USC Rossier will have a strong presence at the 2026 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting, taking place from April 8 to 12 in Los Angeles. Centered on the theme “Unforgetting Histories and Imagining Futures: Constructing a New Vision for Education Research,” the national conference invites education researchers to reflect on the past while shaping what lies ahead. Expected to draw more than 14,000 attendees, the conference is a platform for scholars to engage in discussions and share innovative research.
This year, over 80 USC Rossier faculty, postdoctoral and doctoral students will be presenting across key educational issues including AI in education, racial equity, student belonging and governance.
USC Rossier will also host a reception on April 9 at Hotel Figueroa celebrating its faculty and students. Several faculty members are being recognized with major honors: Mary Helen Immordino-Yang received the Kurt Fischer Achievement Award; Huriya Jabbar was named Outstanding Reviewer for Educational Researcher; Royel Johnson received the AERA Division G Trueba Award for Research Leading to the Transformation of the Social Contexts of Education; Julie Marsh was named a 2026 AERA Fellow; and Morgan Polikoff was named Outstanding Reviewer for AERA Open.
Below is a full list of USC Rossier’s community members who will be presenting, along with their topics. For more AERA information and complete list of presentations visit: AERA Sessions.
- April 9: Chair: Braving and Caving in Combative Terrains: Responding to Anti-DEI Discourse and Legislation
- April 11: Chair: Balancing Acts and Breaking Walls: Centering Equity Amid Organizational Change and Complexity
- April 12: Chair: Online/Technology (Table 6)
- April 9: Author: Fostering STEM Persistence: Student Responses to an Agentic Orientation Intervention in Biomedical Science
- April 9: Non-Presenting Author: Investigating the Drivers of Generative AI Help-Seeking: Structural Equation Model of Attitudes, Norms, and Control
- April 10: Author: Understanding GenAI Beliefs of International Teachers in the US, India, Qatar, Colombia, and the Philippines (Poster 23)
- April 11: Chair: Urban AI Unlocked: Transforming District Systems for Equitable AI Integration
- April 12: Author: Catalyzing an Orientation for Agency: The Development of an Intervention to Support Active Motivation
- April 8: Discussant: Asian American and Latinx College Experiences and DEI
- April 8: Discussant: Blueprints for Belonging: Black Students’ Aspirations and the Architecture of College Futures
- April 8: Non-Presenting Author: The Tensions of Technological Shifts on School Board Governance and Practice
- April 12: Non-Presenting Author: Democracy For What and For Whom?: The Possibilities and Challenges of K-12 School Boards
Tara Blagg
- April 9: Author: The Networks and Organizing Efforts of Far-Right Movements in California Schools
- April 11: Author: Educational Opportunity Amid Urban Revitalization: Perceptions from Long-term Resident Parents and Children
- April 12: Author: Implementation Network Mapping: Examining Equity and Voice in Detroit’s Choice Neighborhood Initiative
- April 9: Author: Measuring Supply and Demand for Expanded Learning Programs
- April 11: Author: Procurement in the Age of Platforms: AI, Privatization, and Systemic Change in Urban School Districts
- April 10: Author: Hundreds of Plans for California’s Million English Learners: A Statewide Review of District EL Master Plans
- April 11: Author: Procurement in the Age of Platforms: AI, Privatization, and Systemic Change in Urban School Districts
- April 11: Author: Reimagining Access: The Community College Baccalaureate as a Pathway to Equity and Graduate School Aspirations
- April 12: Author: Using Recognition Theory to Explore the Narratives of System-Impacted Students Who Earned College Degrees
- April 10: Author: Hundreds of Plans for California’s Million English Learners: A Statewide Review of District EL Master Plans
