Proposal Requirements

Proposal Submission Portal

Paper and Poster Proposals

We welcome paper and poster proposals on any topic in education finance and policy and in any context. We will review proposals under the following topic areas. Many proposals can reasonably fit into more than one topic area; authors should choose the topic area that fits the proposal best. Only paper or poster submissions will be accepted; panel submissions will not be accepted. Topic areas: 
  • Causes and consequences of racial and other forms of inequity in education
  • Early childhood
  • Educator preparation, professional development, performance, and evaluation
  • Educator labor markets (e.g., compensation, pensions, mobility, supply and demand)
  • Intersections between education and other policy areas
  • K-12 standards, accountability, assessment, and curriculum
  • K-12 school finance
  • K-12 school choice
  • K-12 politics, governance, leadership, and organizations
  • K-12 interventions and short-term outcomes (academic and non-academic)
  • Long-term outcomes of education (e.g., employment, wages, civic participation)
  • Methodology, data, and other studies that are not covered by another topic area
  • Post-secondary financial aid and student debt
  • Post-secondary student access, admissions, & choice
  • Post-secondary student outcomes (e.g., credit accumulation, persistence, performance, and competition)
  • Post-secondary systems: finance, governance, and accountability

Paper/Poster Proposal Submission Requirements

Submissions should be a maximum of 1,000 words. Proposals should clearly articulate the following elements, which the program committee suggests using as headings: 
  • Background/Significance
  • Research Questions
  • Data Sources
  • Methods
  • Findings (including preliminary or forthcoming findings)

Description of these sections. The proposal should: 

  • provide context for the study and describe its contribution;
  • clearly state research questions;
  • describe data sources and methods in sufficient detail; and,
  • explain its results and substantiate conclusions, or, if the work is still in progress, explain how it expects to substantiate its conclusions by the time of the conference.
You may upload supplemental tables and figures. However, please do not upload a working paper in place of a proposal.
You may only submit one proposal as a presenter. You may be an author on multiple proposals so long as you present only once at the meeting. Proposals should be submitted through AEFP's submission portal no later than the posted deadline. 

Policy Talk Proposals

In addition to individual papers, we encourage proposals for policy and practice talks. These sessions are intended to bring together policy makers, practitioners, policy influencers, and researchers to discuss a topic of broad policy or practice relevance. We encourage sessions that involve sharing resources and co-constructing ideas about education policy and practice with session attendees. While discussion of how evidence informs policy and practice is encouraged, these sessions are not intended to be research panels. Panelists can include up to five people (four panelists and one moderator) and must include at least one, and ideally more than one, policymaker, practitioner, or policy influencer.  

Policy Talk Proposal Submission Requirements

Policy talk proposals can be up to 1,000 words in length and should include the following, which could serve as proposal headings: 
  • Background/Significance 
  • Policy Topic Addressed
  • Description of Panel
  • Panelists and their Expected Contributions

Description of these sections. The proposal should: 

  • explain the session’s relevance to policy or practice;
  • provide a clear statement of the policy or practice topic it addresses; 
  • describe the panel’s format, including a breakdown of time for panel comments vs. audience small-group discussion and a description of how the panel will engage attendees (such as live polls, QR codes linking to a document to gather attendee ideas and share resources, or questions posed to the audience to seek input on how policy and practice might be informed by evidence); 
  • name of panelists and relevant information on panelist backgrounds; and, 
  • describe the contributions it expects each panelist to make (note that the expectation is that the policy/practice perspective should be centered; these are not intended to be presentations of research findings). 

Policy talk proposals should include at least one policymaker, practitioner, or policy influencer, with more than one preferred. 

This category includes teachers or school administrators; staff (including researchers) in local, state or federal education agencies;  individuals working in the legislative branch of local, state or federal governments; and policy influencers such as journalists, foundation staff, or individuals working in advocacy organizations.