Robert Slavin

Robert Edward Slavin was born in Bethesda, Maryland, on September 17, 1950.{{Cite news|last=Roberts|first=Sam|date=2021-05-11|title=Robert Slavin, Who Studied How Children Learn, Dies at 70|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/11/education/robert-slavin-dead.html|access-date=2021-05-12|issn=0362-4331}} His father, Joseph G. Slavin, worked as a clinical psychologist and headed the Washington School of Psychiatry; his mother, Miriam Crohn Slavin, was a housewife. He was raised in nearby Chevy Chase, and attended Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School.{{cite news|title=Robert Slavin, whose reading program is used in schools nationwide, dies at 70|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/robert-slavin-dead/2021/04/28/275a5792-a7aa-11eb-8c1a-56f0cb4ff3b5_story.html|first=Harrison|last=Smith|date=April 29, 2021|access-date=April 29, 2021|newspaper=The Washington Post}} He studied psychology at Reed College, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts in 1972.{{cite web|url=https://education.jhu.edu/directory/robert-e-slavin-phd/|title=Robert Slavin, PhD (faculty profile)|publisher=Johns Hopkins University|department=School of Education|access-date=November 21, 2020|archive-date=October 30, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030193148/https://education.jhu.edu/directory/robert-e-slavin-phd/|url-status=live}} After teaching for a year at a school for children with disabilities, he went on to a PhD program at Johns Hopkins University, which he completed in 1975.

Slavin remained at Johns Hopkins as a research scientist after his PhD, and spent most of his career there; from 2004 he was a director at the Center for Research and Reform in Education at the same institution. He also held a position at York University (simultaneous with Johns Hopkins) from 2007 until 2016, where he was founding director of the Institute for Effective Education.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2007/sep/04/highereducationprofile.highereducation|title=Bob Slavin: Which? doctor|work=The Guardian|first=Polly|last=Curtis|date=September 4, 2007|access-date=January 23, 2013|archive-date=October 5, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141005172256/http://www.theguardian.com/education/2007/sep/04/highereducationprofile.highereducation|url-status=live}} He was appointed the first Distinguished Professor at the School of Education at Johns Hopkins in 2020.{{cite news|url=https://hub.jhu.edu/2020/11/05/robert-slavin-inaugural-education-distinguished-professor/|work=Hub|publisher=Johns Hopkins University|title=Robert Slavin named inaugural School of Education Distinguished Professor|date=November 5, 2020|access-date=November 21, 2020|archive-date=November 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125025417/https://hub.jhu.edu/2020/11/05/robert-slavin-inaugural-education-distinguished-professor/|url-status=live}}

{{main|Success for All}}

Together with Nancy Madden, Slavin developed the Success for All model of reform for elementary and middle schools beginning in 1986, after being approached by the superintendent of the Baltimore school system for help with troubled inner city schools. As of May 2005, the program was used in 1,300 schools in 47 states. A meta-analysis of school improvement programs rated it favorably.{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/makingschoolswork/sbs/sfa/index.html|title=School-by-School Reform {{!}} Success For All|publisher=PBS|work=Making Schools Work|date=2005|access-date=August 10, 2012|archive-date=April 28, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428211804/http://www.pbs.org/makingschoolswork/sbs/sfa/index.html|url-status=live}} However, most teachers participating in Success For All, even ones who strongly support the program, have been found to make substantial changes in implementation in contrast to the expectations of developers. Some teachers also reported that the program constrained their creativity and autonomy in their own classroom.{{cite journal|last=Datnow|first=Amanda|author2=Castellano, Marisa |title=Teachers' Responses to Success for All: How Beliefs, Experiences, and Adaptations Shape Implementation|journal=American Educational Research Journal|year=2000|volume=37|issue=3|pages=775–799|doi=10.3102/00028312037003775|s2cid=144943592}}

Slavin's work includes research on classroom cooperative learning techniques including his 1980 paper "Cooperative Learning".{{cite journal |title= Cooperative Learning |journal= Review of Educational Research |volume= 50 |issue= 2 |pages= 315–342 |doi= 10.3102/00346543050002315 |year= 1980 |last1= Slavin |first1= Robert E. |s2cid= 220499018 }} He has written surveys

of the research literature on cooperative learning.{{Cite journal|last=Slavin|first=Robert|date=1983|title=When does cooperative learning increase student achievement?|journal=Psychological Bulletin|volume=94|issue=3|pages=429–445|doi=10.1037/0033-2909.94.3.429}}

Slavin was a member of the National Academy of Education since 2009.{{cite web|url=https://naeducation.org/our-members/robert-slavin/|work=National Academy of Education|title=Robert Slavin, member profile|access-date=November 21, 2020|archive-date=November 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129015020/https://naeducation.org/our-members/robert-slavin/|url-status=live}}

He received the E. L. Thorndike Award for Career Achievement from the American Psychological Association in 2017,{{cite web|url=https://www.apa.org/about/awards/div-15-thorndike?tab=4 |title= Career Achievement Award for Distinguished Psychological Contributions to Education |publisher=American Psychological Association |accessdate=2023-04-11}}

and the Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education Award from the American Educational Research Association in 2019.{{cite web|url=https://www.aera.net/Newsroom/AERA-Announces-2019-Award-Winners-in-Education-Research|publisher=American Educational Research Association|date=March 29, 2019|title=AERA Announces 2019 Award Winners in Education Research|access-date=April 27, 2021|archive-date=April 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427121357/https://www.aera.net/Newsroom/AERA-Announces-2019-Award-Winners-in-Education-Research|url-status=live}}

Slavin was married to Nancy Madden, his research partner, until his death.{{cite news|title=Robert Slavin, global authority on education research and evidence-based school reform, dies at 70|url=https://hub.jhu.edu/2021/04/26/robert-slavin-obituary/|first=Andrew|last=Myers|date=April 26, 2021|access-date=April 29, 2021|publisher=Johns Hopkins University|location=Baltimore|archive-date=April 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428123715/https://hub.jhu.edu/2021/04/26/robert-slavin-obituary/|url-status=live}}

Slavin died on April 24, 2021, at a hospital in Baltimore. He was 70, and suffered a heart attack prior to his death.

• {{cite book|last=Slavin|first=Robert E.|title=Cooperative Learning: Theory, Research, and Practice|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GWnuAAAAMAAJ|year=1995|publisher=Allyn and Bacon|isbn=978-0-205-15630-6}}
• {{cite book|last1=Slavin|first1=Robert E.|last2=Madden|first2=Nancy A.|last3=Chambers|first3=Bette|last4=Haxby|first4=Barbara|title=2 Million Children: Success for All|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kfIhAQAAQBAJ|year=2008|publisher=Corwin Press|isbn=978-1-4522-9466-7}}
• {{cite book|last=Slavin|first=Robert E. |edition=12th|title=Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iKUatAEACAAJ|year=2018|publisher=Pearson|isbn=978-0-13-489510-9}}

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{{E. L. Thorndike Award |state=autocollapse}}

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Category:1950 births

Category:2021 deaths

Category:Reed College alumni

Category:Johns Hopkins University alumni

Category:Johns Hopkins University faculty

Category:Academic staff of York University

Category:American educational psychologists