Research on five of six teacher-identified concerns increased between AERA's 2005–2014 and 2022–2025 conference eras, led by mental health (+670%) and technology/AI (+145%)¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r1 · q2
Currency · newest study 2026 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Five of six teacher concern terms rose in per-year average mentions from 2005–2014 to 2022–2025, with mental health up 670 percent, technology/AI up 145 percent, chronic absenteeism up 743 percent, student behavior up 19 percent, and teacher retention up 14 percent. → Quesen 2026

Evidence¶

Quesen 2026¶

Quesen, S. (2026). What educational research looked like when scores were rising: A comparative analysis of AERA conference programs, 2005–2014 and 2022–2025. WestEd. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED681368

q2 · i? · associational · r1

Document analysis of AERA annual meeting program pdfs (10 files for 2005–2014, 4 for 2022–2025) using exact string matching in R, reporting per-year averages. Mental health rose from 24.4 to 188.0 mentions per year; technology/AI from 30.1 to 73.8; chronic absenteeism from 1.4 to 11.8.

"mental health research increased 670 percent, technology and AI research increased 145 percent, chronic absenteeism research increased 743 percent, student behavior research increased 19 percent, and teacher retention research increased 14 percent"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Literacy and reading research declined 34 percent between eras, in a pattern the author attributes to the defunding of Reading First rather than competition from equity research — related
• Research priority shifts between eras correlate with federal policy changes and national events, as when chronic absenteeism research emerged only after ESSA created federal reporting requirements — related
• Structural/policy research terms consistently decreased between eras, with accountability down 73 percent and NCLB mentions down 97 percent following ESSA's 2015 replacement of NCLB — related
• Teacher concerns do not significantly moderate the support-confidence relationship nor directly predict confidence or attitudes — related
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• Teachers who perceive the challenges and barriers of using AI as high (cost) may be less motivated to use it (theoretical argument). — related
• Human-AI relationship concerns persist across all CAI generations while academic integrity and data privacy are emerging ethical concerns — related