SUBMIT A PROPOSAL TO THE 18TH ANNUAL MERC CONFERENCE

The Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium (MERC) in the School of Education at Virginia Commonwealth University invites proposals for its 18th annual conference under the theme The Promise of Public Education: Connecting Research, Policy, and Practice in a New Era. The conference will take place on October 22, 2021 virtually using the Hopin.to platform. We welcome proposals from a broad range of individuals invested in public education, including PK-12 school division-based researchers (students, teachers, school leaders, and other PK12 educators) and university-based researchers (faculty and graduate students). Collaborative works are encouraged, although individual submissions will also receive consideration. Proposals may include:

● School-based research and reflective practice

● University-based community engaged research

● Division-wide or regional school improvement research initiatives

● Participatory action research

● Research partnerships between schools, community, and universities

Presentations can include reports of findings from completed projects, discussions of work in progress, reviews of existing research literature, or classroom practices used to solve identified problems. The information below details the conference theme, collective goals, presentation formats, and the process for submitting proposals. Accepted proposals will receive discounted admission to the conference. 

All submissions will be reviewed by the MERC Conference Planning Committee comprised of representatives from the VCU School of Education, Chesterfield County Public Schools, Goochland County Public Schools, Hanover County Public Schools, Henrico County Public Schools, Petersburg City Public Schools, Powhatan County Public Schools, and Richmond Public Schools. The committee will also develop the program by bringing together presentations on similar topics together within sessions, consistent with the mission of MERC to draw connections across research, policy, and practice.