & Chrispeels, J. H. (2010). Linking the Central Office and Its Schools for Reform. Educational Administration Quarterly, 46(5), 738–775.