UM-Dearborn Faculty to Present Papers at AERA Annual Meeting in April

The annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) is the major national forum for showcasing cutting edge research in the field of education. This year’s meeting will be held in New Orleans from April 8-12. Based on critical peer review of proposals, several UM-Dearborn faculty members from the School of Education have been granted slots on the program to present their work. Assistant Professor Laura Reynolds-Keefer will present a research paper on the use of blogs as a technological support to facilitate college student learning; she will also chair two other sessions on the program. Associate Professor Martha Adler will present a research paper on providing literacy supports to teachers in high-poverty, urban schools; she will also chair several other sessions on the program. Professor Edward Silver is co-author with Professor Valerie Lee (UM-Ann Arbor) and UM doctoral student Joe Waddington of a paper that reports a multilevel analysis of data drawn from the PISA international assessment to examine the organizational features of secondary schools in the United States and Canada that influence their students’ mathematics achievement and its (in)equitable distribution. In addition, several UM-Dearborn doctoral students will be attending an AERA research training session prior to the conference.

The American Educational Research Association (AERA), founded in 1916, is concerned with improving the educational process by encouraging scholarly inquiry related to education and evaluation and by promoting the dissemination and practical application of research results. AERA is the most prominent international professional organization with the primary goal of advancing educational research and its practical application. The membership of AERA, numbering more than 25,000 professionals, includes educators, administrators, research directors, testing and evaluation specialists, graduate students, and behavioral scientists. The broad range of disciplines represented by the membership includes education, psychology, statistics, sociology, history, economics, philosophy, anthropology, and political science.