Exemplary Research Award

The Exemplary Research Award recognizes scholarship with the potential to significantly impact and/or transform social studies education research and practice.

Application Submissions

Exemplary Research Award applications are currently closed. Please check back then for more information regarding the award application process.

The committee will consider any research that has been published within the last year. This research can be published in book or journal article format. If the nominated piece is a journal article, it should be published in a nationally or internationally ranked journal that can be found here.

Reviewers should be provided with an original document, as well as an English translation of the article if a work is published in a different language. It is at the discretion of the chair of the exemplary research committee to determine if the research meets these criteria before forwarding the research on to the committee to review. In order to be considered the application must be completed by the due date and meet the "criteria" and "nomination requirements" listed below.

Note: If there are an insufficient number of applicants for the award in a given year, the applications received will be held over for consideration next year. Any incomplete nomination, including failure to provide the sufficient number of review materials, may be disqualified.

Criteria

• Published research study (articles, chapters, monographs, or books) eligibility is:
  • For 2023 - 2024 Awards: May 1, 2023 - April 30, 2024
• Must be empirical, theoretical, or philosophical in nature;
• Must have social education as its central focus;
• Employs rigorous research standards;
• Outstanding in the areas of research conception, model, design, procedure, and analysis;
• Advances conception of social education and knowledge of teaching and learning in the domain; and
• Attends to social, political, and ethical concerns.

Nomination Requirements

• No self nominations;
• Letter of nomination/ rationale for nomination( Cover letter);
• Nominee’s Curriculum Vitae or professional resume;
• Complete manuscript for review. Nominated study if not provided via url. Please note: non-electronic research nominations will need to be mailed directly to each member of the selection committee and NCSS by the nominator. Four copies needed. For mailing addresses, please contact awards@ncss.org.

Nomination materials that are incomplete or that do not meet the established criteria will not be considered.

You will have five days to access and update your form after your initial submission.

Exemplary Dissertation Award

The Larry Metcalf Exemplary Dissertation Award recognizes outstanding research completed in pursuit of the doctoral degree. Award recipients receive: commemorative gift; an opportunity to present a session at the NCSS Annual Conference on their research.

Larry Metcalf Exemplary Dissertation Award applications are currently closed. Please check back then for more information regarding the award application process.

Note: If there are an insufficient number of applicants for the award in a given year, the applications received will be held over for consideration next year.

Eligibility Criteria

• Date Defended and research completed in pursuit of the doctoral degree eligibility is:
  • For 2019 - 2020 Awards: May 1, 2019 - April 30, 2020
  • For 2020 - 2021 Awards: May 1, 2020 - April 30, 2021
• Significant contribution to research in social education;
• Evident connection to social education; and
• Outstanding in the areas of problem statement, analysis of related literature, methods and procedures, analysis of data, and discussion of results.

Nomination Requirements:

Complete the online application and upload the following documents within the application. Max. file size to be uploaded for each non-text box item is 1MB. File types accepted are: pdf, doc, docx.

• No self nominations;
• Letter of nomination/rationale for nomination.
• Curricum vita or professional resume (prepared by the nominee);

• A summary of ten to fifteen one-sided double-spaced pages that includes:

  1. the research problem (including how the research fits into research in the field);
  2. analysis of related literature;
  3. description and rationale for the research design and procedures;
  4. analysis of data;
  5. findings of the study (including a brief discussion of the significance of the research for social education; and
  6. references/citations should be included but do not count toward the ten to fifteen pages.

• Full Dissertation

• Publicity Outreach Please provide the name, contact name, title, and e-mail for:

  • Major local/community newspaper (up to 2)
  • Alma Mater Alumni Office contact information (up to 2)

• Information Release Statement (on cover page)

Submission Requirements:

• Nomination materials must be a pdf, doc, or docx.  The maximum size for each upload is 1MB.
• If you experience difficulties, please contact awards@ncss.org to get the mailing addresses of the review committee so that you can ship them the dissertation. 

Nomination materials that are incomplete or that do not meet the established criteria will not be considered.

You will have five days to access and update your form after your initial submission.

All Subcommittee Selection Decisions Are Final!

Distinguished Career Research Award

The Jean Dresden Grambs Distinguished Career Research Award recognizes professionals who have made extensive contributions to knowledge concerning significant areas of social studies education through meritorious research.

Application Submissions

Jean Dresden Grambs Distinguished Career Research Award applications are slated to open on September 23, 2021. Please check back then for more information regarding the award application process.

Types of Research Eligible

The use of the term research in reference to this award shall be broadly construed to mean any and all forms of recognized formal research -methodologies, paradigms and perspectives. Eligible research is that which has:

• added significantly to understanding of the status, impact, characteristics and activities of social studies education or social education, including several separate and distinct contributions related to curriculum, instruction, evaluation and the learning and teaching of and in the social studies;
• stimulated a sense of responsibility among and fostered other professionals to engage in additional research efforts;
• added significantly to the information bases to those working in the social studies/social education field as evidenced by citations of their work within the social studies literature; and
• been used by professionals as the basis for significant decisions, rationales and practices related to one or more areas of social studies curriculum instruction, evaluation, teaching or learning.

Criteria

A person is eligible for consideration and receipt of this award when the following conditions have been met:

1. published documentation of research endeavors and findings exist covering a span of approximately ten or more years;
2. published documentation that research reveals a focus or direction in a significant segment of the research effort, without intending that the individual has spent the entire time on a single or a limited range of research topics;
3. documentation exists that cites in positive ways the person's research contributions, broadly defined;
4. letters of support on behalf of the researcher are received by not less than five recognized researchers in the field of social studies/social science education;
5. the person does not necessarily have to be currently involved in active research and publications in the social studies/social education areas or fields or a current member of NCSS.

Documents

Complete the online application and upload the following documents within the application. Max. file size to be uploaded for each non-text box item is 1MB. File types accepted are: pdf, doc, docx.

1. Letter of Nomination
2. Nominee CV
3. Public Document Evidence
4. Significance of Contributions Evidence
5. Quality of Research Evidence
6. Fostering Investigation Evidence
7. Recognition by Colleagues Evidence

You will have five days to access and update your form after your initial submission. For questions, contact awards@ncss.org.