The Role of Research in Educational Improvement

John D. Bransford is Shauna C. Larson University Professor of Education and Psychology at the University of Washington in Seattle. Bransford is also coprincipal investigator and codirector of the LIFE Center, a National Science Foundation Science of Learning Center that studies learning in informal and formal environments. Deborah J. Stipek is the James Quillen Dean and Professor of Education at Stanford University. Her doctorate from Yale University is in developmental psychology. Nancy J. Vye is senior research scientist in the LIFE Center at COE-University of Washington. Louis M. Gomez holds theMacArthur Chair in Digital Media and Learning in the GraduateSchool of Education & Information Studies at the Universityof California, Los Angeles, and is a senior partner at Carnegie. Diana Lam is currently vice president for global education and community outreach for Christel House International. Most recently, she was deputy chancellor for teaching and learning at the New York City Department of Education, where she was responsible for joint implementation of Children First reforms.