03 Mar2020

Call for Proposals, Reviewers for 2021 AACTE Annual Meeting

“Resisting Hate, Restoring Hope: Engaging in Courageous Actions”

Now through May 27, AACTE is accepting session proposals for the 73rd Annual Meeting, to be held in Seattle, WA, February 26 – 28, 2021. We also invite applications by May 13 for AACTE member faculty to review proposals.

The conference theme is “Resisting Hate, Restoring Hope: Engaging in Courageous Actions,” conceptualized as follows in the call for proposals:

Collectively, we are losing traction in our democracy and experiencing reversals in the civil and human rights that leaders such as Cesar Chavez, Delores Huerta, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and Harvey Milk all fought to advance. Children are being educated in an environment fraught with violence on our school campuses and in our communities. They are assaulted by guns, words, and legislation that create an unsafe, hateful, and fearful climate. We are living in a time when children are taken from their families, retained in deplorable circumstances, and denied access to basic needs and education. The term “all” seems to only mean some, and people who speak out against these injustices are attacked by words and actions.

As educators, our unique lens allows us the opportunity to witness, document, and take action against these inequities in real time. We know efforts exist to mobilize teachers, administrators, counselors, and psychologists to address issues related to trauma associated with violence, forced separation of immigrant families, disparate policing policies, and intolerance to the LGB and Trans* community. We also know that people of color, students with disabilities, and individuals from low-income communities are disproportionately impacted by punitive classroom and disciplinary practices. These individuals have unequal access to high quality teachers, which is the best predictor of school success. Apathy and complacency have allowed de facto segregation along racial, ethnic, linguistic, ability, geographic, and socio-economic lines at levels that exceed legally-enforced segregation policies of the past, thus entrenching inequalities in schools.

In our profession, we have long realized the strength, beauty, and power of local communities. However, we must continue to promote ways to raise consciousness and use our professional knowledge to collectively build upon these assets. It is time that we, as educators, become the driving force to lead collaboratively in addressing the challenges facing PK-20 students and the communities in which they live. As individuals and as part of a professional community, we must set aside our differences and apply our collective wisdom to establish a new paradigm in educator preparation. The imperative is ours to create an empowered mindset, to renew democracy, and to respond to an entrenched system of inequities and fear. We must dig deep to resist hate, and restore hope, by Engaging in Courageous Actions.

By participating in the 2021 AACTE Annual Meeting, you join a united effort to disrupt inequities while educating for inclusion and change. Proposals are invited that explore research, innovative practice, community partnerships, activism, and advocacy that demonstrate strategies for resisting hate and restoring hope. How can teacher preparation engage in courageous actions that infuse equity and inclusivity, renew democracy, conceptualize practices for establishing a sustainable and diverse profession, and demonstrate successful partnerships and collaborations that advance clinical partnerships and promote community engagement? In addition to the sociocultural frameworks that are commonly utilized, we also welcome the application of Critical Race Theory (CRT), DisCrit, LatCrit, indigenous methodologies, womanism, queer theory, ableism, and other frameworks not commonly represented in educator preparation work.

Session proposals should address this theme with a focus on one of the four strands listed below: