Who We Are

Stephanie Jones is the Gerald S. Lesser Professor of Early Childhood Development at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where in addition to serving as Faculty Director of the Center on the Developing Child, she is Director of the EASEL Lab and co-Director of the Saul Zaentz Early Education Initiative. Jones is a developmental psychologist trained in child development, prevention science, and social policy. Her work is transactional and translational, using rigorous studies of learning settings, family systems, and the practices and policies that shape child wellbeing from infancy through early adolescence to build knowledge of human development in context, and then applied research to transform the settings in which children learn and play.

Jones’ specific developmental and experimental research investigates the causes and consequences of social and emotional problems and competencies; strategies for altering the pathways that shape children’s social and emotional development; and programs, interventions, and pedagogy that foster social and emotional competencies among children, adults, and environments. Broadly, her work is designed to connect foundational information about social, emotional, and behavioral development to effective strategies and practices for use in learning settings around the globe. By conducting rigorous, longitudinal studies of such strategies and practices she engages in an evidence-action cycle that is intended to grow knowledge about social, emotional and behavior development in context.

Jones serves on numerous national advisory boards and expert consultant groups related to social-emotional development, early childhood education, and child and family anti-poverty policies, including as a member of the Council of Distinguished Scientists for the Aspen National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development. She consults to program developers and practitioners and has conducted numerous evaluations of programs and early education efforts, including Reading, Writing, Respect and Resolution, Resolving Conflict Creatively, SECURe, SEL Kernels, and the Head Start CARES initiative. Her research is published in academic and educational journals as well as in trade publications, and she regularly presents her work to national and international academic, policy, and practitioner audiences.

Jones is a recipient of the Grawemeyer Award in Education for her work with Edward Zigler and Walter Gilliam on A Vision for Universal Preschool Education (Cambridge University Press, 2006) as well as the Joseph E. Zins Early-Career Distinguished Contribution Award for Action Research in Social and Emotional Learning. Jones holds a BA from Barnard College and a PhD from Yale University where she trained with Edward Zigler.

Nonie Lesaux, Roy E. Larsen Professor of Education and Human Development, is the dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE). Lesaux assumed the role of dean in March 2025 after acting as interim dean since July 1, 2024. She served as academic dean at HGSE from 2017 to 2021. She was previously named the Juliana W. and William Foss Thompson Professor of Education and Society before her appointment to the Larsen chair in 2021. Her research focuses on promoting the language and literacy skills of children from diverse linguistic, cultural, and economic backgrounds. Results of her program of research appear in numerous scholarly publications, and their practical applications are featured in three books. She served on the U.S. Department of Education’s Reading First Advisory Committee, and the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council’s Committee on the Science of Children Birth to Age 8.

A member of the HGSE faculty since 2003, Lesaux’s research focuses on strategies and innovations to improve learning opportunities and literacy outcomes for children and youth. Her teaching focuses on literacy development and reform, early learning, and leading system-level change. Lesaux works largely through partnerships with school districts, states, and communities. In school districts, Lesaux investigates language, reading, and social-emotional development; classroom quality and academic growth; and strategies to accelerate language and reading comprehension. In states and communities, she brings tools and concepts from improvement science to strengthen literacy plans and policy initiatives, grade-level reading campaigns, and birth-to-eight early learning initiatives. Her research-practice partnerships with large urban school districts, to improve literacy rates, include seven years with San Diego Unified and ten years with the New York City Department of Education.

With Stephanie Jones, Lesaux leads the Saul Zaentz Early Education Initiative at HGSE, which addresses the pervasive global challenge of simultaneously scaling and improving the quality of early education. Anchored by a first-of-its-kind large-scale study to inform a new era of science and policymaking in early education, and a new model of capacity-building for leaders, the Initiative’s network and partnerships represent all 50 U.S. states and 92 countries.

Lesaux’s research appears in numerous scholarly publications, and its practical applications are featured in several books for school leaders and educators. She is co-editor of the Handbook of Reading Research (2022) and wrote a widely circulated state literacy report, Turning the Page: Refocusing Massachusetts for Reading Success, that inspired a third-grade reading proficiency bill passed in Massachusetts.

Lesaux has earned the William T. Grant Scholars Award and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor given by the U.S. government to young professionals beginning their independent research careers. She served on the U.S. Department of Education’s Reading First Advisory Committee and the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council’s Committee on the Science of Children Birth to Age 8. From 2015 to 2022, Lesaux chaired the Massachusetts Board of Early Education and Care, which oversees the state agency that licenses and supports childcare and community-based public programs for young children. Lesaux is a member of the National Academy of Education and the board of the Spencer Foundation. She is expert consultant to the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Educational Opportunities Section.