Shaping the Future of Education Research
Join BU Wheelock and other experts from Boston University at the 2026 Annual Meeting of the American Education Research Association (AERA), taking place April 8–12, in Los Angeles. The theme for this year’s annual meeting is “Unforgetting Histories and Imagining Futures: Constructing a New Vision for Education Research.”
Join BU Wheelock’s AERA Reception
BU Wheelock and Dean Penny Bishop also cordially invite AERA attendees to join a special reception for alumni, faculty, and friends. The reception will be held on Thursday, April 9, 6–8 pm, and will take place at Hotel Figueroa, 939 South Figueroa St., Los Angeles. RSVP for the BU Wheelock AERA reception.
Attend a BU Wheelock AERA Session
At AERA 2026, BU Wheelock’s researchers explore a wide array of topics centered around educational equity, innovation, and the experiences of marginalized groups. Highlights include discussions on fostering engagement in STEM, advancing mental health services in schools, and reimagining teacher-student relationships through new technologies and methodologies. Information is subject to change, so please check the official AERA schedule for any updates or changes to these sessions.
Wednesday, April 8
7:45–9:15 am
Paper Summary Displaced Imagination: Palestinian Children’s Visions for Their Desired Educational Futures (poster session)
BU: Souhaila Nassar
Powerful Pens: Black Girls’ Literacies and Stories in Boston (roundtable session)
BU: Ashley Houston-King
Displaced Imagination: Palestinian Children’s Visions for Their Desired Educational Futures (lightning ed-talk session)
BU: Souhaila Nassar
Gender Equity in STEM from a Comparative Education Policy Perspective
BU: Hanyun Cui
9:45–11:15 am
Advancing Math Motivation, Engagement and Persistence: Insights from Digital Interventions and Research-Practice Partnerships
BU: Pelin Jackson, Juliana Isabela Ayala, Ariel Vargas, Gregory Benoit
The Semiotics of Stereotypes: Using Memes to Unpack Race and Power in Mathematics (roundtable session)
BU: Gregory Benoit
A Case Study of a Grade 8 Teacher’s Perceptions of Teaching HIV/AIDS in Lebanon (roundtable session)
BU: Ihsan Ghazal
Inclusion and Equity in Career and Technical Education and Workplace Learning (roundtable session)
BU: Yunee H. Yoon
Effectiveness of Enhanced Core Reading Instruction (ECRI) for Student in Tier 2: Years 1-3 Findings (roundtable session)
BU: Nancy J. Nelson
The Wages of Blackness: Black Women and Women of Color in the Academy
BU: Azaria I. Cunningham
11:45 am–1:15 pm
Family Perspectives of the Initial Implementation of an Equity-Focused Universal Preschool Program (roundtable session)
BU: Dede Addy, Kyle DeMeo Cook, Stephanie M. Curenton, Melissa Lucas
Towards Equitable Access to Mental Health Services in School: Teamwork Across Interdisciplinary Scholars and Professionals
BU: Alexandra Allen, Jennifer Greif Green, Ayana Bass, Ruchi Mendiratta Khanna, Manuel Angel Ramirez, Zach Rossetti, Lola Argiro
We Gon’ Be Alright: Teaching, Healing, and Resisting with Black Youth
BU: Davena Y. Jackson, Ashley Houston-King
3:45–5:15 pm
Speculative Futures with and Against AI: Youth Worldbuilding as Sociotechnical Intervention
BU: Michael Alan Chang, Beth M. Warren, Gia Kim, Heila Precel
Thursday, April 9
7:45–9:15 am
Teaching at the Intersections: Language, Culture, and Equity in Multilingual Classrooms (roundtable session)
BU: Ihsan Ghazal, Sen Wang
Joy as a Political Emotion in Mathematics Education (roundtable session)
BU: Eric Cordero-Siy, Gregory Benoit, Aaron Brakoniecki
Dialogic Approach to Unlearning in the Academy: Critical Iterative Duoethnography (roundtable session)
BU: Christina L. Dobbs
Circling Back and Moving Forwards in Digital Literacies Research
BU: Elena Forzani
The Special Education Teacher Workforce: New Evidence on Composition, Distribution, and Effectiveness Across Contexts
BU: Elizabeth A. Bettini, Tashnuva Shaheen
9:45–11:15 am
Reading Between the Lines: A Critical Analysis of Anti-Discrimination Policy in Greater Toronto Area Schools (roundtable session)
BU: D’Annette Mullen
Outmaneuvering Academic Landmines: Gendered Literacies as Survival Maps for Black Women in the Academy (roundtable session)
BU: Azaria I. Cunningham
Beyond Histories of Compliance in Early Childhood Education: Centering Disability and Cultivating Freedom
BU: Elizabeth Barcay
Data Science as a Tool for Engaging in Civic Education
BU: Kaylene Mae Stevens
2:15–3:45 pm
Who Has Access to and Enrolls in High-Quality STEM CTE Courses? Evidence from Massachusetts’ Two-Tiered System (roundtable session)
BU: Yunee H. Yoon
Anti-Racism in Early Childhood Education: Disrupting Whiteness Through an Early Childhood Teacher Educator Critical Community of Practice
BU: Azaria I. Cunningham
4:15–5:45 pm
There’s Nothing Really There: Meaning-Making Around the Salience of Race and Identity Among White Adolescents (ed-talk session)
BU: Tina M. Durand, Mitali Temurnikar, Pei Wang
6:15–7:15 pm
Vocabulary SIG Business Meeting
BU: Christina L. Dobbs
Thursday, April 9: BU Wheelock Reception
Join Dean Penny Bishop and BU Wheelock faculty in attendance at AERA for this special event.
