Educational research psychologist and former teacher Angela Duckworth was named one of this year’s 24 MacArthur Fellows.
All fellows named by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation receive a no-strings-attached award—popularly referred to as a “genius grant"—worth $625,000 that is paid out over five years. The foundation awards fellowships to creative individuals who it deems are demonstrating the potential to make important contributions to the world.
Ms. Duckworth, frustrated by the lack of effort she saw from many of her students, quit her job as a high school math and science teacher to try to better understand the psychology behind educational achievement. She joined the University of Pennsylvania faculty in 2007 as an associate professor in the psychology department.
Her research has focused on how children can learn strategies for self-control, and how that can translate into instruction.
Now, Ms. Duckworth is working to develop interventions that foster traits like grit and self-regulation in children that can then be applied to education.
