March 2016

U.S. Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden will address a session of the AERA Annual Meeting on April 11 in Washington, D.C. The title of her address is "Operation Educate the Educators: Recognizing and Supporting Military-Connected Students Through University-based Research, Community Partnerships, and Teacher Education Programs."

Dr. Jill Biden, Second Lady of the United States, lifelong educator, and military mom will speak about her work with Operation Educate the Educators as part of her Joining Forces initiative. There will be a question and answer session with university researchers to discuss these efforts and outcomes immediately following. Today approximately 2.4 million military- and veteran-connected students are in our K-12 classrooms. These children also, in their way, serve. Despite multiple school moves and parental deployment, military- and veteran-connected students show remarkable resilience. Education research and over a decade of experience tell us that schools are essential to providing consistent, sensitive understanding and response to the unique needs this very special population of America's children. National policy, new research funding, and efforts in over 100 universities are now underway to increase the number of university schools of education that include materials, research, and partnerships focused on students from military and veteran families. Dr. Biden launched Operation Educate the Educators to increase awareness of this group among university schools of education.

Immediately following Dr. Biden’s remarks, Ron Avi Astor, University of Southern California, Catherine Bradshaw, University of Virginia, and Mary Keller, Military Child Education Coalition, will participate in a question and answer session.

Session Time and Location
Monday, April 11, 2016, 1:30 p.m. EDT
Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Level 3, Ballroom C
Washington, D.C.
Session Hashtag: #AERAJillBiden
Link to Session
Session will also be live-streamed