Bridget K. Hamre

Bridget Hamre is a research associate professor in the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia (UVA). She is associate director of the UVA Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning (CASTL), where she conducts research on student-teacher relationships and classroom processes that promote positive academic and social development in young children. She has authored more than 65 peer-reviewed manuscripts on these topics, documenting how educator-child relationships and teachers' social and instructional interactions support children's learning and may help close the opportunity gap for students at risk of school failure. She is also co-founder and chief executive officer of Teachstone, an organization that develops research-based tools and professional development programs to improve teaching quality. Hamre is a co-author of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS®) and, in partnership with Robert Pianta, led efforts to expand CLASS as an assessment and professional development tool nationwide. She collaborates with the Office of Head Start on CLASS implementation in federal monitoring and consults with states on Quality Rating and Improvement Systems. Hamre earned a BA from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MA and PhD in clinical and school psychology from the University of Virginia.

updated 2025