Arthur Baroody

In a 2017 chapter of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ Compendium for Research in Mathematics Education, Baroody reviewed the research on whole-number operations in early childhood. The theme was the interconnectedness of learning, including how early (informal) learning in the domain provides a foundation for school (formal) learning. As an example, he outlined a number-sense view of basic number-fact learning—how fluency with basic sums and differences in the primary grades depends on development in the preschool starting with subitizing.

In 2003, Baroody helped edit a book on adaptive expertise—conceptually based knowledge that can be applied to new tasks or situations as well familiar ones. Contributions to the book underscore the advantages of fostering adaptive expertise as opposed to routine expertise: procedures learned by rote memorization, which can usually be applied only to familiar tasks or situations. A key educational implication is that promoting meaningful learning is more powerful in promoting appropriate use of knowledge, including transfer.

Since 2000, Baroody has been the Principal Investigator on six grants from the National Science Foundation.

In 1983, Baroody helped Ginsburg develop a novel early mathematical achievement test that assessed children’s informal, as well as their formal, mathematical knowledge, namely the Test of Early Mathematics Achievement (TEMA).

Baroody began his academic career as an Assistant Professor of Developmental Psychology at Keuka College in 1978. He joined the University of Rochester’s Graduate School of Education and Human Development in 1980 as a Research Associate for H. P. Ginsburg’s NIE Research Grant: "Cognitive Development Approach to Mathematics Learning Difficulties" and in 1981 as a part-time Assistant Professor of Education. He held his next appointment at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as an Assistant Professor of Elementary and Early Childhood Education till 1986. He was promoted to Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction in 1989, and to Professor of Curriculum and Instruction in 1994. During this time, he also held a concurrent appointment with the Bureau of Educational Research from 1987 to 1990, and then again from 1999 to 2001. He retired in 2009 and was made an emeritus professor of Curriculum and Instruction. Since 2013, he has also been serving as Senior Research Fellow of Morgridge College of Education at the University of Denver.

Baroody attended Cornell University and earned a B.S. in science education in 1969 and, mentored by Herbert P. Ginsburg, a Ph.D. in educational and developmental psychology in 1979.

Arthur "Art" J. Baroody (born August 15, 1947) is an educational psychologist, academic, and an expert in mathematics education research. He is a Professor Emeritus of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a Senior Research Fellow in Morgridge College of Education (COE) at the University of Denver.