UCLA professor of education and AERA President-Elect leads opening discussion of first in-person conference in two years.
Tyrone Howard, UCLA professor of education, opened the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) as chair of the plenary session on April 21 in San Diego. Howard, who directs the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools, explored the conference theme, “Cultivating Equitable Education Systems for the 21st Century,” with a panel of renowned education scholars including Eve Ewing, University of Chicago; Susan Dynarski, Harvard University; Verónica Vélez, Western Washington University; and Hirokazu Yoshikawa, New York University. Linda T. Smith, Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi, also took part in the discussion remotely from New Zealand.
The panel discussed the possibilities of what researchers can do at grassroots levels to create great equity in schools and institutions. Professor Howard, who founded the Black Male Institute at UCLA in 2009, gave a call to action in stating the urgent need for respect to a community’s actual needs rather than what academia seems to prescribe.
“For me, it’s always been rooted in my ‘why,’ and my why is oftentimes tied to that reality of growing up in Compton and having labels placed on what we did not have, what we were lacking, what was insufficient,” he said. “But that was not the world that I saw.
“I saw hardworking people full of promise and potential, who got up and did all the things that folks said could not be done,” said Howard, who also directs the UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening of Children and Families. “So, whenever I do this work, I’m always asking folks, ‘What’s your why? What do you think about this particular community? What do you think about the individuals who are part of that community? If you can’t answer that question about your why and the foundational way that sees promise, hope, and possibility, then maybe this is not the work for you.”
Student and faculty research from UCLA Education will be represented in more than 150 sessions at AERA. For a complete list of sessions, visit the AERA website for a searchable schedule. To view a list of sessions UCLA representatives are participating in click here.
UCLA Education and CRESST will be hosting a reception on Friday, April 22, 2022. For more info click here.
Above: UCLA Professor of Education Tyrone Howard opened the Annual Meeting of AERA on April 21 in San Diego, the first in-person meeting of the organization in two years.
Professor Howard led a panel discussion for the plenary session, exploring the ways that educational researchers can create and improve equity in schools and communities. (L-R) Howard, Eve Ewing, University of Chicago; Susan Dynarski, Harvard University; Verónica Vélez, Western Washington University (obscured in photo; and Hirokazu Yoshikawa, New York University.
Courtesy of Tony Pals, AERA