Spencer Mentor Award

I plan to use the award funding to expand my mentoring work for junior scholars, both Ph D students and junior faculty, by bringing together scholars from different countries (especially low- and middle- income countries). I am always struck when I travel to other countries by the limited opportunities available to education researchers, especially scholars from the global south. I want to devote my award to taking a small step to address this inequity by supporting junior scholars in attending and presenting at an international research conference as well as meeting as a group at the conference so we can learn together. My goal here is not only to support junior scholars in attending and presenting at an international conference but to nurture a community of scholars who continue to work together and support one another after the conference is completed. I will use my involvement in ICSEI (https://www.icsei.net/ ) to create and structure this opportunity. Though small, ICSEI brings together scholars from over 50 countries representing every continent. This international forum involves scholars and practitioners focusing on enhancing quality, equity, and excellence in education as it relates to school effectiveness and improvement. ICSEI strives to be a community that is internationally inclusive for all its members. To do so, conference registration fees for middle- and low- income countries are significantly less than high income countries. Still, the cost of attending a conference for scholars from these countries can be prohibitive. My plan is to support cohorts of junior scholars to participate in the annual ICSEI conference. Specifically, I will support two cohorts each organized around an annual meeting (the next conference is January 2023 in Chile). To ensure that each cohort of scholars have some shared interests, I will focus on scholars of educational policy, leadership, and education system building who are working on improving instructional quality and equity. While the work will focus in particular on scholars from low- and middle- income countries we will also encourage participation from high income countries to ensure that each cohort is genuinely international. Scholars will apply for the award with a brief one-page description of their work. For scholars, from low- income and middle- income countries the award will cover the entire conference registration fee (350 Australian dollars for faculty/250 Australian dollars for students). For scholars from high income countries, we will offer a similar dollar amount as a reduction in their fee. I envision that each cohort will include between 10 and 15 scholars (10,000 or 11,000 USD for this). The remaining funds will be used to support a convening of each cohort at the annual conference including either a dinner or lunch. The funds will also help cover part of my travel to the conference if necessary.