- April 8: Chair: Unforgetting Legal Precedent: Illuminating the Roots of Discrimination and Forging Equitable Futures in Education
- April 12: Author: Written Feedback as a Window into Teachers’ Mindset Beliefs in Elementary Mathematics
- April 12: Author: Content-Specific Noticing Among Early-Career Mathematics Teachers
Michael Corvera
- April 11: Author: Reimagining Access: The Community College Baccalaureate as a Pathway to Equity and Graduate School Aspirations
- April 8: Author: The Practical Implications of [redacted] Project: Key Practitioner-Oriented Findings and Open-Access Deliverables
- April 9: Author: Low-Income College Students’ Academic Success: Exploring the Role of Spatial Differences in Precollege Communities
- April 8: Author: Negotiating Progress: Postsecondary Faculty Development, Collaboration, and Governance
- April 10: Author: A Systematic Analysis of Return Migrant Students' Experiences in Mexican Higher Education: Challenges and Opportunities
- April 11: Author: Transnational Praxis in Confronting Linguistic Racism in English Language Teacher Education
- April 12: Author: Instruction by Proxy? Pedagogical Design, Faculty Agency, and the Uneven Work of Teaching with AI
- April 9: Discussant: Guaranteed Income: Understanding Unconditional Cash and Partnerships For Educational Research with Community Colleges
- April 9: Author: Gatebreaking in STEM: How Professional Societies Resist DEI Retrenchment through Organizational Strategy and Field-Level Coordination
- April 10: Author: Hundreds of Plans for California’s Million English Learners: A Statewide Review of District EL Master Plans
- April 12: Author: Social Capital in the Shadow of Redevelopment: Navigating Education in Changing Neighborhoods
- April 9: Presenting Author: Maintaining Group Harmony at 'Tinderbox Moments’ — LOPI and Cherokee Community Values
- April 9: Presenting Author: Everyday Embodiments of Mutual Responsibility among Babies and Toddlers in Tahlequah
- April 10: Discussant: Collaboration, Harmony, Attention & Acomedido: Learning Strengths among Mexican and Indigenous Peoples of the Americas
- April 8: Author: Critical Race Mixed Methodology (CRMM) As A Transformative Method: The Benefits and Challenges
- April 11: Author: Racializing Motivation: A Race-Reimaged Framework of Belonging, Emoting, and Achieving Within the STEM Education Context
- April 10: Author: The Prestige Paradox: How Status Structures Access to Graduate Education
- April 10: Chair: Conditions for Change: Organizational Accountability, Reform, and Commitment in Higher Ed
- April 9: Author: The Networks and Organizing Efforts of Far-Right Movements in California Schools
- April 10: Chair: Constructing New Visions in K-12 School Finance: The Past, Present, and Future of State Interventions into District Finances
- April 8: Author: From Courtrooms to Classrooms: The Politics of Reform (Table 7)
- April 8: Non-Presenting Author: California School Boards and Their Members’ Experiences in Dynamic Times
- April 12: Author: Instruction by Proxy? Pedagogical Design, Faculty Agency, and the Uneven Work of Teaching with AI
- April 9: Author: Measuring Supply and Demand for Expanded Learning Programs
Tracy J. Fullerton
- April 9: Discussant: Games as Dialogues Between Pasts and Futures: Playing Toward Educational Reimagination
- April 10: Author: Virtual Counterspaces: How Latina Doctoral Students Leverage Social Media to Navigate Academia
- April 9: Author: The Networks and Organizing Efforts of Far-Right Movements in California Schools
- April 12: Author: Racial Stress and Its Impact on Mattering and Affirmation Among Students of Color at PWIs
- April 11: Non-Presenting Author: A Barrier Analysis of Tier 1 SEL Programming in the United States
- April 11: Non-Presenting Author: Educator Validation of Barriers to Social and Emotional Learning
- April 11: Non-Presenting Author: Student Validation of Barriers to and Solutions for SEL
- April 8: Author: The PASS Project: Reflections on a Decade of Research (Division J, Vice Presidential Session)
