Robert Pianta University of Virginia
Dr. Robert Pianta is the recipient of the 2025 Distinguished Contributions to Research in
Education Award. Dr. Pianta has been a major force in educational research as an internationally recognized pre-eminent scholar of early childhood education. Dr. Pianta’s research has focused on improving the education and wellbeing of children around the world. He investigates the critical, micro-level interactions between teachers and students in early childhood settings, examining the relational work of teaching and supporting improvement in student-teacher interactions to foster more positive learning environments and outcomes. He has been elected to the National Academy of Education and is a fellow of the American Educational Research Association.
The Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education Award is the premier acknowledgment of outstanding achievement and success in education research. Its purpose is to publicize, motivate, encourage, and suggest models for education research at its best. The winner of the award will be invited to give the Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education Award Lecture at the following Annual Meeting.
2024 - Kris D. Gutiérrez 2023 - James A. Banks 2022 - William H. Schmidt 2021 - Carol D. Lee 2020 - Howard Gardner 2019 - Robert Slavin 2018 - Gloria J. Ladson-Billings 2017 - Henry M. Levin 2016 - Michelene T. H. Chi 2015 - Andrew C. Porter 2014 - Douglas Fuchs 2014 - Lynn S. Fuchs 2014 - Adam Gamoran 2013 - Alan H. Schoenfeld 2012 - Guadalupe Valdés 2011 - Catherine Snow 2010 - P. David Pearson 2009 - Linda Darling-Hammond 2008 - David Wolcott Johnson 2007 - Milbrey Wallin McLaughlin 2006 - Stephen W. Raudenbush 2005 - Gene V. Glass 2004 - Lorrie A. Shepard 2003 - Anthony S. Bryk 2002 - Shirley Brice Heath 2001 - Robert LeVine 2000 - Edmund Gordon 1999 - David K. Cohen 1998 - John Ogbu 1997 - Robert Linn 1996 - David C. Berliner 1995 - Maxine Greene 1994 - Richard C. Anderson 1993 - John I. Goodlad 1992 - David Tyack 1991 - Ann L. Brown 1990 - Lauren Resnick 1989 - Lee S. Shulman 1988 - N. L. Gage 1987 - Michael Cole 1986 - Courtney B. Cazden 1985 - Jerome S. Bruner 1984 - Eleanor Maccoby 1983 - Anne Anastasi 1982 - Jeanne S. Chall 1981 - Donald T. Campbell 1980 - Julian C. Stanley 1979 - John Bissell Carroll 1978 - B. F. Skinner 1977 - Lee J. Cronbach 1976 - Robert Glaser 1975 - Urie Bronfenbrenner 1974 - James S. Coleman 1973 - Robert J. Havighurst 1972 - Robert M. Gagne 1971 - Patrick Suppes 1970 - Benjamin S. Bloom 1969 - Lawrence A. Cremin 1968 - Jean Piaget & Barbel Inhelder 1967 - E. F. Lindquist 1966 - T. R. McConnell 1965 - Ralph W. Tyler 1964 - Arthur I. Gates