Milbrey McLaughlin, Ed.D. is the David Jacks Professor of Education and Public Policy, Emerita, at Stanford University and the Founding Director of the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Communities. She also is Co‑Director of the Center for Research on the Context of Teaching, an interdisciplinary research center engaged in analyses of how teaching and learning are shaped by teachers’ organizational, institutional, and social‑cultural contexts.

McLaughlin has focused throughout her career on the various institutional contexts and policies that shape youth outcomes—schools and community-based institutions most particularly. The Gardner Center embodies McLaughlin’s interest in identifying and understanding the cross-institutional issues that shape with settings within and through which youth move, and in advancing a youth sector stance to inform policy and practice.

McLaughlin is the author or co‑author of many books, articles, and chapters on education policy issues, contexts for teaching and learning, productive environments for youth, and community‑based organizations. Dr. McLaughlin holds an Ed.M and Ed.D in education policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. in philosophy from Connecticut College.