The American Educational Research Association (AERA) held its annual meeting, April 5–9, 2019, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The proceedings featured many notable contributions from faculty and students of the Johns Hopkins School of Education.
Of particular note, Bob Slavin, PhD, director of the Center for Research and Reform in Education (CRRE) and the Success for All Foundation, was honored with the AERA’s Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education Award for his lifetime of work in the field. The award is the AERA’s highest distinction and is intended to promote “models of education research at its best.”
Slavin was recognized for his remarkable scholarly contributions, including authoring more than 350 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and publishing no fewer than 26 complete books. In its commentary, the AERA noted that Slavin’s research “addressed many important and timely topics in education,” including cooperative learning, comprehensive school reform, desegregation, and other evidence-based reforms.
“This is an incredible honor for Bob and I know you join me in congratulating him,” said Christopher Morphew, PhD, dean of the School of Education.
In addition, 27 faculty members from the School of Education made presentations at the conference on topics ranging from social justice and detracking racially diverse schools to the effects of school-based vision care on student performance.
Notable among them, Assistant Professor James Diamond, PhD, an expert on digital media in learning, and three co-authors, were recognized with the SIG Design and Technology Best Paper Award for their proposal: “Building a Better Dashboard: Evidence-Based Design Principles for an Educative Dashboard for Learning Games.”
Diamond and colleagues then gave a well-received presentation about their paper exploring the ways game-based learning technologies are affecting educational decision making, teacher professional growth, and curriculum development.
Likewise, Toni Ungaretti, PhD, an assistant professor and developer of the Master of Education in the Health Professions program, chaired the Teaching and Learning Community Meeting at the AERA conference. It was a symposium on academic techniques for evaluating advanced degree programs and featured a panel of internationally recognized experts.
Joining the distinguished faculty, two graduate students in the MEHP program, Priyanka Dwivedi, MA, and Michael Banks, MD, presented recent papers. Dwivedi’s looked at integrating quality control in residency applicant scoring, and a paper authored by Banks assessed the effect of postgraduate physicians’ mindsets on their education and professional collaborations.
In addition, six doctoral students in the School presented posters. Their research included, among other things, a study of the relationship between concussion and high school dropout rates, another on teacher perceptions on the importance of school order, and a look at the effect of turnover in math teachers on school culture.
And last, but not least, Assistant Professor Rachel Durham_, PhD, co-director of research at the Baltimore Education Research Consortium (BERC), was appointed secretary of the leadership team of AERA’s Division H_. The division is committed to supporting scholarly presentations and publications, professional growth and recognition, and enhancing communication, outreach, and networking among members in the interest of the public good. Durham’s two-year term on the begins in May 2020. James Diamond has been elected secretary of the Technology, Instruction, Cognition and Learning SIG.