- April 11: Author: Promoting Career Self-Efficacy among Low-Income College Students: A Mixed Methods Examination
- April 12: Author: Importance of Relational Closeness in Career Development for Students from Low-income Backgrounds
Ahreum Han
- April 12: Author: Content-Specific Noticing Among Early-Career Mathematics Teachers
Debbie Hanson
- April 9: Chair: AERA Tiny Desk Scholarly Discographies
- April 10: Discussant: Equity by Design: Redesigning Principal Pathways for Systemic Change
- April 10: Author: Unforgetting the History of Racism and Education in the US: Imagining a Future for DEI and Multicultural Education Research, Policies, and Practices
- April 11: Author: Advancing Student Academic Success through Research and Program Development (Table 18)
- April 9: Author: Signals of Identity Safety: How Relational and Curricular Cues Shape Belonging for Graduate Students of Color
- April 11: Author: Unpacking Discursive and Affective Functions of Whiteness to Construct a New Vision for Education Research (Stage 3, 2:44 PM)
- April 12: Author: Beyond the Ban: Contextualizing the Erasure of Black Student Voices in the Discourse on “Race-Neutral” Policies in Higher Education
- April 8: Author: Asian American and Latinx College Experiences and DEI
- April 9: Discussant: Access for Whom? Reframing the Discourse on Equity and Opportunity
- April 10: Author: Relational Work and Racialized Recognition: Emotional Labor Among Men of Color Practitioners at Hispanic Serving Institutions
- April 11: Author: Reimagining Access: The Community College Baccalaureate as a Pathway to Equity and Graduate School Aspirations
- April 12: Author: Using Recognition Theory to Explore the Narratives of System-Impacted Students Who Earned College Degrees
- April 12: Author: Instruction by Proxy? Pedagogical Design, Faculty Agency, and the Uneven Work of Teaching with AI
Mary Helen Immordino-Yang
- April 8: Chair: Research-in-Progress RT011 (Wednesday)
- April 9: Presenter: How the Science of Learning and Development and the Neurosciences Can Inform Re-Envisioning Human Possibility
- April 9: Visit Leader: Off-Site Visit to Tour CANDLE(Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning and Education) at USC
Huriya Jabbar
- April 8: Author: Culture Wars in the Classroom: From Book Bans to DEI Rollbacks
- April 9: Chair: Culture Wars, Curriculum Battles, and Public Schools (Table 4)
- April 9: Author: The Networks and Organizing Efforts of Far-Right Movements in California Schools
- April 9: Non-Presenting Author: Defending Educational Justice Through Critical Research-Practice-Policy Partnerships: Reflections from a Visioning Process
- April 10: Author: Fractured Alliances: The Evolution of School Choice Advocacy Coalitions in the Era of School Vouchers
- April 10: Non-Presenting Author: Culture Wars, Curriculum Battles & Public Schools: Pursuing a Bottom-Up Education Policy Research Agenda for the Field
- April 11: Author: Educational Opportunity Amid Urban Revitalization: Perceptions from Long-term Resident Parents and Children
- April 11: Non-Presenting Author: Educational Opportunity Amid Urban Revitalization: Perceptions from Long-term Resident Parents and Children
- April 12: Author: Implementation Network Mapping: Examining Equity and Voice in Detroit’s Choice Neighborhood Initiative
- April 12: Author: Unforgetting Censorship, Reimagining Academic Freedom: The Suppression of Discourse Around Palestine in U.S. Education
- April 12: Author: Critical Perspectives on the Contexts of Improvement-Focused Educational Research
- April 12: Author: Social Capital in the Shadow of Redevelopment: Navigating Education in Changing Neighborhoods
- April 12: Non-Presenting Author: Implementation Network Mapping: Examining Equity and Voice in Detroit’s Choice Neighborhood Initiative
- April 12: Non-Presenting Author: Social Capital in the Shadow of Redevelopment: Navigating Education in Changing Neighborhoods
- April 8: Author: Performing Equity, Perpetuating Harm: Counternarratives of Black Staff on DEI and Anti-Blackness
- April 8: Editor: Educational Researcher - Session 1 (Table 12)
