Lauren B. Resnick

Lauren Resnick is the Distinguished University Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science; Learning Sciences and Education Policy. She headed Pittsburgh's Learning Research and Development Center from 1977 to 2008, and she founded and codirects its Institute for Learning, which provides educators the best of current knowledge about learning processes, principles of instruction, and the design of school systems. She cofounded the New Standards Project (1990-1999), which developed performance-based standards and assessments that widely influenced state and school district practice.

In 2008, Resnick chaired a symposium on the National Academy of Sciences presenting the National Academy of Education policy recommendations for the new presidential administration. These recommendations were widely distributed among scholars, practitioners, and policymakers. Her monograph, Education and Learning to Think, (1987) was influential in school reform efforts, and her widely circulated presidential address to the American Educational Research Association, Learning In School and Out (1987), shaped thinking about youth apprenticeship and school-to-work transition. Resnick has served as a Harvard University Overseer and a member of the Smithsonian Council.