NEERO 2027 Conference
Call for Submissions
March 30-31, 2027
Portland, ME
THEME: Crossing Educational Boarders, Expanding our Connections
Education has always been shaped by the movement of people, ideas, cultures, and knowledge across borders. We interpret "borders" broadly to include disciplinary, institutional, professional, cultural, methodological, and experiential boundaries. Today's educators and researchers work in an increasingly interconnected world, where local challenges are influenced by global forces and where innovation often emerges through dialogue across differences. Whether those differences are geographic, cultural, linguistic, disciplinary, or experiential, they invite us to broaden our perspectives and deepen our understanding of education's possibilities.
Inspired by the American Educational Research Association's 2027 theme, Transcending Borders and Boundaries in Education Research: Toward a Beloved Global Community, NEERO's conference explores how educational inquiry can bridge divides, foster meaningful collaboration, and contribute to a more just, inclusive, and connected future. As a regional organization, NEERO recognizes that our work is rooted in the communities of New England while remaining connected to conversations taking place across the nation and around the world.
**New Submission Platform**
This year we will be using Oxford Abstracts.
Our conference provides a forum where local experiences inform broader educational questions, where global and national perspectives enrich regional practice, and where diverse voices come together to examine the opportunities and challenges facing education today.
We welcome proposals that explore questions such as:
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In what ways might our systems and practices change through partnerships that connect communities across geographic, institutional, or cultural boundaries?
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How can research and practice inform one another in ways that improve learning and educational opportunity?
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What can we learn when educators, researchers, students, families, and communities engage as partners in inquiry?
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How might collaboration across disciplines, institutions, and sectors generate new approaches to persistent educational challenges?
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What methods, perspectives, and partnerships expand how we understand educational research and its impact?
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In what ways do practices and policies engage new perspectives and address challenges?
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How do we prepare the next generation of educators, researchers, and leaders to engage in collaborative, ethically grounded scholarship?
We encourage submissions representing the full breadth of educational inquiry and practice, including quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, program evaluation, arts-based, participatory, design-based, improvement-focused, and practitioner research. We welcome scholarship from early childhood, P–12 education, higher education, community organizations, informal learning environments, and policy contexts, as well as work that demonstrates how local research can contribute to broader conversations within the field.
NEERO also recognizes that educational knowledge is strengthened when it is informed by multiple perspectives. We invite proposals from researchers, classroom teachers, school and district leaders, instructional coaches, higher education faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, policymakers, community organizations, and others whose work contributes to educational inquiry and improvement. Together, these perspectives help us better understand both the diversity of educational experiences and the shared challenges that connect us.
This conference provides an opportunity to reconnect, renew collaborations, welcome new voices, and imagine together the future of educational research in, and beyond, New England. Whether your work examines educational issues within your own community or reaches across national, cultural, or disciplinary borders, your scholarship contributes to a richer and more connected understanding of education.
Together, let us embrace the opportunities that emerge when we learn across borders, engage across differences, and work collectively to advance educational research that serves learners, educators, and communities—both within New England and throughout our interconnected world.
A vital aspect to NEERO is providing a forum for novice and expert researchers, students, professors, policymakers, teachers, consultants, and activists to come together to share research and engage in critical dialogue. We invite undergraduate students, graduate students, practitioners, institutional researchers, faculty, classroom teachers, policymakers, community organizers, and activists to submit proposals for the NEERO 2027 Annual Conference.
Conference Strands
Curriculum & Instruction
For each annual meeting, NEERO welcomes submissions for papers, posters, symposia, and research-in-progress roundtable presentations. When you submit your proposal, you will be asked to identify the content as relevant to one of the following eight topic areas.
The Curriculum and Instruction strand targets research-based practices that consider equity and inclusivity as central tenets to the development and implementation of innovative curriculum and pedagogical practices across the lifespan. Global competencies, experiential and place-based learning, curriculum design/revision, technology as curriculum and pedagogy as well as policy studies at the school, district and regional level are pivotal in the exploration of this strand.
Diversity & Sociocultural Perspectives
The Diversity & Sociocultural Perspectives strand accepts conference proposals that explore the social, cultural, personal, structural, and systemic aspects of diverse communities in America, with the objective of developing a critical understanding of the issues that arise in the schooling of emergent bilingual, immigrant, special education, first-generation communities, etc. Topics addressed include the socio-political, economic, legal, philosophical, and pedagogical perspectives. Specifically, it reviews issues in the following broad categories: program design, curriculum and instruction, non-school factors affecting achievement, de-culturation, assimilation and acculturation, assessment, the appropriate education of special populations (migrants, refugees, and students with special education needs or limited formal schooling), and the relation to the above topics (e.g. access to appropriate assessment, access to technology, access to high-quality instruction, access to graduation, etc.).
Higher Education
The Higher Education strand accepts conference proposals that explore the social, cultural, personal, structural, and systemic aspects of higher education. Topics addressed within this strand include, for example: issues of access, equity and diversity; trends in early college, undergraduate and graduate programming; curricular and pedagogical assessment; administration; institutional reform; leadership; professional development; international studies programs; study abroad; and student learning. The strand seeks proposals that present rigorous qualitative, quantitative, conceptual, and mixed methods designs from a variety of theoretical frameworks that explore all levels of postsecondary education and programming as well as institutional types (e.g. community colleges, land grant, tribal, virtual, public, private, etc.).
Human Development & Learning
The Human Development and Learning strand seeks proposals that examine learning and human development in community-based, PreK-12 and postsecondary contexts. Proposals in this strand should address topics related to cognition, emotion, and motivation across the lifespan, and examine the interaction between human development and learning processes, and their ecological, cultural, and social influences. The strand welcomes proposals that are empirical or conceptual in nature, and that utilize clearly presented theoretical frameworks, and rigorous methodological design (e.g. qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches).