- April 8: Discussant: Supporting While Marginalized: Racial Realities and Institutional Responsibility in Student Affairs
- April 9: Author: Words That Win or Wither: How Message Framing and Ideology Beliefs Shape Campus Support for Racial Equity
- April 9: Author: Signals of Identity Safety: How Relational and Curricular Cues Shape Belonging for Graduate Students of Color
- April 10: Author: Examining the Varying Effects of Juvenile Arrest on College Enrollment for Racially/Ethnically Diverse Youth: The Role of School-Level Factors (Poster 3)
- April 10: Author: Words That Win or Wither: Framing Racial Equity Amid Ideological Resistance in Higher Education
- April 10: Author: DEI, Democracy, and the Authoritarian Threat: Why Higher Education Must Resist
- April 11: Author: Unpacking Discursive and Affective Functions of Whiteness to Construct a New Vision for Education Research
- April 8: Author: Ten Years of PASS Project: Reflections on a Longitudinal Research-to-Practice Study (Division J Vice Presidential Session)
- April 9: Discussant: Toward effective and equitable career-based learning: Multidisciplinary perspectives on the college-to-career transition
- April 12: Author: Better Supporting Contingent, VITAL Faculty: Insights from Previous Delphi Award Winners
- April 8: Author: Mixing Methods for Practical, Scholarly, and Theoretical Impact
- April 9: Author: Low-Income College Students’ Academic Success: Exploring the Role of Spatial Differences in Precollege Communities
- April 11: Author: Promoting Career Self-Efficacy among Low-Income College Students: A Mixed Methods Examination
- April 12: Author: Importance of Relational Closeness in Career Development for Students from Low-income Backgrounds
- April 8: Chair: Unveiling Campus Racial Realities: Faculty and Staff Voices from National Assessment of Collegiate Campus Climate Survey
- April 8: Author: Supporting While Marginalized: Racial Realities and Institutional Responsibility in Student Affairs
- April 8: Author: Examining faculty race-consciousness: Findings and Implications for Practice
- April 12: Author: Troubling Racial Climates in Teacher Education and Imagining Equitable Futures for Aspiring Teachers of Color
- April 11: Author: The Art of Becoming: Professional Identity Formation of Black Women in Medicine and Pharmacy
Diane Lee
- April 9: Author: Supporting Student Agency in Undergraduate Biomedical Education: An Online Agentic Orientation Intervention
- April 9: Author: Fostering STEM Persistence: Student Responses to an Agentic Orientation Intervention in Biomedical Science
- April 11: Discussant: Reframing Research, Identity, and Belonging in Global Higher Education for Asian International Students
- April 8: Author: Blueprints for Belonging: Black Students’ Aspirations and the Architecture of College Futures
Milie Majumder
- April 8: Author: Unforgetting Legal Precedent: Illuminating the Roots of Discrimination and Forging Equitable Futures in Education
- April 9: Author: Measuring Supply and Demand for Expanded Learning Programs
- April 11: Author: Procurement in the Age of Platforms: AI, Privatization, and Systemic Change in Urban School Districts
- April 11: Author: From Loose Coupling to Warm Embrace: Declining Enrollment and the Future of Urban Schools
Julie A. Marsh
- April 8: Author: From Courtrooms to Classrooms: The Politics of Reform (Table 7)
- April 8: Non-Presenting Author: California School Boards and Their Members’ Experiences in Dynamic Times
- April 8: Non-Presenting Author: The Tensions of Technological Shifts on School Board Governance and Practice
- April 8: Non-Presenting Author: Big P and Little P Politics: Contemporary and Enduring Challenges for K-12 School Board Members
- April 10: Author: Fractured Alliances: The Evolution of School Choice Advocacy Coalitions in the Era of School Vouchers
- April 11: Chair: Developing Political Leadership among K-12 Public School Leaders: Imagining a Future of Research-Based Tools
- April 11: Chair: School Boards, Local Democracy, and the Pursuit of Educational Justice
