Angeline Stoll Lillard

Angeline Stoll Lillard is an American developmental psychologist specializing in Montessori education and child development. Lillard serves as professor of psychology and director of the Early Development Laboratory at the University of Virginia, where her research focuses on children's social and cognitive development, with an emphasis on Montessori education as a form of playful learning. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English literature from Smith College and a doctorate in psychology from Stanford University, where she studied under cognitive psychologist John Flavell. Lillard is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Psychological Association, and the Association for Psychological Science.

Lillard is the author of "Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius," a book that explores the scientific research supporting foundational principles of Montessori education and examines how developmental psychology aligns with Maria Montessori's original insights. The book has been translated into several languages, including Chinese, Vietnamese, French, and Turkish, and received the Cognitive Development Society Book Award.

Lillard's research includes a study published in Science, co-authored with Nicole Else-Quest, which was among the first rigorous evaluations of Montessori education using a lottery-based research design. The study found that children in Montessori programs outperformed peers in academic and social measures, contributing to the recognition of Montessori methods in scientific and educational communities. Lillard's longitudinal research has continued to examine the impact of Montessori preschool on child outcomes, and her work published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences presents findings from a national randomized controlled trial of public Montessori preschool's effect on kindergarten outcomes.

Lillard is chief editor of Frontiers in Developmental Psychology and has received awards including the American Psychological Association's Boyd McCandless Award for Distinguished Early Career Contribution, the APA's Outstanding Dissertation Award, and the University of Virginia Research Achievement Award. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Institute for Educational Sciences. Lillard's work has appeared in The Washington Post, Forbes, Slate, and on ABC's Nightline, and she is a frequent keynote speaker at psychology, Montessori, and education conferences worldwide, contributing to evidence-based education reform and child development research.