Dear SIG friends,
We hope you had a good summer and got a chance to rest and regroup before this new school year. This monthly newsletter is intended to strengthen a community of researchers, practitioners, and community members committed to elevating questions surrounding district-level governance, policy, and processes as a means of explaining if and how districts can drive equity-focused change and sustainability.
We are already planning for AERA 2024 in Philadelphia from April 11-14. At our business meeting, we hope to have guest speakers and ideally an opportunity for community outreach and engagement. If you have any suggestions, please get in touch!
Nominations for SIG officer positions are due September 29th.
The AERA 2024 General Election is just a few short months away. The following position(s) are open for self nomination, the term is indicated in parentheses, and all terms start at the end of the 2024 Annual Meeting:
Co-Chair (2 years)
Secretary (2 years)
Co-Program Chair (2 years)
We welcome self-nominations for each of these positions. Please consider putting your name forward. Acting as a SIG executive member is a great way to be involved, meet friends and colleagues, and help shape the future of the SIG. Please reach out if you have questions or want to talk about these opportunities.
AERA proposal reviews are due September 15th.
If you are acting as a reviewer, please ensure you log in to aera.net and complete your reviews prior to the deadline, and thank you for your contribution to the SIG!
Plans for 2023/2024
We continue to prepare for AERA 2024 and welcome suggestions for guest speakers. Please let us know if you would be interested in acting as a guest speaker for a Brown Bag session run by/through the SIG. You can propose a topic or speak to one of the topics listed above, we want to hear from you!
News, Announcements, and Events
Are you a graduate student focusing on district research? The Districts in Education SIG has a monthly online co-working session series for grad students looking to improve their productivity and to connect to peers with shared research interests. The group has been meeting 2-3 times a month for 2 hours. The sessions include a brief introduction/welcome and two 50-minute silent co-working sessions. This series is intended to foster a supportive community of fellow grad students and provide regular focussed working sessions to help make time for writing and other research activities. Sessions generally run Fridays from 12-2pm EST (Toronto time).
Please contact Sheena Bell for information about upcoming meetings: sheena.bell@mail.utoronto.ca.
Please email us with any news you would like to share with the SIG such as job postings, recent publications, events, post-doc and other research positions, relevant professional development opportunities.
Come Build with Us!
Please email us with any updates you wish for us to share in the newsletter.
Twitter: We are hoping that our Twitter handle can become a site of research dissemination and critical questions about the purpose and possibilities of school districts internationally. Please feel free to tag us at @DistrictSIGAERA on any school district related events or research. We would be happy to share your work with a broader audience!
Website: https://www.aera.net/SIG156/Districts-in-Research-and-Reform
Email: For any questions or comments, or to share announcements for the listserv, please do not hesitate to email us at: ahuguet@rand.org or stephanie.tuters@utoronto.ca
Join/Stay Connected to our SIG: https://www.aera.net/Membership/My-AERA/Login
We look forward to working with you,
Your AERA Districts in Research and Reform SIG Exec:
Alice Huguet, Steph Tuters, Sarah Diem, Susan Bush-Mecenas, Joshua Childs, and Sheena Bell