2025 Early Career Award Lecture: Research at the Intersection of Law and Education Policy: Conditions, Strategies, and Mechanisms that Shape Educational Equity

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

Restrictive law and policy contexts have increasingly become the norm across the U.S. In this lecture, I draw attention to how systemic contexts shape educational (in)equity. I draw attention to two interrelated areas. First, I discuss how law and education policy are mechanisms that have over time shifted the discretionary bounds for practitioners, establishing restrictive conditions that hinder educational equity for students who have experienced substantial adversity. Second, I discuss how research use operates as a strategy and mechanism that informs educational equity policy debates in courts and policymaking contexts. I conclude with potential pathways to shape and leverage conditions, strategies, and conditions in furtherance of educational equity.

Sub Unit

• AERA Sessions

Chair

• Bryan A. Brown, Stanford University

Presenter

• Raquel Muñiz, Boston College