- April 12: Non-Presenting Author: Democracy For What and For Whom?: The Possibilities and Challenges of K-12 School Boards
Cassidy L. Martin
- April 9: Author: Creative Collaboration Across Differences: Ensemble Work for Abolition
- April 9: Author: Fostering STEM Persistence: Student Responses to an Agentic Orientation Intervention in Biomedical Science
- April 12: Author: Catalyzing an Orientation for Agency: The Development of an Intervention to Support Active Motivation
- April 8: Author: Performing Equity, Perpetuating Harm: Counternarratives of Black Staff on DEI and Anti-Blackness
- April 11: Author: Unpacking Discursive and Affective Functions of Whiteness to Construct a New Vision for Education Research (Stage 3, 2:44 PM)
- April 12: Author: Instruction by Proxy? Pedagogical Design, Faculty Agency, and the Uneven Work of Teaching with AI
- April 11: Author: Racializing Motivation: A Race-Reimaged Framework of Belonging, Emoting, and Achieving Within the STEM Education Context
- April 12: Author: Racial Stress and Its Impact on Mattering and Affirmation Among Students of Color at PWIs
- April 12: Author: Instruction by Proxy? Pedagogical Design, Faculty Agency, and the Uneven Work of Teaching with AI
- April 12: Author: Written Feedback as a Window into Teachers’ Mindset Beliefs in Elementary Mathematics
- April 10: Participant: Unforgetting Histories, Defending Futures: An Interactive Town Hall on Censorship and Democratic Schooling
- April 10: Participant: Division L Vice Presidential Session: The Politics of Possibility: Advancing Educational Equity for the Social Good
- April 11: Author: From Loose Coupling to Warm Embrace: Declining Enrollment and the Future of Urban Schools
- April 11: Participant: Advancing Justice through Transformation: Reflections on Institutional Leadership for Educational Futures
- April 11: Participant: Comedy as a Form of Joy and Rebellion in Times of Crisis
- April 12: Participant: The Life and Legacy of Dr. Ernest D. Morrell: A Call to Embrace Our Collective Oaths
Rodolfo Andy Nunez
- April 8: Author: Supporting While Marginalized: Racial Realities and Institutional Responsibility in Student Affairs
- April 8: Author: Performing Equity, Perpetuating Harm: Counternarratives of Black Staff on DEI and Anti-Blackness
- April 11: Author: Unpacking Discursive and Affective Functions of Whiteness to Construct a New Vision for Education Research
- April 12: Author: A “Racial Identity Shaped by Loss and Feeling Lost”: AfroLatine Student Experiences Navigating Identity Binarization
- April 10: Author: Fractured Alliances: The Evolution of School Choice Advocacy Coalitions in the Era of School Vouchers
- April 12: Author: Beyond the Ban: Contextualizing the Erasure of Black Student Voices in the Discourse on “Race-Neutral” Policies in Higher Education
- April 11: Discussant: Investigating Generative AI Use and Integration in International Contexts: Opportunities, Challenges, and Insights
- April 11: Author: Unforgetting Culturally Responsive K-12 Leadership Preparation in an Anti-DEI Era: A Narrative Self-Study
- April 12: Author: Troubling Racial Climates in Teacher Education and Imagining Equitable Futures for Aspiring Teachers of Color
- April 10: Author: Alternative Schools in the Era of School Choice: National Trends in Enrollment Over Three Decades
- April 10: Author: Did Broadband Internet Expansion Harm Student Achievement? Examining the Affordable Connectivity Program During the Pandemic
- April 8: Author: The Effect of Virtual Reality on Chemistry Laboratory Anxiety and Self-Efficacy (Poster 7)
- April 9: Author: Supporting Student Agency in Undergraduate Biomedical Education: An Online Agentic Orientation Intervention
- April 9: Author: Fostering STEM Persistence: Student Responses to an Agentic Orientation Intervention in Biomedical Science
- April 12: Author: Catalyzing an Orientation for Agency: The Development of an Intervention to Support Active Motivation
- April 12: Chair: e-Lightning Ed-Talk Session 23 - Stage 1
