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Q&A with Tyrone C. Howard: AERA President on the Power of Research and the Attacks on Public Education
By John McDonald
UCLA Professor of Education Tyrone C. Howard currently serves as president of the American Education Research Association (AERA) for 2023–2024. Howard, who is the Pritzker Family Endowed Chair of Education in the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies, the co-faculty director of the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools, and the founder and executive director of the Black Male Institute, will help to lead the international, interdisciplinary research association of 25,000-plus members, devoted to the scientific study of education and learning and working to advance knowledge about education.
Howard takes the reins of AERA during a time when public education, from K–12 to higher ed, is under attack from those that seek to deny the full exploration of history, restrict discussion about race and racism, and limit the rights of LGBTQ students and educators, among other efforts. These attacks have critical implications for research and learning, threatening the longstanding role schools and education have played in the furtherance of civic life and democracy.
UCLA Ed&IS Magazine sat down with Professor Howard to learn about his role as AERA president and his priorities for the coming year.
UCLA Ed&IS: As you start your tenure as AERA president, what are some of the issues that will be a priority for you?
TYRONE HOWARD: I’m going to have to temper myself, because I’ve only got a year as president of AERA, but a couple of buckets of priorities come to mind. One is a focus around dismantling racial injustice. In this moment right now, there is so much happening in this country in terms of racial inequities where education is at the center. I want us to have a larger nationwide and maybe even global discussion, asking questions tied to racial injustice in education, from preschool all the way to higher education. As researchers, we should be thinking about racial justice when it comes to our methods or theories, we should be thinking about it when it comes to the kinds of communities that we work in, the questions we ask, and the policies we advocate for, because our nation is becoming increasingly diverse with each passing day, yet the persistence of racism remains strong.
A second bucket I want to talk about is the political moment we are living in. This political moment is making a lot of people uncomfortable. And that discomfort manifests itself in lots of ways. For example, the banning of books, the anti-CRT misinformation that’s been happening, the anti-LGBTQ+ legislation happening across the country … in some ways all those acts are forms of resistance to change, with education at its center point.
I see this manifesting as attacks on public education. It’s not labeled or stated that way, but when people start to say, “we don’t want certain parts of American history taught, we don’t want certain issues to be discussed,” it’s really about changing the purpose and function of public education. We need to have a conversation about public education and lift up how and what we do to ensure that we defend and we fight to protect public education, and how teachers teach and what students are learning. Public education is supposed to be a core staple in a democratic society. And once you begin to let attacks on public education take place, you’re almost inviting public attacks on your democracy to follow.
One other thing is that there are minority serving institutions that I want to do a better job of engaging in the work of AERA. For years, I’ve talked to folks from historically Black colleges and universities who ask, “Why aren’t we more present in this organization?” or folks from Hispanic Serving Institutions saying, “How can we get on the program?” or those from Native American serving institutions who say, “You know, you don’t think about us.” That needs to change. We’re trying to put our heads together around how we can have greater engagement from those faculty and students who are at minority serving institutions, to give them a place where they see AERA as an organizational and intellectual home.
Ed&IS: One of the things you’ve said is that if research isn’t going to have an impact, why do it? What do you mean by that, and what are the implications for AERA?
HOWARD: In this past year’s AERA presidential address, Rich Milner, who is a very important voice in education, spoke about the importance of consequential research. What I take from that is that we should be asking ourselves, are we having an impact in a real way?
The kind of research I’m thinking about for example, is the work of John Hattie, a professor at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, who among other things, studies small class sizes. Hattie’s work is impactful because he says, let’s not just look at this on the surface level by saying small class size makes a difference with student learning. Let’s also ask what are the features that need to be in place. Hattie found that it’s not just small class size, but that teachers have modified their teaching approaches to be clear about the objectives and goals that they’re going to teach, they have ongoing support, and have specialized interventions in place. Hattie’s laid out four core aspects that need to come along with smaller class sizes.
That’s impactful research, because teachers can take that and apply that, and they can begin to see how educational outcomes can improve for students. We need to make an impact on helping to reduce the number of students living in poverty, focus on supporting young people in foster care, and looking at why so many young people are unhoused. And, consider that in each of these categories, they are disproportionately made up of students of color. Race, once again, is key to these realities. Impact work cannot avoid the effects of structural racism.
Ed&IS: What is its importance and how do you build on its capacity to address the critical issues public education faces right now?
HOWARD: AERA is important for a number of reasons. First, public education is critically important. And we need organizations and bodies that are going to continue to fight for it and uphold all the promises that public education is supposed to deliver.
Secondly, AERA serves as an intellectual home for 25,000 people who study education, research, policy, and practice. That intellectual home is important for a variety of reasons. Let me give you a couple. I have the good fortune of working at a place like UCLA where I have colleagues who are supportive. I’ve had colleagues who have served as mentors for me, and I’ve always felt in my 22, 23 years here that there are people who value, support, and respect my work. But the more I talk to folks at other places, that’s not always the case. There are folks who say, “My workplace is hostile, I don’t have supportive colleagues, I’ve struggled to get tenure because people don’t really respect my work.” And AERA in some ways, becomes that place where folks can come together and feel supported, and understand that there are people who want them to be successful.
