AERA Fellow Larry Hedges Wins Yidan Prize for Education Research


September 2018

AERA Fellow Larry Hedges has been awarded the 2018 Yidan Prize in Education Research, one of the most prestigious awards in the field. The award, which comes with $3.9 million in support, was announced September 15 in Hong Kong, where the Yidan Prize Foundation is based. 

In its announcement, the foundation praised Hedges for being “one of the most influential applied statisticians in the world. His work in educational policy allows policymakers, educators and the general public to see the evidence for ‘what works’ in the field of education, and makes it possible to take a scientific approach to improving education for future generations.”

Hedges is chair of the department of statistics at Northwestern University and a professor of education and social policy, psychology, and medical social science. He has authored or co-authored ten books and numerous journal articles, including the seminal Statistical Methods for Meta-Analysis (with I. Olkin, Elsevier, 1985) and The Handbook of Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis (with H. Cooper and J. Valentine, Russell Sage, 2009).

“Larry is a preeminent scientist and leader in our field, and is an outstanding choice for this award,” said AERA Executive Director Felice J. Levine. “His groundbreaking work has substantially advanced the field of education research and, more broadly, methodology in the social sciences. He serves as a shining example for untold numbers of students and scholars.”

Hedges currently serves on the Governing Board of the AERA Grants Program. In addition to his Fellow status at AERA, Hedges is an elected member of the National Academy of Education and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Statistical Association, and American Psychological Association. Hedges is also a member of the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness, which established an annual endowed lecture in his honor. He was nominated by President Barack Obama to the Board of Directors of the National Board for Education Sciences, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in June 2012, and was elected Chair of the Board in 2016.