UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A new book co-edited by Gilberto Q. Conchas, the Wayne K. & Anita Woolfolk Hoy Endowed Chair of Education at Penn State, recently received the 2026 Outstanding Book Award from the Society of Professors of Education, a national honor recognizing one of the most significant scholarly contributions to the field each year.
The book, “Transforming Education for Social Justice: Empirical Insights from Leadership, Equity, and Research in Action,” discusses how colleges and universities approach equity, arguing that meaningful change begins by listening more closely to how students themselves experience inequality.
Conchas co-edited the volume with Mahmoud F. Suleiman, professor of teacher education at California State University, Bakersfield; and Victor DeAlba, a recent Penn State doctoral graduate in education policy studies.
Drawing on empirical studies across K-12 and higher education, the book examines how leadership, policy and practice intersect to advance equity in education systems. Rather than focusing on theory alone, Conchas said, the volume brings together research grounded in real-world contexts, highlighting how educators and institutions respond to inequities in practice.
“Our work suggests that research must be treated as praxis, not abstraction,” Conchas said, explaining that praxis is the process of putting theory into practice. “Moving from theory to action requires leaders to take students’ narratives seriously — not as anecdotes, but as data that reveal how inequality is experienced and understood on the ground.”
One chapter in particular — co-authored by Conchas — offers a closer look at how students interpret inequality in higher education. Based on 129 in-depth interviews with first-generation Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese American college students, the research found that students’ perspectives on inequality vary widely and are shaped by factors such as migration history, gender and prior exposure to U.S. economic and racial frameworks.
The findings challenge common assumptions that Asian American students experience higher education in uniform ways, including the persistence of the “model minority” stereotype. In some cases, students relied on cultural or merit-based explanations for inequality, while others pointed to structural and institutional factors.
For education leaders, those differences carry important implications, Conchas said.
“Equity initiatives cannot be one-size-fits-all,” he said. “Leaders must be attentive to how different student populations experience and interpret inequality, especially within groups that are often treated as homogeneous.”
The chapter also underscores the role of qualitative, student-centered research in identifying gaps that might otherwise go unnoticed. By treating student perspectives as a form of data, institutions can better design policies, advising practices and support systems that reflect the needs of diverse populations.
“When institutions fail to acknowledge how students’ social locations shape their experiences, equity efforts become superficial — or worse, counterproductive,” Conchas said.
The collaborative nature of the volume, which includes contributions from scholars across disciplines and educational contexts, helped surface patterns that extend beyond individual studies. The result, Conchas said, is a clearer understanding of how leadership, research and practice must work together to drive meaningful change.
The recognition from the Society of Professors of Education, he added, affirmed the importance of research that connects scholarship to real-world impact.
“This award signals that rigorous, justice-oriented scholarship remains vital to the field,” Conchas said.
Looking ahead, Conchas said he hopes the book will encourage educators, researchers and policymakers to take a more evidence-based approach to advancing equity — one grounded in the lived realities of students and communities.
“Equity must be led, enacted and evaluated through empirical evidence,” he said. “Leaders who engage student voice and act on what those data reveal are better positioned to transform institutional practices in meaningful ways.”