And then third, AERA is an important place to learn about the work that’s happening across the world. When it comes to education, sometimes we’re in our own little bubbles in our respective cities or institutions. AERA is a learning community. A learning community where you can learn and understand a lot of the things that are going on in other parts of the world. And there are some things that are happening that are impactful. Things that we should be looking at and asking, can we replicate this? How do we lift this up and amplify this work so that people know about it? Because it’s making an impact.
Ed&IS: It seems there are critical education issues playing out in our politics and policy discussions now. Does AERA need to have a stronger voice on those issues?
HOWARD: That’s a great question. I don’t want our work as researchers to just be theoretical and abstract and disconnected from day-to-day practice. We need to have an impact. I think we can be a bigger, better voice. But it’s a challenge. I’m going to try to use this pulpit, for whatever it’s worth, to bring issues that I care about to the forefront and try to create an inclusive tent and show that these are things we should all be concerned about. For example, when I think about the attacks on public education, on what’s happening with attacks on schools, books, and curriculum, I think that’s something we should all be concerned about and doing something about. I don’t think that AERA can be soft or off to the side on this. I want it to be talked about on Capitol Hill and in state houses and school districts, and I want them to say, “Well, the president or the executive director for the American Education Research Association has said this, they’ve taken this stance.” I think neutrality has no place if we’re going to be viable in this work.
It’s not even so much the specific things we might speak to, but that we have this giant group of researchers doing important work, and that work needs to inform the debate. And in some instances, we should be leading the debate, because we’ve got some incredibly smart people who have done critical research on these topics.
AERA is a learning community. A learning community where you can learn and understand a lot of the things that are going on in other parts of the world. And there are some things that are happening that are impactful. Things that we should be looking at and asking, can we replicate this? How do we lift this up and amplify this work so that people know about it? Because it’s making an impact.
Ed&IS: As you think about the year ahead, is there a research issue or project that you want to shine a light on as AERA president?
HOWARD: There are so many, but here are a couple. This past year in Chicago, we had these youth student groups who came to present student research. They were phenomenal. I want to expand on that, I want to hear from student voices, hear more youth perspectives. I feel like sometimes we talk about young people, but we don’t listen to young people. I’d like to see us create really high-profile sessions where young people who are experiencing schools firsthand, talk to us about what they think we should be asking about and the work we should be doing. I also want to continue to hear from K–12 teachers, and to have more teachers at the AERA annual meeting.
Those two things are tied to this larger focus on having a conversation about race. That’s the main thing I want to discuss, how we talk about race in this country when it comes to educational opportunities, because it has always been there, and it is not going away. And as we are becoming more diverse, it requires our real, honest, and thoughtful time and attention.
Ed&IS: You received the AERA Social Justice Award this year and, in your acceptance speech, you talked about the pursuit of justice. What’s the role of AERA and its members in that pursuit?
HOWARD: We need to be bold about it, to be unapologetic about it, to talk about it, and when there are issues of justice that come about in the educational landscape, we need to weigh in on them.
We have to ask ourselves how we can position AERA and its members to be much more visible and viable in ways that makes people say, “Wow, when they say something, we’ve got to listen.” We may not lean in with dollars, but we can and should lean in with our research and our voice to say, “This is what we know, and this what we think.” And if we’re being honest, we need to think about and change the way we share our work. Academics get rewarded for publishing our work in journals. That’s important, but the public and policymakers do not read education research journals. We need to do a better job of sharing our research and ideas with the news media and through social media.
I’d like to see us create really highprofile sessions where young people who are experiencing schools firsthand, talk to us about what they think we should be asking about and the work we should be doing. I also want to continue to hear from K–12 teachers, and to have more teachers at the AERA annual meeting.
Ed&IS: This is clearly a fraught time for education. Are you the right guy at the right time to lead AERA?
HOWARD: I think so and let me tell you why. When you get a little older, you get to a point in life where some of our filters fall by the wayside and our willingness to be risk takers becomes a little greater. I think about the kind of schools and the kind of world I want my kids and my grandkids to live in one day, and if I can make any small contribution to making this world a little bit better, then I think that makes it all worthwhile.
I’m a product of public schools in working class communities. I’m living proof of what can happen when it is done right. But unfortunately, I’m the exception, not the norm, and I want my story to be the norm. So, I’m willing to weigh in, and I’m going to say some things that folks don’t want to hear and that sometimes make folks uncomfortable. That’s why I think I’m the right person, because we’re in a very perilous time in lots of ways when it comes to education. And you’ve got to have folks who are a little bit more courageous to say some things and maybe bring issues of justice that I care about to the fore.
