2026 Social Justice in Education Award

• In Event: 2026 AERA Awards Ceremony and Luncheon

Abstract

It is with tremendous honor that we recognize Dr. Angela Valenzuela with the 2026 AERA Social Justice in Education Award. For over three decades, Dr. Valenzuela has been an unwavering force for educational justice on behalf of Mexican American and other students of color. The timelessness and timeliness of her work could not be more profound—in an era of book bans, dismantled DEI initiatives, and sustained attacks on ethnic studies, she has stood firmly at the front lines, testifying before the Texas legislature, co-founding Black Brown Dialogues on Policy, and directing the Texas Center for Education Policy. Her groundbreaking Subtractive Schooling: U.S.-Mexican Youth and the Politics of Caring remains a foundational text, and from the grassroots work of Academia Cuauhtli to her national Grow-Your-Own educator pipeline, Dr. Valenzuela's scholarship lives in community. She is, in every sense, a scholar-activist whose life's work is inseparable from the people she serves.

Authors

• Angela Valenzuela, University of Texas at Austin

• Denise M. Taliaferro Baszile, Wayne State University