"Justice is and has always been an important yet elusive target in education policy. Throughout history, the actions of the education system have both created devastating barriers to social justice and delivered crucial reforms for the path forward. Across all sectors, there is a continuing need for courageous and critical thinking in education policymaking. Now more than ever, the education policy scholarly community has at its disposal the tools to conduct rigorous research that can help fight racial injustice. The goal of the Just Education Policy scholars program is to inspire and engage the next generation of racial justice-focused education policy scholars.

"The JEP 2026 scholars program will be held in-person,  September 28 - October 1, 2026 from 8:30am-8:30pm ET each day (except October 1, which will be a half day). Accepted participants are expected to attend all of the program and will be compensated $800.00 at the end of the program for their participation. In addition to this stipend, participants’ costs of participation — including airfare/train fare, lodging, meals, and ground transportation —  will be covered by JEP (up to a given amount, restrictions apply).

"This program is designed for doctoral students and graduates in postdoctoral positions who are committed to advancing racial equity and justice education policy and politics and have ethical ambition to create policy change through research. Applications will be accepted from those who will be active doctoral students as of September 2026 and have completed at least two years of coursework OR are recent graduates (Spring 2026 or later) in postdoctoral positions."

Applications must be submitted by 11:59pm ET on Monday, June 1, 2026. Please refrain from the use of generative AI for any portion of your application. 

Read the complete announcement online.