The American Sociological Association (ASA) has honored Aaron Pallas, TC’s Arthur I. Gates Professor of Sociology and Education, with the Section on Children & Youth Distinguished Career Award at its annual meeting this August in Chicago. 

Pallas is recognized for his “distinguished contributions to research, teaching, and service on the sociology of children and youth,” as well as his “important service within and beyond.” 

“This is a lovely and unexpected honor,” says Pallas, who previously served as the editor of the ASA’s Sociology of Education, and chaired its sections on Education, and Children and Youth. “I’m delighted to share it with my co-honoree Amanda Lewis of the University of Illinois at Chicago. Sociology has many subfields, but the sociology of children and youth and the sociology of education have always been at the heart of my work.” 

Pallas uses a variety of research tools to inform the public about the relevance and usability of educational research for policy and practice. He educates stakeholders — including representatives of the media — about the complexities and unexpected consequences of accountability and resource distribution policies in public schools. His research, taken up by the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and a variety of media reaching local political leaders, policymakers, parents, and voters, illuminates these dynamics across New York City, New York State and beyond.

Pallas’s efforts to strengthen the capacity of research to enhance educational discourse in the public sphere draw on his studies of the linkages between education policy and inequalities in life chances and the role of schooling in the course of human lives. His research has also addressed the sociology of teaching and teachers' work and careers, including teacher accountability systems, undergraduate teaching improvement, and the preparation of education researchers. His current research examines patterns of segregation among and within New York City middle schools.

A former statistician at the National Center for Education Statistics in the U.S. Department of Education, Pallas is a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association and an elected member of the National Academy of Education and of the Sociological Research Association, the preeminent honorary society of sociology scholars.