Two University of Notre Dame faculty members will soon be at the helm of the Sociology of Education journal, shepherding research that examines how social institutions, and people’s experiences within them, affect educational processes and social development.

As co-editors, Bill Carbonaro and Anna Haskins will use their research expertise to guide the academic journal’s efforts to examine relevant questions on topics such as persistent achievement gaps, technological advancements that complicate and innovate teaching and learning, implications of school choice and funding structures, and culture wars that question even what can be taught.

“Our goal is to showcase scholarship that describes and explains how educational systems work, how inequality is generated and perpetuated, the ways schooling intersects with other social institutions, alongside the ever-evolving nature of learning,” said Haskins, the Andrew V. Tackes Associate Professor of Sociology, whose current research focuses on the intersection of race, education, and the criminal justice system. “I think we make a great team, given the substantive range of our interests and the methodological expertise we cover.”

Carbonaro, a professor of sociology who studies educational inequality among students and schools and recently completed a term as deputy editor of Sociology of Education, agreed.

“These are important topics that we can make an imprint on,” he said.

Other significant issues, including an increase in student diversity and continued fallout from the pandemic, also pose challenges and opportunities for sociologists of education.

“The challenge is to demonstrate that sociologists have a distinctive and valuable perspective to offer in studying education,” Haskins said. “And the opportunity is to draw upon the long tradition of vibrant theorizing and rigorous research to bring attention to, and address, the many pressing social issues — of health, mobility, diversity, technology, and politics — that intersect with education to impact people’s lives, opportunities, outcomes, and longevity.”

While their three-year term for the quarterly publication will officially begin Jan. 1, 2025, the leadership transition has been underway since this summer. The co-editors will annually select 16 of the nearly 300 manuscript submissions to the journal and work with the researchers to hone papers that move the field forward.

Having the prestigious journal, first published in 1927 by the American Sociological Association, based at Notre Dame will raise the reputation of the already respected department, Carbonaro said. It also will provide the co-editors with opportunities to help scholars nationwide hone their research skills.

“Notre Dame is a place where scholarship and sociology of education is done at a very high level,” he said. “We’re leaders in this subfield and leaders in the discipline.”

Notre Dame sociology Ph.D. students will play a supporting role in managing the journal, and gain insights about the peer review process.

“Having the journal at Notre Dame will help our students see the kinds of things that you have to do to be successful in publishing your research,” Carbonaro said.

Carbonaro and Haskins are also faculty fellows with the Center for Research on Educational Opportunity, which strives for educational excellence and equity in American education through basic and applied research on schools and the learning process.

Originally published by Beth Staples at al.nd.edu on October 16, 2024.