Reimagining Pathways for Educational Equity in School-University Partnerships
The primary aim of this special issue on reimagining pathways for educational equity is to increase understanding of the challenges and opportunities, innovative approaches, findings, and implications for policies and practices from school-university partnerships advancing educational equity in the face of political polarization, culturally divisive conflict, and federal, state, and local measures that restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in PK-12 schools, colleges, and universities.
Over 800 anti-CRT measures have been introduced in 44 states since 2020 and 41% of teachers surveyed in a 2024 Pew Research Center report said the current debates about teaching topics like race and gender identity have negatively impacted their job. According to PEN America, over 10,000 instances of book bans occurred across the U.S. during the 2023-24 school year. These numbers reflect a historic rise in censorship-based activism, nearly doubling the total bans recorded in the previous two school years combined.
As the nation recovers from a turbulent election year, some experts estimate that culturally divisive conflict over education issues has cost local public schools approximately $3.2 billion in the 2023-24 school year due to increased security measures, legal fees, high turnover, and time spent on responding to public record requests. Nonpartisan school board elections have become intense battlegrounds of national partisan politics, as school leaders continuously report receiving written or verbal threats against educators in their districts for teaching topics related to race, gender, and sexuality in classrooms.
In early 2025, 60 Presidential Executive Orders were issued, including “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling.” As teachers, school leaders, and teacher educators work to understand the impact of these orders on their everyday decisions, navigate legal, policy, and funding implications, adopt instructional strategies that do not compromise historical accuracy, and mitigate the chilling effect on age-appropriate discussions of race, gender, and identity, research on school-university partnerships advancing educational equity in the face of increased political polarization is essential.
This issue seeks to highlight the role of forward-thinking collaboration among university-based and school-based educators in addressing polarization and conflict as they work to advance equitable learning opportunities for historically underserved students and families in K-12 school communities. By showcasing successful and theoretically grounded case studies, evidence-based strategies, historical analyses, and reflective practices, the journal aims to provide valuable insights and practical guidance for educators, administrators, policymakers, and community organizations. Ultimately, this issue aspires to inspire and inform collective efforts to recover, repair and reimagine school-university partnerships that advance educational equity amid ongoing political polarization through enhanced community involvement and stakeholder collaboration.
Proposed topics for this special issue could include, but are not limited, to the following:
Understanding Impact of Political Polarization: Evaluations and research on the impact of political divisions, polarization, and anti-DEI measures for school-based and university-based educators, administrators, policymakers and community-based organizations. Case studies, ethnography, and autoethnography exploring the impact of political polarization on students, educators, teacher educators, and school community members are welcome.
Cultivating Community Engagement: Explorations of how school-university partnerships have increased dialogue and collaboration among school community members and educators while navigating political polarization.
Navigating Increased Scrutiny: Case studies and research on the effectiveness of school-university partnerships in supporting and retaining K-12 educators impacted by culturally divisive issues or political debates.
Evidence-Based Decision-Making: Analyses of changes to budgets, personnel, resources, and spending on partnerships supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion programming for K-12 students and/or professional development for K-12 educators.
New Pathways for Equitable Learning Opportunities: School-university partnership strategies for collecting data and making evidence-based decisions to design new pathways for promoting equitable learning opportunities in K-12 classrooms.
Publication of the Themed Issue
This themed issue will be published in the final quarter of 2025.
For full consideration, articles must be submitted to the Guest Editors by May 15, 2025.
Tentative Schedule for Publication
Submission Dates: February 15 – May 15, 2025
Authors will be notified of publication decisions and receive feedback through a double-blind peer review process: May 15 – July 15, 2025
Final article revisions submitted: July 15, 2025
Submission Guidelines
Articles should be a maximum of 10,000 words in length. This includes all text, the structured abstract, references, tables, figures and appendices. Article files should be provided in Microsoft Word format and follow APA 7/e guidelines. More details can be found on the SUP website under the author guidelines tab. Submissions must be blinded, including a blinded title page and structured abstract. Each submission will undergo double blind peer review. Target number of accepted papers is 8-10 manuscripts.
Proposal Submission
Please submit themed issue articles via the online system found at:
https://emeraldgrouppublishing.com/journal/sup
Please send questions to John Pascarella: [email protected]
For more details refer here
