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What’s Happening: An Inside Look at the Division A Graduate Student Committee

7/16/2016

Message from Emma Bullock, Division A Senior Representative

The purpose of the AERA Division A Graduate Student Representatives and Committee Members is to work collaboratively with one another in order to provide opportunities for other graduate students in the division. The goal is to strengthen and broaden the graduate school experience for Division A students. This is accomplished by disseminating information about annual AERA and UCEA conference sessions, inviting participation in the Connect Series webinars, and informing graduate students of various scholarships and awards through the AERA Graduate Student listserv and social media outlets. AERA Division A conference sessions and the Connect Series are planned to help fellow graduate students navigate academic life; provide opportunities for networking with fellow graduate students, faculty, and practitioners in the field; and offer guidance in transitioning from graduate student life to careers as professional scholars and researchers. There are lots of ways to get involved with Division A graduate student activities with varying levels of commitment. Graduate students are encouraged to contact the Senior or Junior Representative for more information about opportunities to get involved with Division A graduate student activities. The contact information for the Senior and Junior Representatives is: Emma Bullock at [email protected] and Wei-Ling Sun at [email protected].

As the 2016-17 Division A Graduate Student Representative, my goals for this year include: increasing graduate student enrollment and engagement in the Division A Graduate Student Committee (GSC), fine tuning and strengthening existing initiatives with the help of our amazing GSC, exploring more publishing opportunities for Division A graduate students, and helping to update the general AERA website, which is currently grossly out of date.

Here is a list of initiatives we are working on this year:

Conference Sessions and Opportunities:

AERA Division A Fireside Chat: At AERA, each graduate student division plans a Fireside Chat with a focus on the current conference theme from the perspectives of the division. Scholars and practitioners with known expertise on the topic are invited to facilitate the discussion. Questions and comments from graduate students are encouraged. The 2017 Division A Fireside Chat’s current working title is: STEM Education and School Leadership: Equitably Accessing the Playing Field and is being developed to work in concert with the AERA’s 2017 Annual Meeting Theme: Knowledge to Action: Achieving the Promise of Equal Educational Opportunity.

AERA Division A Dialogic Forum: This AERA pre-session event allows students who are not presenting in the AERA 2017 Annual Meeting to share research-in-progress in a roundtable format and receive in-depth feedback from faculty.

UCEA Publishing Session: This session is co-administered alongside the Division L GSC and takes place at the Annual Convention of the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA). It offers doctoral students an opportunity to dialogue with a panel of students and faculty who have a rich record in publishing and learn how to navigate the publish or perish realities of the academy.

Foster-Polite Scholarship: This scholarship offers a $500 stipend to four graduate students who are members of Division A (excluding committee members) and who are accepted for the AERA Annual meeting. (See below.)

Connect Series: The Connect Series is a collection of live, interactive webinars that explore pressing educational leadership issues of the day. These webinars are archived for future viewing if live viewing is not an option. A combination of professors, practitioners, and/or policymakers cover themes related to administration, policy, organization, and leadership. Please stay tuned for our exciting lineup to be published soon! (See below.)

Division A Graduate Student Committee Opportunities: There are interesting and rewarding ways in which to become involved with Division A as a graduate student. Keep your eyes out for the opportunity to become a member of the Division A GSC. Positions include two-year Junior Representative/Senior Representative, and one-year opportunities like Connect Series Co-Chair, UCEA Publishing Session Chair, Communications Co-Chair, Foster-Polite Scholarship Chair, Dialogic Forum Chair, and Lead Reviewers. All of these positions allow for fantastic networking with graduate students, faculty, and practitioners interested in administration, policy, organization, and leadership. Application will be solicited starting in February 2017!

Message from Jason Ribeiro and Alison Wilson, Communications Co-Chairs

Hi, everyone! We are so looking forward to serving on the Division A Graduate Student Committee for 2016-17. As your Communications Co-Chairs we are tasked with advertising all Division A graduate student events and opportunities. We also help keep you informed by contributing to the Division A Newsletter. Keep checking your email and our social media channels for important information throughout the upcoming academic year. You can also use our communication channels to engage in key discussions, content sharing, and professional networking. We look forward to connecting with as many members as we can, both in-person and virtually. Please do not hesitate to reach out with questions and ideas!

Upcoming News and Events

Three Reasons You Need the Foster-Polite Scholarship

It gets you to the AERA Annual Meeting with less money out of your pocket!
It would look awesome on your curriculum vitae!
You get to brag to your advisor, family, and friends that you earned a scholarship!