Leadership, Policy & Educational Reform
The Leadership, Policy and Educational Reform strand accepts proposals that investigate or explore concepts and ideas that relate to leadership practices, policies effecting education, or research pertaining to reform initiatives with an emphasis on Pre-K-12 education. Examples of concepts proposed in the past include, leadership actions designed for specific demographics or populations, leadership initiatives targeted to increase performance, reviews of the effect policy has on specific groups or organizations, recommendations for policy revision, as well as the effects of reform initiatives on the institution, groups or individuals. Proposals have included international studies as well as local and national investigations. The strand seeks proposals that present rigorous qualitative, quantitative, conceptual, and mixed methods designs from a variety of theoretical frameworks that explore all levels of education and programming as well as institutional types (e.g. virtual, public, private, etc.).
Measurement, Assessment, Evaluation, & Research Methods
The Measurement, Assessment, Evaluation & Research Methods strand encourages submissions that present innovative research on any of these areas. Examples of topics related to measurement and assessment include but are not limited to item and test development, current uses of assessment data, scale development, and application of psychometric models. This strand also encourages proposals that showcase results of evaluation studies including, for example, evaluation of educational policies or programs (at any scale). Issues explored by educational researchers are often complex and ever-evolving, thus requiring innovative and nuanced research methods. This strand also welcomes submissions that propose and discuss innovative research approaches (both qualitative and quantitative) or innovative applications of common methodologies.
Professional Development
Professional development (PD) is central to the career of researchers and educators. As such, PD strand serves as means for the sharing of tools, resources, and information aimed at continuous improvement of one’s career, research, and education. Examples of PD include but are not limited to ongoing informal and formal training, participation in professional organizations, enrollment in graduate programs, and conducting research. The PD Strand welcomes research that utilizes a variety of quantitative, qualitative, and/or mixed methods as well as direct and indirect measures to analyze professional development experiences. In addition, this PD strand values the role of technology in such experiences as well as the new developments in the field and ways to improve existing skills.
Teaching and Teacher Education
The Teaching and Teacher Education strand is oriented toward research on the development and preparation of preservice and inservice teachers at all levels, and in a variety of settings. Topics that are a good fit for the TTE strand include research on: impacts of methods course strategies/assignments, discerning and developing teacher dispositions, candidate growth through field-based experiences, faculty examination of educator preparation practices, implementation of culturally sustaining practices or other frameworks (e.g. UDL, SEL as explicated by CASEL) in teacher education and professional development, and understanding the impact of education initiatives or policy on the contexts of teaching and teacher education
Technology in Education
The Technology in Education strand seeks proposals focused on technology in learning environments and assessment. Research proposals can include, but are not limited to, technology’s role in curriculum, instruction, and assessments; how educational environments are leveraging technology to improve student engagement, motivation, and learning; and individual technology pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK). Additionally, proposals can address the application, analysis, and effectiveness of pedagogical approaches made possible by technology and how equitable access to educational technology, digital content, and technology can enhance learning opportunities to meet the diverse needs of all learners. Other suggested proposals can include research on innovations related to digital assessments as well as the research and application of instructional design principles to create innovative digital learning environments that engage and support learning. The strand welcomes empirical or conceptual proposals that clearly represent theoretical frameworks and rigorous methodological design, such as qualitative, quantitative, mixed-method approaches, and conceptual analysis.
Practitioner Sessions
The Practitioner Sessions strand recognizes practitioners as generators of professional knowledge and creates dedicated opportunities for educators to bring the expertise developed through their practice into conversation with the NEERO community. Rather than being defined by a particular educational topic, this strand welcomes practitioner-focused work across the full range of areas represented at the conference, with particular emphasis on the knowledge, questions, and innovations that emerge from educational practice. Practitioner Sessions include two presentation formats: Pedagogical Innovation Presentations, through which practitioners share research-informed innovations they have implemented and examined in their own settings; and Problem of Practice Roundtables, which provide a collaborative space for practitioners to bring dilemmas, areas of inquiry, or emerging ideas to colleagues for discussion and collective learning. Through these formats, NEERO seeks to strengthen reciprocal relationships between research and practice while creating a conference community in which practitioner knowledge and expertise are valued, shared, and used to advance educational inquiry.
Highlights from our last annual conference in 2025!
Read Below for Highlights from NEERO 2025 Conference
Wednesday, March 26 - 28th, 2025,
Sheraton Portsmouth Harborside Hotel, Portsmouth, NH
Please click here to view NEERO's 2025 Conference published program.
Awards
Early Career Achievement
The purpose of the award, established in 2012 in memory of Dr. Kim Fries, is to recognize the work of NEERO members who have demonstrated distinction in the early part of their professional careers.
John Schmitt Award
Outstanding Research at the Graduate Level
This award is presented for outstanding research at the graduate level. To be eligible the candidate must be an individual presenting at the NEERO Annual Conference who is currently enrolled in an advanced degree program, OR who is presenting a paper-based upon a thesis or dissertation that was completed during his or her graduate study in the past year.
Charlie Depascale Graduate Student Conference Award
Graduate Student Conference Award
Established in 2020 to celebrate Dr. Charlie DePascale's contributions to NEERO and lifelong commitment to supporting emerging researchers, the Charlie DePascale Graduate Student Conference Award will be awarded to two graduate students who actively attend the NEERO Annual Meeting. Selected individuals will be granted a non-cash award for the conference fee to attend the subsequent Annual Meeting.
Best Paper
The James J. Rubovits award honors the best paper presented during the NEERO annual conference. All attendees can nominate a paper during the conference, and winners are notified before the following year's conference.