Growing Communities for Purpose: Adaptability and Scalability in Education Justice Work

Session Type: Invited Roundtable

Abstract

This Presidential Session invites educators, researchers, and community leaders to critically examine what it means to expand educational work without compromising purpose, integrity, or local relevance. Rooted in the AERA 2026 theme of Unforgetting Histories and Imagining Futures, the session highlights how communities have long organized for educational justice and how these histories can guide adaptable, future-facing models of change. Using interactive roundtables, participants will engage in dialogue and reflection that center the ethical and political dimensions of scalability: whose values are preserved, whose knowledge is centered, and how growth can remain accountable to community voices. The session’s intent is to model participatory research and collective sensemaking that sustains justice while shaping transformative futures in education.

Sub Unit

• AERA Presidential Session

Chair

• Kira J. Carbonneau, Washington State University

Papers

• Community-Based Education Initiatives - Terri N. Watson, City College of New York - CUNY

• Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) - Danielle R. Filipiak, Michigan State University

• Place-Based or Rural Education - Imogen Herrick, University of Kansas

• Early Childhood Community Partnerships - Shannon B. Wanless, University of Pittsburgh

• Indigenous- or Tribal Nation-led Educational Models - Jingjing Sun, University of Montana

• Higher Education and Institutional Change - Katherine C. Rodela, Washington State University

• Educational Research and Methodology for Purposeful Scaling - Kevin Kumashiro, Independent Consultant

• Educational Technology/AI Education - Tingting Li, Washington State University

Discussants

• Kakali Bhattacharya, University of Florida

• Rita Kohli, University of California - Riverside

• Danny C. Martinez, University of California - Davis