MWERA Distinguished Paper Award

The Midwestern Educational Researcher (MWER) is published on a quarterly basis by MWERA. With the 2014 MWERA Annual Meeting, the journal editors began publishing distinguished papers presented at the conference. In addition, an overall Distingished Paper ("The Simultaneity of Beginning Teachers' Practical Intentions" by Aaron Zimmerman, Michigan State University) was selected to represent MWERA at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting in April 2015 via the Consortium of State and Regional Educational Research Association (SRERA).

We plan to continue to offer these opportunities to MWERA Annual Meeting presenters. Below is the relevant information if you wish to consider including your paper in the pool of those considered for publication in MWER and/or for presentation at AERA.

Distinguished Papers

In order for your paper to be considered as the distinguished paper from your division, you must upload your final, complete paper to the MWERA All-Academic website at least two weeks prior to the Annual Meeting.

Feedback about papers will be collected from MWERA Annual Meeting session chairs and discussants via an evaluation form. Completed papers will also be subject to review by MWER editors. If your paper is selected you will be contacted regarding your wish to begin the peer-review process and potentially publish in MWER. If your paper is not selected as the division representative, we nonetheless highly encourage you to submit your manuscript to MWER through the regular submission process.

If you do not want your paper to be considered as a distinguished paper, please email the journal editors by the close of the Annual Meeting; otherwise we will assume your uploaded paper should be included for consideration.

AERA Presentation

MWERA has the opportunity to join other regional organizations in presenting one distinguished paper from its conference (without going through a review process) at the annual AERA Annual Meeting. This is important to note because the author must be able to attend the AERA Annual Meeting to present.

Papers presented in the Consortium of State and Regional Educational Research Associations (SRERA) sessions at AERA are selected by SRERA member organizations. MWERA is eligible to have its distinguished paper presented in one of the four SRERA distinguished paper sessions. The MWER editorial team has requested that a place be reserved for a MWERA paper. The MWERA Board of Directors has approved a $150 stipend for the designated author (typically the single author or the first author) of the AERA Award to cover registration expenses.

The final group of up to twelve Distinguished Papers (one from each division) will be reviewed by MWERA’s Association Council and MWER editors to select a single paper for this honor. You must be able to attend the AERA Annual Meeting and present the paper in order to be eligible for this award.

If you have any questions about either process, please contact Debra Miretzky or Sharon Stevens at mwer1316@gmail.com.

Best,