Proposal Guidelines
Handbook of Research on Teaching, fifth edition

In preparing your proposal, please consider that the AERA Books Editorial Board needs to know as much as possible about your vision for the Handbook of Research on Teaching and how you intend to achieve the Board’s goals for it. The Board also needs to learn how you see the state of the research knowledge on teaching and your approach to the field. Finally, the Board needs to be able to assess that you can edit such a volume with authority, accuracy, and clarity; that the plan (including the proposed list of authors) is achievable in terms of scope and timetable as well as author commitments; and that the Handbook’s chapters and overall framework will be of use, of interest, and of importance to the research community.

With this in mind, your proposal should include three items:

1. A PROSPECTUS of no more than ten pages describing your intentions. It should include the following:

Vision: Provide a brief overview of your vision of the volume and what you consider to be the purpose and aspirations of this next edition of the Handbook.
Description: Describe your approach to the Handbook and how you would achieve the goals as set forth in the call. Please make clear what you consider to be the scope of research on teaching. Please also make clear how you would organize the volume to integrate bodies of relevant knowledge and to stimulate future directions of research.
Outstanding Features: List briefly what you consider to be the outstanding, distinctive, or unique features of the handbook your proposed. Describe any features or components of chapters that you plan as common elements or threads. What would you envision to be the approximate length of each chapter (in double-spaced typed pages) and of the manuscript to accomplish the goals set forth?
Review Process: Describe the internal mechanisms you plan to use for working with authors and for reviewing chapter outlines and drafts. Indicate how you would organize a peer review process to ensure published chapters of the highest merit.
Competition: Consider existing relevant books in this field and discuss their strengths and weaknesses individually and specifically. This material is written only for the Books Editorial Board, so please be as frank as possible. You should describe how the proposed handbook will be similar to, as well as different from, other volumes in your research area of inquiry in style, topical coverage, and depth. If significant books are now available, you should explain why you believe it is ripe to undertake a research handbook in this area. Please mention all pertinent titles, even if they compete with only a part of your book.
Apparatus: Will the research handbook include appendices regarding data resources or include any other supplemental materials?
Plans, Timetable, or Special Needs: Please outline how you anticipate implementing your plans for the Handbook. If you should anticipate the need for, or seek, meetings of volume contributors or authors, please include that in your plan and specify whether those meetings would occur during an AERA Annual Meeting or other scheduled event. Please provide a timetable for undertaking this Handbook. Modest funds can be provided for direct expenses. Outline any budgetary needs you envision. AERA does not pay royalties to editors or authors. Volumes are undertaken to further advance education research and AERA’s role in doing so.

2. A detailed TABLE OF CONTENTS with prospective authors. Commitments are not required at this point. The table of contents should be complete and detailed. Explanatory notes should be included as necessary. This material should enable the Board to understand the structure and content of the manuscript.

3. EDITOR AND AUTHOR VITAS. An up-to-date curriculum vitae outlining your education, previous publications, and professional experience is needed. Also include the vitas of any anticipated editorial team members. For authors under consideration, provide a brief statement of several sentences on the author, author background, and appropriateness for invitation to the volume. A prospective authors’ list can be in the form of a single document of several pages, as needed.

With all of the above material in hand, the AERA Book Editorial Board will review your proposal. The Board anticipates reviewing proposals early in the quarter after submission so that a decision can be reached and any commitments made by the end of the quarter after submission of a proposal. Please feel free to contact Cherry Banks, Chair of the Books Editorial Board, or Felice J. Levine, Executive Director, at books@aera.net if you have questions or want to talk directly. Good luck. The Books Editorial Board looks forward to receiving your material.

Proposals are due by March 1, 2010, and should be submitted to books@aera.net.

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