Carol Ann Tomlinson

William Clay Parrish, Jr. Professor Emerita, University of Virginia

Carol Ann Tomlinson is William Clay Parrish, Jr. Professor Emerita at the University of Virginia’s School of Education and Human Development, where she served on the faculty for 29 years, including serving as Chair of Educational Leadership, Foundations, and Policy, and Co-Director of the University’s Institutes on Academic Diversity. Prior to joining the faculty at UVA, she was a teacher in public schools for 21 years, during which she taught students in high school, preschool, and middle school and also administered programs for struggling and advanced learners. She was Virginia’s Teacher of the Year in 1974.

Carol was named Outstanding Professor at UVA’s School of Education and Human Development in 2004 and received an All-University Teaching Award in 2008. In 2022, she was ranked #12 in the Education Week Edu-Scholar Public Presence Rankings of the 200 “University-based academics who are contributing most substantially to public debates about schools and schooling,” and as the #4 voice in Curriculum.

Carol is author of over 300 books, book chapters, articles, and other educational materials, including How to Differentiate Instruction in Academically Diverse Classrooms (3rd Ed.), The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners (2nd Ed.), and So Each May Soar: The Principles and Practices of Learner-Centered Classrooms.

She works throughout the United States and internationally with educators who seek to create classrooms that are more effective with academically diverse student populations.