[2] AERA is led by an Executive Director (Felice J. Levine) and a President (Tyrone Howard from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2023–24).

[4] The range of disciplines represented by the membership includes education, psychology, statistics, sociology, history, economics, philosophy, anthropology, and political science.

The association's eight founders – Burdette R. Buckingham, Albert Shiels, Leonard P. Ayres, Frank W. Ballou, Stuart A. Courtis, Edwin Hebden, George Melcher, and Joseph P. O'Hern – were all directors of education research in various parts of the United States.

They met at the 1915 NEA Department of Superintendence annual meeting and came to the idea of starting an organization to advance education research.

During the Great Depression, the association's public school affiliates struggled with tight finances and uncertain employment, but during the same time, university education researchers dominated the field and emerged as a unique social entity.

Also during this time, AERA officials grew their relationships with like-minded associations, and a new journal, the Review of Educational Research, began as a reference work, summarizing recent studies.

AERA currently offers Educational Researcher (journal) open access, as well as an Online Paper Repository and i-Presentation Gallery containing presentations from the 2010 Annual Meeting forward.

Executive Director Felice J. Levine served on the National Research Council committee charged with reviewing proposed regulations.

[10] AERA is involved in several education research initiatives, ranging from specific advocacy topics to supporting projects that serve the larger community.

In 2013, AERA presented an amicus brief on the importance of science in a major affirmative action case – Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin.