Scholar of urban education and equity directs the UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children, UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools.
UCLA Professor of Education Tyrone Howard has been voted president-elect of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Howard joins the AERA Council in 2022–2023 as president-elect, with his presidency beginning at the conclusion of the association’s 2023 annual meeting. Professor of Education Daniel Solórzano will also represent UCLA on the AERA Council with a three-year term as a member-at-large, commencing in 2022-23.
“We in the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies are so excited that AERA will be led by one of our most thoughtful scholars of education,” says Christina Christie, Wasserman Dean, SEIS. “I know that this most important association will benefit tremendously from Professor Howard’s skilled and compassionate leadership and vision for a more just and equitable society. We are grateful that Professor Howard has taken on this important service for the betterment of education writ large.”
“Being elected as President of AERA is an honor,” says Professor Howard. “I sincerely appreciate all of the members who have entrusted me with this tremendous opportunity. I am also grateful for the previous AERA presidents who have come before me and demonstrated exemplary leadership.
“Educational inequality, which existed before COVID-19, and has only deepened during the pandemic, is arguably the greatest challenge in our field,” says Howard, who is the founder of the Black Male Institute at UCLA. “The opportunity to be in leadership of the world’s largest educational research organization offers the chance to further our commitment to using science, data, truth, and evidence in tackling some of our most vexing issues in the K-12 and higher education systems. This is a time for educational practitioners, researchers, and policy makers to care, think, and act collaboratively and creatively to build knowledge, hope, and possibility.”
In addition to being the Pritzker Family Endowed Chair at SEIS, Howard directs the UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children and Families and director of the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools. A former elementary and high school teacher, Howard translates research into practice in his professional learning work with thousands of P–12 educators across the United States and several other countries each year. His research focuses on the sociology of schools, teacher education, the education of Black boys, urban education, and educational equity.
Howard’s books include “Why Race and Culture Matter in Schools: Closing the Achievement Gap in America’s Classrooms” and “Expanding College Access for Urban Youth: What Schools and Colleges Can Do.” He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and other academic publications, included in publications such as Review of Research in Education, Journal of Teacher Education, Teachers College Record, and Journal of Higher Education. He has been featured or quoted by the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, CNN, Education Week, and more.
Howard was elected as an AERA Fellow in 2017 and has served as an elected member of the AERA Council from 2015 to 2018. Howard was section co-chair and equity and inclusion officer for AERA Division G—Social Context of Education, served on the AERA Nominating Committee, and currently chairs the AERA Fellows Committee. He has also served on editorial boards for AERA’s peer-reviewed journals Review of Educational Research and American Educational Research Journal. Division G presented him its Early Career Award in 2007 and Outstanding Mentoring Award in 2017. Professor Howard is a member of the National Academy of Education.
AERA is the largest national interdisciplinary research association devoted to the scientific study of education and learning. Founded in 1916, AERA advances knowledge about education, encourages scholarly inquiry related to education, and promotes the use of research to improve education and serve the public good.