2008
AERA Annual Convention and Exhibition
Monday, March 24 - Friday, March 28
New York
Research on Schools, Neighborhoods, and Communities:
Toward Civic Responsibility
Theme: Research on Schools, Neighborhoods, and Communities: Toward Civic Responsibility
New York City is considered by many to symbolize the gateway of opportunity in the United States. The history of immigrant families and communities in this metropolitan region is well documented and an important part of the American Dream. Yet the geography of opportunity has become a local, national, and global challenge. Cities and metropolitan regions are experiencing intensified city/suburban fiscal disparities. The trend toward increased class- and race-based geospatial polarization has implications for schools, neighborhoods, and related social institutions and groups. The resulting local, state, and federal government responses often create new problems. There has been an expansion of the policing functions of government, for example, while the demand for many key social services continues to grow (e.g., housing, schools, health, and transportation). Thus local, state, and federal funding remains an important policy consideration and research opportunity.
Funding is only one of the many challenges facing communities within and across social and spatial boundaries. Many scholars have found that metropolitan education does not share the level of civic capacity that is available for other local ventures (e.g., sport stadiums). The term “civic” refers to actions and strategic plans conceived to support the goal of advancing the well-being of the entire community. Some scholars have argued that “civic capacity” captures the extent to which multiple sectors of a region have constructed formal and informal structures to create common objectives and advance common goals (e.g., the Civic Capacity and Urban Education project). Civic capacity requires communities to move beyond immediate relationships and specific occupational roles toward the acceptance of their interdependence and civic responsibility. Civic responsibility in education requires that multiple sectors of the community—individuals, governments, and nongovernment organizations—accept the charge of creating high-quality educational opportunities irrespective of neighborhood or other geospatial considerations.
This year’s Annual Meeting theme provides an intellectual space for scholarship focused on schools, neighborhoods, and communities. Examples of relevant research topics include, but are not limited to (1) higher education and community development, (2) education and social service partnerships, (3) community-based teacher education, (4) project-based learning in metropolitan settings, (5) juvenile justice and opportunity to learn, (6) fiscal policy and planning, and (7) educational role of the professions (e.g., health, law, and engineering).
While in New York City, the AERA community will have
an opportunity to explore research, historical writings, and moral arguments.
An overarching purpose is to define, frame, contextualize, explain, and
debate solutions to the ongoing challenge of linking research on schools,
neighborhoods, and communities to matters of civic responsibility and
capacity-building opportunities. Please consider participating in this
important intellectual endeavor.
THE QUEER STUDIES SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP SCHOLAR-ACTIVIST AWARDS PROGRAM aims to strengthen and broaden the links between activism and research as they relate to LGBTTIQ people in education, to the relationships between sexuality/gender and education, and to education-based approaches to challenging heterosexism, homophobia, and other forms of oppression. We are inviting applications from those who offer groundbreaking approaches to working with these linkages and addressing these topics through activist research. The program includes three awards: a Graduate Student Travel Award, a Dissertation Award, and a Significant Body of Work Award.
Graduate Student Travel Award
This award is for up to $500 support the travel of a graduate student
to the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association.
Eligible graduate students must have a proposal accepted by AERA to present
significant scholarship and activism in Queer Studies that advances knowledge
in this interdisciplinary field of intellectual inquiry in Education,
and challenges heterosexism, homophobia, and other forms of oppression
in educational sites.
An applicant should submit a letter that explicitly describes the presentation, highlights the connections between research and activism, and names the division, section, or SIG in which the presentation has been accepted. A panel of at least three Queer Studies SIG members will review the applications and award all or some of this fund to one or more student(s). An applicant should send two versions of the letter: one with the applicant's full name, mailing address, telephone number, e-mail address, institutional affiliation, year of study, and anticipated graduation date (if applicable) and another without this information. The second version of the letter will be used for a blind review.
2006, Julie Schell, (Teachers College, Columbia
University)
2005, Lori Macintosh, (University of British Columbia)
Dissertation Award
This award is for $250. It recognizes a recent graduate whose dissertation
represents significant scholarship and activism in Queer Studies that
advances knowledge in this interdisciplinary field of intellectual inquiry
in Education, and challenges heterosexism, homophobia, and other forms
of oppression in educational sites.. The dissertation must have been defended
within 18 months prior to the annual meeting in order for the graduate
to be eligible for this award.
An applicant should submit a letter that describes the dissertation and highlights the connections between research and activism and a letter of recommendation from the supervisor of the dissertation. A panel of at least three Queer Studies SIG members will review the applications and award all or some of this fund to one or more recent graduate(s). An applicant should submit two versions of the letter: one with the applicant's full name, mailing address, telephone number, e-mail address, institutional affiliation, year of study, and anticipated graduation date (if applicable) and another without this information. The second version of the letter will be used for review.
2006, Jill Hermann-Wilmarth, Assistant Professor,
Western Michigan University
2005, Kevin Graziano, Assistant Professor, Nevada State College
Significant Body of Work Award
This award recognizes a scholar and activist who has produced a significant
body of scholarly and activist work in Queer Studies that advances knowledge
in this interdisciplinary field of intellectual inquiry in Education,
and challenges heterosexism, homophobia, and other forms of oppression
in educational sites. An applicant or a nominator should submit the scholar's
CV.
2006, James T. Sears, Professor, Penn State University
2005, Tara Goldstein, Associate Professor, Ontario Institute for Studies
in Education of the University of Toronto
Application and/or nomination materials should be sent to the chairs of the Awards Committee:
Lori MacIntosh at lbm@interchange.ubc.ca
Applications must be received no later than February
15, 2008.