Thursday, April 9, 6–8 pm
Hotel Figueroa
939 South Figueroa St.
Los Angeles
RSVP for the BU Wheelock AERA reception.
Friday, April 10
7:45–9:15 am
“I Feel Like I Fit In”: Middle School Students’ Perceptions Of Psychological Safety (roundtable session)
BU: Mitali Temurnikar, Tina M. Durand, Pei Wang
Innovations and Advances in Mathematics Instruction
BU: Anna Dailey, Annabel Stoler, Meghan Shaughnessy
9:45–11:15 am
12th Annual Language and Social Processes Mentoring Session
BU: Ashley Houston-King
Career Reasoning of Children in an International School in China (poster session)
BU: Zhouyan Bu, Kimberly A.S. Howard, Zijin Li, Pei Wang
Career Reasoning of Children in an International School in China (ed-talk session)
BU: Zhouyan Bu, Kimberly A.S. Howard, Zijin Li, Pei Wang
11:45 am–1:15 pm
The Architecture of Education Governance: Institutions, Leadership, and Influence
BU: Hanyun Cui
1:45–3:15 pm
Good Teachers as “STAR” Teachers: A Qualitative Study of Contemporary Early Adolescents’ Perspectives (paper session)
BU: Pei Wang, Tina M. Durand, Mitali Temurnikar
Co-designing Equitable Futures with GenAI and Multilingual Writers: A Collaborative Self-Study (roundtable session)
BU: Weiqiao Zhang, Michael Alan Chang
Design Matters: Implications of Institutional Enactment of State and Federal Policies
BU: Jerry M. Whitmore
Fostering Engagement for All: Advancing Socioculturally Inclusive Theory, Research, and Practice in Student Engagement
BU: Janine Bempechat
3:45–5:15 pm
Democratizing Data in an Equity-focused Networked Improvement Community (roundtable session)
BU: Ariel Tichnor-Wagner
Growing Words: An Integrated Framework for Building Vocabulary Knowledge in the Early Grades (roundtable session)
BU: Sen Wang
The Unequal Impact of Virtual Learning: Evidence from U.S. School Districts During COVID-19
BU: Paloma Lu
Institutional Supports that Matter: Examining Coaching, Microgrants, and Pathways to College Completion
BU: Hanyun Cui
Mental Health and Resilience across Developmental Contexts
BU: Melissa K. Holt
Multimodal Identity Work: Visual and Embodied Approaches to Critical Reflection in Teacher Education
BU: Christina L. Dobbs
Saturday, April 11
7:45–9:15 am
Critical Perspectives on the Experiences of Students of Color
BU: Jerry M. Whitmore
9:45–11:15 am
“You Think Big Originally”: Exploring Student Perceptions of Civic Engagement Within a Civic Action Curriculum (roundtable session)
BU: Rob Martinelle, Kaylene Mae Stevens
11:45 am–1:15 pm
AI Predicting Lesson Plans: The Influence of Teacher and Textbook (poster session)
BU: Maya Bialik, Pelin Jackson, Leslie Dietiker
AI Predicting Lesson Plans: The Influence of Teacher and Textbook (ed-talk session)
BU: Maya Bialik, Pelin Jackson, Leslie Dietiker
Cross-Cutting Research on Risk and Resilience Factors Among LGBTQIA+ Individuals
BU: Katherine Parodi, Melissa K. Holt, Jennifer Greif Green, Andra Preda, Nicolina Fusco, Alyssa Marie Ciniglio, Aidan D. Kraus, Mario Crown, Sharada Krishnan
Reimagining Researcher-Participant Relations in Engineering and Computing Education: What Does It Mean to Design for People and Communities, Rather Than Disciplines?
BU: Eli Tucker-Raymond
1:45–3:15 pm
Exploring Bedtime Reading as a Mediator Between Maternal Depression and Preschoolers’ Receptive Vocabulary (roundtable session)
BU: Nicole Kingdon
History Teachers’ Understandings of Rightwing Movements and How to Teach Them (roundtable session)
BU: Rob Martinelle
Teachers’ Evolving Understanding of Home Literacy Practices: A Case Study of an After-School Family Literacy Program (roundtable session)
BU: Jennifer Bryson
Debt, Discipline, and Discrimination: Interrogating Inequities Across Higher Education: Late-Life Burdens: Analyzing Student Loan Debt Among US Adults Aged 45 and Older
BU: Hanyun Cui, Jerry M. Whitmore
3:45–5:15 pm
Co-Designing AI technologies with Youth: Design Choices that Reify Inequities or Envision Expansive Possibilities
BU: Michael Alan Chang
Sunday, April 12
7:45–9:15 am
Voices of Advocacy: Family and Caregiver Perspectives on Disability in Education
BU: Azaria I. Cunningham
9:45–11:15 am
Whose Voices Matter? Looking at Community Stakeholder Participation in a University-School Partnership (roundtable session)
BU: Jennifer Bryson, Cassandra Kobelski
Toward Foundations 3.0: Conducting A DisCrit Audit of Our Introductory Education Course (roundtable session)
BU: Rob Martinelle, Brigid Rowlings
11:45 am–1:15 pm
Optimizing Embedded Assessment in (*Masked) Gaming Intervention: Thresholds and Patterns of Response Time and Accuracy (roundtable session)
BU: Nancy J. Nelson
1:45–3:15 pm
Sparking the Flame: Cultivating Joy in Mathematics for Preservice and Early Career Teachers (roundtable session)
BU: Gregory Benoit, Aaron Brakoniecki, Eric Cordero-Siy,
Pláticas and Femtorship as Pathways for Advocacy, Mentorship, and Healing in Education
BU: Janine Bempechat, Eleonora Villegas-Reimers
