Robert Edward Slavin (September 17, 1950 – April 24, 2021) was an American psychologist who studied educational and academic issues. He was known for the Success for All educational model. Until his death, he was a distinguished professor and director of the Center for Research and Reform in Education at Johns Hopkins University.

Robert Edward Slavin was born in Bethesda, Maryland, on September 17, 1950.^[1] His father, Joseph G. Slavin, worked as a clinical psychologist and headed the Washington School of Psychiatry; his mother, Miriam Crohn Slavin, was a housewife. He was raised in nearby Chevy Chase, and attended Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School.^[2] He studied psychology at Reed College, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts in 1972.^[2][3] After teaching for a year at a school for children with disabilities, he went on to a PhD program at Johns Hopkins University, which he completed in 1975.^[2][3]

Slavin remained at Johns Hopkins as a research scientist after his PhD, and spent most of his career there; from 2004 he was a director at the Center for Research and Reform in Education at the same institution.^[3] He also held a position at York University (simultaneous with Johns Hopkins) from 2007 until 2016, where he was founding director of the Institute for Effective Education.^[3][4] He was appointed the first Distinguished Professor at the School of Education at Johns Hopkins in 2020.^[5]

Slavin was a member of the National Academy of Education since 2009.^[10] He received the E. L. Thorndike Award for Career Achievement from the American Psychological Association in 2017,^[11] and the Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education Award from the American Educational Research Association in 2019.^[12]

Slavin was married to Nancy Madden, his research partner, until his death.^[2][13]

Slavin died on April 24, 2021, at a hospital in Baltimore. He was 70, and suffered a heart attack prior to his death.^[2][13]

• Slavin, Robert E. (1995). Cooperative Learning: Theory, Research, and Practice. Allyn and Bacon. ISBN 978-0-205-15630-6.
• Slavin, Robert E.; Madden, Nancy A.; Chambers, Bette; Haxby, Barbara (2008). 2 Million Children: Success for All. Corwin Press. ISBN 978-1-4522-9466-7.
• Slavin, Robert E. (2018). Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice (12th ed.). Pearson. ISBN 978-0-13-489510-9.