Robert E. Slavin died April 24 in Baltimore, MD. He was 70. Dr. Slavin, a sociologist, helped shift the emphasis in classrooms across the country toward teaching reading through phonics, mixing students of different aptitudes rather than educating them on separate tracks, and testing them for vision and other factors that could affect their education.

Dr. Slavin was the author of two dozen books, most of which elaborated on his commitment to “evidence-based” research that substantiated the most effective teaching methods. In 2020, he was named the Johns Hopkins School of Education’s first distinguished professor.

In the last entry on his blog, Dr. Slavin wrote: “All of us go into education to solve real problems in real classrooms. Education keeps growing in techniques and capability. But it’s useful to stop from time to time and remember why we do what we do, and for whom.”