James W. Pellegrino is currently a Distinguished Professor in Psychology and Education and Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Learning, Instruction and Teacher Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he joined the faculty in the Fall of 2001.

He received his B.A. from Colgate University with a major in psychology, and his M.A. and Ph. D. in experimental and cognitive psychology from the University of Colorado.  From 1973-1979 he was Professor of Psychology and a Research Associate of the University of Pittsburgh's Learning Research and Development Center.  From 1979-1989 he was Professor of Education and Psychology at the University of California at Santa Barbara where he also served as Chair of the Department of Education from 1987-1989.  From 1989-2001, he was Frank W. Mayborn Professor of Cognitive Studies at Vanderbilt University, where he also served as Dean of Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development (1992-1998) and as co-director of the Learning Technology Center (1989-1992).

He has been engaged in research and development activities related to children's and adult's thinking and learning and the implications for assessment and instructional practice for over twenty five years. His initial work focused on the assessment of aptitude and intelligence and the application of cognitive theory to the analysis, redesign and utilization of standardized test instruments.  He is especially well known for his research on inductive reasoning and spatial ability. His research has also focused on cognitive analyses of specific instructional content domains and skills.  Since moving to Vanderbilt in 1989 he has been engaged in numerous collaborative projects focusing on the uses of technology and media in creating meaningful learning and instructional environments. Much of this work emphasizes issues in the design of authentic problem solving situations for mathematics and science learning, the analysis of what children learn in such environments, and alternative methods for assessment. Increasingly he has focused on the role of technology in educational reform and teacher education, and translating results from the research arena into implications for practicioners and policy makers.

He has supervised several large-scale research and development projects funded by agencies such as NSF, ONR, AFOSR, NIH, OERI, and the James S. McDonnell Foundation.  He has authored or co-authored over 185 books, chapters and journal articles in the areas of cognition, instruction and assessment and has made numerous presentations at local, state, national and international meetings. He has served on various regional and national boards, committees of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education, the American Psychological Association, the American Educational Research Association, and as an elected member of AERA’s Governing Council.  Recently, he served as chair of the National Research Council/National Academy of Sciences Study Committee for the Evaluation of the National and State Assessments of Educational Progress, and co-chair of the NRC/NAS Study Committee on Learning Research and Educational Practice.  Currently, he is co-chair of the NRC/NAS Study Committee on Cognitive Science Foundations for Assessment.