The John Dewey Democracy and Education Centennial Conference will take place just before the AERA 2016 meeting in Washington DC — April 7-8, 2016 at the Thurgood Marshall Center. The John Dewey Society is very interested in having scholars from URBAN participate in the Centennial conference. If you are interested in presenting or putting together an URBAN session (panel, symposium, something more creative, etc.), please email Jerusha Conner (jerusha.conner@villanova.edu) with your name and a rough idea of what you might present by October 27th.

Additional information from session organizers:

Session lengths are expected to be 90 minutes. There will be both general sessions and concurrent sessions. There will be no more than 3 concurrent sessions at any time. We expect participation of @ 200 people. The Marshall Center can accommodate roughly 200-250 for a general session, and the concurrent session rooms can accommodate roughly fifty people each. The special sessions will be concurrent sessions.

The expected time frame for April 7 is roughly 9-5, though that is not yet entirely pinned down. We can continue to use the Center until perhaps 8, at extra cost, and we can cover the extra cost. The time frame for April 8th is 9-12. The John Dewey Society annual meeting begins at 12 sharp in the same meeting room as the Centennial, so we have no lee-way. None of these details are yet carved in stone, but these are our expectations. We will work with various groups to accommodate their specific needs, but it goes without saying that we cannot meet every demand. Ultimately, participating groups will be placed in time slots that work best for the conference as a whole.

A full schedule of sessions planned for the ASA annual meeting can be accessed here!

Click here for full information!

The roundtables are intended to serve as working sessions in which scholars/practitioners will discuss ongoing work, identify common areas of interest, establish ongoing communication, and hopefully set an agenda for ongoing collaboration.

If you are interested in working with URBAN to host a roundtable discussion on a topic related to collaborative, community-based research, please submit a short paragraph outlining the proposed topic. Proposals should be sent to John Diamond (john.b.diamond@gmail.com) and Thomas Piñeros Shields (Thomas_PinerosShields@uml.edu) by March 2, 2015 with the Subject of “URBAN Roundtables.”

In addition to these roundtables, the URBAN Sociology has planned a series of activities to advance collaborative, community-based research at the August 2015 ASA meeting.

• School financing (how money is spent on various educational agendas such as vouchers, test preparation business; standardized test administration; state take-over administration and the like);
• Composition of the teaching body (what does it look like and how can we diversify it to reflect the student population in public schools, changes in the preparation/experience base of the teaching labor force);
• Standardized testing (its impact on teaching and learning; pedagogy and issues surrounding the common core);
• Education policy and urban inequality;
• Market-based reforms (e.g., vouchers, charter schools, teacher accountability policies)

Click here for full details and to apply.  The application deadline is October 1. 

Imagine a School: How Researchers Can Support Community-based Groups’ Visions for Philadelphia Public Schools”

Sunday, April 6th 2:15-3:45 Convention Center, Room 124

Featuring Kira Baker-Doyle, Donna Cooper, Pat De Carlo, Michael Johnanek, Rand Quinn, Sam Reed III, & Pauline Lipman

Followed by the URBAN AERA Business Meeting from 4:00-6:00, CC Room 121A

Offered through the Action Research Special Interest Group, this interactive symposium will consist of researchers and representatives from educational non-profits and grassroots community organizations, all working to address the current crisis in the Philadelphia School District. This panel will consider the role of action research in uniting disparate stakeholders around a shared vision for public schools, creating creative solutions to the complex problems facing the Philadelphia educational system, and facilitating a public learning process. Specifically, the symposium contributions highlight the opportunities and challenges of initiating and enacting research partnerships, and the role of research in policy reform. It will also present a unique opportunity for AERA attendees to learn about the promising, pioneering work that is happening in the city hosting the conference.

Session Organizer: Jerusha Osberg Conner, Villanova University

Reforming Philadelphia’s Schools from the Outside In: Lessons from a Research Practicum on Civic Capacity
Rand Quinn, University of Pennsylvania

Using Research to Create Champions and Drive Action
Candace E. Bell, Pathway Strategies, LLC

The Challenges of Prioritizing Philadelphia’s Children in a Contentious Landscape
Donna Cooper, Public Citizens for Children and Youth

Partnering to Strengthen Community: A University-Community Research Collaboration
Michael C. Johanek, University of Pennsylvania; Pat De Carlo, Norris Square Civic Association

Teachers at the Frontlines: Fighting for Justice
Sam Reed, Teacher Action Group; Kira J. Baker-Doyle, Arcadia University

Discussant: Pauline Lipman, University of Illinois at Chicago

Together in Struggle: Supporting Youth and Community Organizing through Engaged Scholarship

Friday, April 4, 4:00-6:00 South Philadelphia High School (2102 S. Broad Street)

Featuring presenters from PSU, YUC, TAG, Juntos, MMP, and PCAPs

In this off-site visit, conference participants will have the chance to dialogue with youth and community organizers about their campaign to attain adequate funding and preserve public control over the majority of the city’s schools. The event aims to engage several key groups in a discussion with educational researchers to explore the goals and strategies of these organizers, as well as to consider how educational researchers can support the work that such stakeholder groups are doing to win the fight for educational equity in Philadelphia.

Session Organizer: Sonia M Rosen, University of

Image by It’s Our City

Read more here

Image by the American Educational Research Association