The education research community, both within the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and beyond, could and should play a critical role in fundamentally transforming educational institutions and systems. Given its complexity, transformative change in education is best undertaken as a collective endeavor. Yet for researchers to be a valuable resource in educational transformation, we will need to bridge knowledge across subfields that currently have limited interaction. Through two illustrative examples, we demonstrate the need to link knowledge on educational change with knowledge on how to create more equitable, anti-racist, and decolonized spaces for formal and informal learning. While operating in different spaces and initiated at different entry points, the two change efforts exemplify a common set of commitments and actionable pathways for achieving transformational change. This article is a call to action for researchers to join together in supporting educational transformation that fundamentally challenges the inequitable arrangements persisting in educational organizations characterized by systemic racism and colonialism. Bridging knowledge bases and being accountable to serve and support communities and their intersectional identities are essential to making deep, scalable changes in education that promote social justice.

To understand the ASD diagnosis and treatment pathways for US families, N = 38 Mexican-heritage mothers were interviewed about how and when they obtained an ASD diagnosis for their children. Most children (84%) were diagnosed between two and three years old. One-third of mothers reported receiving four to seven referrals before diagnosis. Mothers identified multiple diagnosis circumstances including two diagnoses and services offered before diagnosis. A multiple case study design documented the diagnosis and treatment experiences of four representative participants. As compared to previous studies that utilized a deficit lens to rationalize barriers to diagnosis and treatment (e.g., parents not knowledgeable about ASD), these findings revealed a complex understanding of how structural barriers (e.g., immigration status), initial diagnosis rejection among caregivers, and abrupt service cancellation complicated the diagnosis and treatment process. Implications identified suggestions to optimize and streamline ASD diagnosis and treatment pathways for Mexican heritage families.

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