Morgan S. Polikoff
- April 11: Discussant: Data-Driven Approaches to Supporting Striving Learners in the Post-Pandemic Era
- April 9: Author: The Impact of Test-Optional Policies on the College Application Process and Academic Experiences Once Enrolled
- April 11: Author: Patterns in Literacy Curriculum Adoption and Low-SES Upper Elementary Reading Achievement: Preliminary Findings from California
- April 8: Discussant: Reimagining Epistemic Cognition for a Changing World: Knowing in an Age of Too Much Information
- April 12: Chair: e-Lightning Ed-Talk Session 20 - Stage 1
- April 12: Chair: Research-in-Progress RT066 (Sunday)
- April 10: Author: Alternative Schools in the Era of School Choice: National Trends in Enrollment Over Three Decades
- April 11: Author: Procurement in the Age of Platforms: AI, Privatization, and Systemic Change in Urban School Districts
Mariana de Franca Steil
- April 12: Authors: California School Board Members and Their Motivations to Run for Political Office
- April 8: Author: Mixing Methods for Practical, Scholarly, and Theoretical Impact
- April 12: Author: “Learning to Learn Better”: Metacognitive Self-Appraisal and Self-Management among Undergraduate Students
- April 8: Non-Presenting Author: The Tensions of Technological Shifts on School Board Governance and Practice
- April 12: Non-Presenting Author: Democracy For What and For Whom?: The Possibilities and Challenges of K-12 School Boards
- April 12: Authors: California School Board Members and Their Motivations to Run for Political Office
Joseph Vallin
- April 12: Author: Catalyzing an Orientation for Agency: The Development of an Intervention to Support Active Motivation
Amanda Vite
- April 9: Author: Supporting Student Agency in Undergraduate Biomedical Education: An Online Agentic Orientation Intervention
- April 9: Author: Fostering STEM Persistence: Student Responses to an Agentic Orientation Intervention in Biomedical Science
- April 10: Non-Presenting Author: Unpacking Cultural Cost: “I don’t see much culture, it’s all really just math, math, math”
- April 12: Author: Catalyzing an Orientation for Agency: The Development of an Intervention to Support Active Motivation
- April 10: Author: Understanding GenAI Beliefs of International Teachers in the US, India, Qatar, Colombia, and the Philippines (Poster 23)
Haishan Yang
- April 8: Discussant: Transnational Student Experiences within Higher Education: Developments and Possibilities
- April 9: Author: Crisis, Compliance, and Care: Institutional Belonging and International Student Mobility in U.S. Higher Education
- April 10: Author: Crafting Disruptions to Normativity in a Higher Education STEM Course
Nicole M. Yates
- April 12: Author: Catalyzing an Orientation for Agency: The Development of an Intervention to Support Active Motivation
- April 8: Author: The Effect of Virtual Reality on Chemistry Laboratory Anxiety and Self-Efficacy (Poster 7)
- April 9: Author: Supporting Student Agency in Undergraduate Biomedical Education: An Online Agentic Orientation Intervention
- April 9: Author: Fostering STEM Persistence: Student Responses to an Agentic Orientation Intervention in Biomedical Science
- April 12: Author: Catalyzing an Orientation for Agency: The Development of an Intervention to Support Active Motivation
This schedule was compiled by Jaclyn Diaz from the USC Rossier Research Office.
Featured Faculty
Pedro Noguera
- Distinguished Professor of Education
- Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean
Mary Helen Immordino-Yang
- Fahmy and Donna Attallah Chair in Humanistic Psychology
- Director, USC Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning and Education (candle.usc.edu)
- Professor of Education, Psychology & Neuroscience
- Brain & Creativity Institute; Rossier School of Education University of Southern California Member, U.S. National Academy of Education
Huriya Jabbar
- Professor
Royel M. Johnson, PhD
- Associate Professor
Julie Marsh
- Professor of Education
- Co-director of CEPEG
Morgan Polikoff
- Professor of Education
