Sharon Lynn Kagan

Sharon Lynn Kagan is the Virginia and Leonard Marx Professor of Early Childhood and Family Policy, and codirector of the National Center for Children and Families at Teachers College, Columbia University. Kagan is also an adjunct professor at Yale University's Child Study Center. Kagan works to improve the design and quality of early childhood policies and practices. She was made a fellow of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in 2010, and she was inducted into the National Academy of Education in 2012. Recipient of international and national honorary doctorates, she is a member of 40 national boards and panels, and is past president of both the National Association for the Education of Young Children and Family Support America. She is the only woman in the history of U.S. education to receive its three most prestigious awards: the Distinguished Service Award from the Council of Chief State School Officers (2004), the James Bryant Conant Award for Lifetime Service to Education from the Education Commission of the States (2005), and the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education. Kagan received her EdD in curriculum and reaching from Teachers College, Columbia University.

updated 2002