The purpose of the Foster-Polite Scholarship is to recognize and promote scholarly excellence in doctoral students who are enrolled in an educational administration/school leadership program. The Scholarship awards $500 travel stipends to four graduate students, who have single or first authorship on a paper accepted to a Division A session or a related SIG session during the AERA Annual Meeting. Be sure to look for full application announcements beginning in late November. In the meantime, do not forget to submit a proposal to a Division A session and/or a SIG relevant to educational leadership.

The Connect Series

The Connect Series will include several 60-minute, virtual sessions that will take place on Mondays between September 2016 and June 2017. The main goal of this event is to utilize virtual meeting technology to increase real-time engagement among graduate students, professors, practitioners, and policymakers. Sessions will focus on current policy and practice issues related to the Division A themes: leadership, school organization and effects, school improvement, school contexts and communities, and leadership development.

Contact Us!

Division A Graduate Student Committee

Websites: www.aeradivisiona.org
AERA Graduate Student Council

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meet your graduate Student committee

7/16/2016

Who We Are – Get to Know the Committee
Emma Bullock
Senior Representative
Utah State University

Emma Bullock is a Ph.D. doctoral candidate at Utah State University in Curriculum and Instruction with an Emphasis in Mathematics Education and Leadership. She is also concurrently enrolled in a second Master’s Program in Mathematics with an expected graduation date from both programs of April 2017. Emma holds an M.Ed in Educational Leadership from Argosy University and a B.S. in Mathematics and Music from Brigham Young University. With 5 years’ experience as a principal of a K-9 public charter school in Utah, 8 years’ experience providing in-service teacher professional development, and over 14 years teaching secondary and higher education mathematics in both Utah and South Carolina, Emma has broad practical experience in the issues of traditional public and charter public education. In addition, Emma currently serves on the boards of two charter schools in Utah and as the AERA Division A Senior Representative. Her research interests include content-specific school leadership, in-service teacher professional development, and mathematics education virtual manipulatives. Her doctoral dissertation is titled: An Explanatory Sequential Mixed Methods Study of the School Leaders’ Role in Students’ Mathematics Achievement Through the Lens of Complexity Theory. During the Spring 2016, Emma was the recipient of five major doctoral awards. These awards included: TEAL Graduate Student Researcher of the Year, Graduate Research and Creative Opportunities Grant, Lawson Fellowship Award, Graduate Student Senate Enhancement Award, and a CEHS Dissertation Fellowship Award.

Wei-Ling Sun
Junior Representative
University of Texas at Austin

Wei-Ling Sun is a doctoral student in the Educational Policy and Planning Program at The University of Texas at Austin. She holds dual master’s degrees in Curriculum Studies and Cooperative Superintendency Program from UT Austin. Her research interests include the influence of K-12 social justice education leadership in the neighborhoods of vulnerable populations, school discipline policy reforms (the school-to-prison pipeline), and Asian Americans and Pacific Islander identity politics in public schools. After nine years of teaching and leadership experience in different school districts, Wei-Ling decided to focus her passion in education to analyze and evaluate education policies and to contribute her civic service for more positive social impact in historically marginalized populations.

Naomi Lawrence-Lee
Connect Series Co-Chair
Texas Southern University

Naomi Lawrence-Lee is an Ed.D student studying Education Administration with a concentration in Higher Education at Texas Southern University. Prior to attending Texas Southern University, she received a Bachelor’s of Arts in Business Administration from Dillard University. Her research area is understanding access to success and the impact of a selected federally funded program on first generation, urban college students. She currently serves as a graduate assistant in the capacity of Academic Technology Trainer.

Jessica Schwartzer
Connect Series Co-Chair
George Mason University
Jessica Schwartzer is a Ph.D. student and graduate research assistant at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Her specialization is educational leadership focusing on the achievement gap, socially just leadership, culturally relevant pedagogy, racial identities in schools, as well as qualitative research methods in educational leadership. Prior to attending George Mason University, she was an elementary school teacher in New Jersey for 11 years after earning her B.A. in English from Rutgers University and M.A. in School Administration from Rowan University.

AERA 2016 Post Conference Graduate Student Corner Report

7/15/2016

2015-2016 marked a successful year for the Division A graduate students. Our membership increased to approximately 1,000 students, representing approximately 33% of Division A’s total membership. Not only did enrollment increase, students were more engaged in our various initiatives, including our webinars, UCEA events, and our scholarship program. Most recently, Division A graduate students gathered at the 2016 AERA Annual Meeting for two annual events—the Dialogic Forum and the Fireside Chat. Below is a recap of our AERA events and annual Foster-Polite Scholarship.

