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UMaine researchers present innovative work at AERA

April 22, 2025 CARES, News, Research and Outreach, School of Educational Leadership, Higher Education and Human Development, School of Kinesiology, Physical Education and Athletic Training, School of Learning and Teaching

Faculty, staff and students from the University of Maine are showcasing their work at the 2025 American Educational Research Association (AERA) annual meeting in Denver this week, April 23-27, as well as during its pre-conference activities. The event is the world’s largest annual gathering of education researchers and practitioners, and a showcase for groundbreaking, innovative studies in a variety of areas.

UMaine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy will receive the AERA’s Distinguished Public Service Award for her exceptional contributions to education research and policy. 

Here’s a look at some of the presentations, panels and other events that UMaine faculty members and students will participate in at the conference:

Tuesday, April 22

  • Rebecca (Bec) Buchanan, associate professor of curriculum, assessment and instruction is a presenter at a pre-conference mentoring session for the Supervision and Instructional Leadership special interest group.

Wednesday, April 23

  • Interim Dean of the College of Education and Human Development Ezekiel (Zeke) Kimball is co-author of a paper being presented as part of a roundtable session on “Generating Possibilities Via Critical Reflections and Expansion of Methods.” The paper is titled “A Duoethnographic Reflection on Moving Toward a Queer and Socially Responsive Interview Process.” 
  • Catharine Biddle, associate professor of educational leadership, is presenting a paper she co-authored as part of a roundtable session on “Family-School Engagement in Diverse Environments.” The paper is titled “Caregivers in Recovery: Understanding Experiences of Substance-Impacted Caregivers with School-Aged Children in the Context of the Rural School-Community Relationship.”
  • Lindsey J. Kaiser, assistant professor of educational leadership,  is presenting a paper at a roundtable session on “Innovative Methods, Measures, and Theories for Educational Policy Research and Evaluation.” Kaiser’s paper is titled “Building Trust and Disrupting Power Structures: A Racially Diverse Research-Practice Partnership in Pursuit of Justice.”
  • Kamal Chawla, assistant professor of education and applied quantitative methods, is presenting a paper he co-authored at a roundtable session as part of the Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis special interest group. Chawla’s paper is titled “Machine Learning-Based Techniques to Handle Missing Data in Meta-Regression.”
  • Anne Fensie, a recent graduate of the Ph.D. program in higher education, is participating in a virtual poster session as part of the Faculty Teaching, Evaluation, and Development special interest group. Fensie’s presentation is titled “Beliefs and Instructional Practices Among Faculty in U.S. Bachelor’s Degree-Gathering Institutions.” Fensie is an adjunct faculty member in the collaborative graduate program in Instructional Technology, which has faculty from the UMaine College of Education and Human Development, the University of Maine at Farmington, and the University of Southern Maine. In addition to UMaine, she has taught at UMF and the University of Maine at Augusta. 

Thursday, April 24

  • Chawla is presenting a paper he co-authored as part of a roundtable session on “Elementary Students’ Mathematical Cognition: Insights Into Estimation, Relational Reasoning, and Effective Feedback in Mathematics.” The paper Chawla co-wrote is titled “Optimizing the 0-100 Number Line Estimation Task: Scale Reduction and its Implications for Elementary Mathematical Cognition.”
  • Fensie is presenting a study she co-authored at a structured poster session on “From Research to Application: Learning Engineering as a Process for Learning-Sciences-Informed Educational Design.” Fenie’s poster is titled “Conceptualizing Learning Engineering.” 
  • Biddle is chairing the Rural Education special interest group business meeting. 

Friday, April 25

  • Kathleen Gillon, assistant professor of higher education, and higher education doctoral student Devin Franklin are presenting a paper at a roundtable session on “Navigating College Access and Rural Identities in Higher Education.” Gillon and Franklin’s paper is titled “‘How Did I Get Here?’ Understanding a Gendered Rurality and Its Role in College Going.” 

Saturday, April 26

  • Kimball is co-author of two papers being presented as part of a symposium on “Conceptualizing the New Accessibility in Higher Education: Leveraging Disruption for Transformative Opportunity.” The papers are titled “Connecting Sense of Belonging with Accessibility” and “Connecting Intersectionality to Accessibility.”
  • Kaiser is presenting as part of a paper session on “Intersections of Justice, Whiteness, and Educational Renewal.” Kaiser’s paper is titled “ Paradoxes of Racial Affinity Equity Leadership Coaching: Supporting White Principals Leading Toward Racial Justice.”
  • Johanna Leslie, assistant director of the UMaine Office of Student Financial Aid, and Simon Ferland, director of data and systems for the Office of Student Financial Aid, are presenting a paper as part of a roundtable session on “Navigating Admissions, Employability, and Financial Support in Higher Education.” Leslie and Ferland’s paper is titled “FAFSA Filing Rates: Examining the Negative Impacts of the Problematic ‘FAFSA Simplification’ Rollout.”
  • Buchanan is chairing the Lives of Teachers special interest group business meeting.

Sunday, April 27

  • Kaiser is chairing a paper session on “Leading and Supporting Equity-Oriented Practices in Schools and Districts.”
  • Sarah Howorth, associate professor of special education, and Joo Young Lee, assistant professor of special education, are presenting a paper they co-authored at a poster session on “Innovative Approaches and Methodologies for Enhancing Educational Outcomes for Students with Disabilities.” The paper is titled “Reading Interventions for Students with Intellectual Disabilities: A Systematic PRISMA Review and Meta-Analysis.” 
  • Andrew Hudacs, assistant professor of 4-H teen leadership and workforce development with University of Maine Cooperative Extension, is chairing a roundtable session on “Enhancing Student Achievement: Outcomes and Opportunities in Rural Educational Contexts.”