Conference: Thursday, October 1st and Friday, October 2nd, 4-6pm ET via Zoom
Abstracts due: Friday, August 28th at 11:59pm PT via THIS LINK
Register: Register via THIS LINK – note that registration is free, but we invite you to make a donation if you are able!
Conference Theme: Taking Stock: The Past, Present, and Future of Schooling in the United States (see the full Call for Proposals)
The shifting landscape of schooling in the United States is increasingly undeniable. The current era of accelerated change requires education researchers to reckon with an ever-growing list of considerations, including the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the politicization of curricula and programming, the erosion of federal funding, the oncoming demographic decline of traditional college-age students, the rising costs of a postsecondary degree and increased skepticism about its benefits, and the explosion of generative artificial intelligence technologies and what they mean for the future of work. Given these fundamental transformations, now is an appropriate time to reexamine the foundational assumptions of our discipline. Our reevaluation can surface existing concepts and theories that help explain contemporary schooling, while simultaneously identifying new frontiers for research and novel possibilities for education. For this year’s fall mini-conference, SEA invites proposals that explicitly address the rapidly changing landscape of education, interrogating both the systems at play and how we think about them. In particular, we ask: In what ways can the sociology of education help us to understand how we have arrived at the present moment, and how can it guide us in imagining the future of schooling in the United States? We invite both theoretical and empirical contributions and encourage submissions that expand the diversity of methods, evidence, and theoretical foundations shaping our field.
Submission information: Abstracts should be no longer than two double-spaced pages in length (12 pt font), not including references. Abstracts will be evaluated based on 1) fit with the conference theme, 2) appropriateness of data and method in answering the research question, 3) contribution to the Sociology of Education, 4) importance of social problem, and 5) whether the research will be ready by the conference date. In addition, we will prioritize graduate students and first-time SEA presenters.
Submit your abstract here. Questions? Email Fall Conference Program Chairs, Alex Parker (aparke70@jh.edu) and Karin Yndestad (karinyndestad2025@u.northwestern.edu)
Sociology of Education Association 