Dialogic Forum
Chair: Lolita Tabron

Since 2012, the Division A Dialogic Forum has provided a platform for graduate students to share their research, receive constructive feedback from faculty and students, and get the pulse of current and future directions of research in the field. The 2016 Division A Dialogic Forum grew bigger and better. The 2016 application pool more than tripled, making the selection process very competitive. After a rigorous peer-review process, we selected 25 doctoral students to participate. More than half of the graduate student participants were first-time AERA participants and presenters whose work covered a broad spectrum of topics critical to educational leadership. We thank the Division A faculty mentors who shared their time and expertise: Judy Alston, Noelle Arnold, Scott Bauer, Jennifer Clayton, Shelby Cosner, Morgaen Donaldson, Chris Dunbar, Kristina Hesbol, Leslie Locke, Michael O’Malley, Margaret Terry Orr, Craig Peck, John Petrovic, Virginia Rangel, Mariela Rodriguez, and Dawn Williams.

Fireside Chat – Politics and Power in Community Policing and Schooling
Chair: Priya La Londe & Emma Bullock

On a snowy and cold early Saturday morning, several graduate students and educators came to the D.C. Convention Center to engage in a profound discussion about how politics and power shape policing and community schooling. The panel included Joel Bratton, Dean of Students, Baltimore City Public Schools; Hassan Charles, Executive Director of Engagement, Baltimore County Public Schools; Elke Chen, Assistant Principal, Washington D.C. El Haynes Public Charter School; Sonya Douglass Horsford, Associate Professor, George Mason University; and Tarryn McGhie, University of Nevada Las Vegas. The outstanding panel shared their perspectives on the fundamental issues and possible future directions to improve community schools and face community policing head on. Focusing on the context of D.C. and Baltimore and more broadly on implications for school leaders, the panel offered four key areas of insight around the goal of sharing power and improving partnerships between schools and communities. Panelists articulated a need for an explicit focus on building trust, partnership, and a symbiotic relationship with community members. At present, many communities feel disconnected from schools and institutions, often because of longstanding mistrust, misunderstanding, and policing. Another key theme that emerged in our dialogue is a need for school leaders to train and engage consistently with law enforcement to better understand adolescent development and community needs. Third, panelists suggested students need opportunities to have open dialogue with school leaders and law enforcement about their perspectives on discipline and policing practices. Several panelists highlighted how social media and new technologies should be utilized to empower student voice. Finally, in terms of policy, panelists suggested incentives and specific evaluation criteria around community engagement would help improve the pace of and create a culture of commitment toward community improvement. This year’s Fireside Chat was timely. It took place in a period in which law enforcement and our most vulnerable students are interfacing with one another in hostile, and sometimes deadly, ways. Each panelist offered invaluable perspectives on the ways in which community policing directly shapes educational outcomes and thus must be a central focus of school improvement and school leadership. We are deeply grateful to the panelists for their time and perspectives. Panelist contact information is as follows:

Joel Bratton: [email protected]
Hassan Charles: [email protected]
Elke Chen: [email protected]
Sonya Horsford: [email protected]
Tarryn McGhie: [email protected]

Foster-Polite Scholarship
Chair: LaTanya Dixson

Division A annually awards $500 travel stipends to attend the AERA Annual Meeting to a few deserving graduate students. Applicants were accepted for paper and poster presentations in Division A sessions. The Division A graduate student committee and former Foster-Polite Scholarship awardees conducted blind reviews of the applications. Once again, our applicant pool reflected the high quality of Division A graduate students. This year’s recipients were Osly Flores, University of Pittsburgh; Frank Perrone, University of Virginia; and Sherry Gannon-Shilon, Bar Ilan University in Israel. Osly Flores’s paper examined school leaders’ interpretation of achievement and opportunity gaps, Frank Perrone’s paper examined 21st century trends in educational administration degree production, and Sherry Gannon-Shilon’s research looked at principals’ sense-making as creative-bridging for balancing internal and external demands. This group of diverse papers reflected the Division A graduate student committee’s commitment toward supporting the scholarly development of its constituents.

We look forward to another administration of the Foster-Polite Scholarship in 2017. The Call for Applications will go out in late fall 2016. We encourage all graduate students, with a proposal accepted to an AERA 2017 Division A session or SIG session related to educational administration, to apply for this prestigious scholarship.

What’s Happening: An Inside Look at the Division A Graduate Student Committee

meet your graduate Student committee

AERA 2016 Post Conference Graduate Student Corner Report

Contact us!

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What’s Happening: An Inside Look at the Division A Graduate Student Committee

meet your graduate Student committee

​AERA 2016 Post Conference Graduate Student Corner Report

Contact us!

Archives

Categories

AERA 2016 Post Conference Graduate Student Corner Report