American Educational Research Association

Mission

The mission of AERA is to influence the field of education in three major ways: (1) increasing knowledge about education, (2) promoting educational research, and (3) encouraging the use of educational research results to make education better and thereby improve the common good.

History

AERA publicizes its founding as taking place in 1916. However, its roots have been traced back to the beginnings of the educational administration research area and the school survey movement, both of which took place in the 1910s. This new spirit of cooperation between university researchers and public schools led eight individuals to found the National Association of Directors of Educational Research (NADER) as an interest group within the National Education Association's Department of Superintendence in February 1915. With the creation of its first organizational constitution in 1916, NADER committed itself to the improvement of public education through applied research. NADER's two goals were to organize educational research centers at public educational settings and to promote the use of appropriate educational measures and statistics in educational research. Full membership in this new organization was restricted to individuals who directed research bureaus, although others involved in educational research could join as associate members. NADER produced its first publication, Educational Research Bulletin, in 1916. Within 3 years from its founding, its membership had almost quadrupled, to 36 full members. In 1919, two of the founders of NADER started producing a new journal, the Journal of Educational Research, soon to be adopted by NADER as an official publication.

With the growth in educational research programs in the late 1910s to early 1920s, NADER revised its constitution in 1921 to allow full membership status for anyone involved in conducting and producing educational research, by invitation only, after approval from the executive committee. To better display this change in membership makeup, the group changed its name in 1922 to the Educational Research Association of America. This shift allowed for a large increase in membership, which grew to 329 members by 1931. Members were approximately two thirds from a university background and one third from the public schools. In 1928, the organization changed its name once more, becoming the American Educational Research Association (AERA).

After a brief uproar among AERA membership involving the ownership of the Journal of Educational Research, AERA decided to affiliate itself with the National Education Association in 1930, gaining Washington, D.C., offices and support for AERA's proposed new journal, the Review of Educational Research. AERA underwent several changes during the 1930s. Besides the creation of the new journal, AERA decided to affiliate with other professional groups that shared common interests, such as the National Committee on Research in Secondary Education and the National Council of Education. The recognition of superior research articles at an annual awards ceremony was established in 1938, although the awards ceremony was disbanded for many years starting in 1942. By 1940, AERA membership stood at 496.

...