Futuring Through Plática: Graduate Student Dialogues on Identity, Practice, and Possibility in Evaluation

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Thursday 7:45am
  In Poster Session: Liberatory Evaluation Practices: Utilization, Identity, and Community in Educational Research

Abstract

This session explores how culturally and linguistically diverse graduate students in a multi-institutional evaluation lab use pláticas (Fierros & Bernal, 2016) —dialogic, decolonial conversations—to reflect on identity, mentorship, and equity in research. Drawing on Community Cultural Wealth Yosso, 2005) as a conceptual framework, students examine how their lived experiences shape their approaches to evaluation and resist dominant, extractive norms. Centering relationality and critical reflection, pláticas function as both methodology and intervention, offering spaces for healing, knowledge-sharing, and future-making. This session explores how students use community and cultural intuition to navigate academic systems, imagine more just evaluation practices, and contribute meaningfully to liberatory research traditions. This work aligns with the AERA 2026 theme by honoring past struggles and imagining thriving educational futures.

Authors

• Ashley Coughlin, Arizona State University

• Mohammed Ibrahim, Arizona State University

• Blessing Akinrotimi, Washington State University

• Sandra Nabulega, Arizona State University

• Ayesha Boyce, Arizona State University