Barbara Means

Barbara Means is an educational psychologist whose research focuses on ways in which technology can support students' learning of advanced skills and the revitalization of classrooms and schools. She is regarded as a leader in defining issues and approaches for evaluating the implementation and efficacy of technology-supported educational innovations.

Currently, she is leading a study of the effectiveness of high schools with a STEM focus and a study of science learning in California after-school programs, both for the National Science Foundation. She is also directing the evaluation of the Next Generation Learning Challenges grants awarded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Means other recent work includes supporting the development of the new U.S. National Educational Technology Plan (Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology). A fellow of the American Educational Research Association, Means served on the National Research Councils Working Committee on Highly Successful Schools or Programs for K12 STEM Education and currently is a member of the National Academy of Engineering/National Research Council Committee on Integrated STEM Education.

Her earlier professional activities included membership on the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Developments in the Science of Learning, which produced the volume How People Learn. Her published works include the edited volumes Evaluating Educational Technology, Technology and Education Reform, and Teaching Advanced Skills to At-Risk Students as well as the jointly authored volumes Using Technology Evaluation to Advance Student Learning, The Connected School, and Comparative Studies of How People Think. Means earned her bachelor's degree in psychology from Stanford University and her PhD in educational psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.