Carly D. Robinson

Carly D. Robinson is the Director of Research for the SCALE Initiative at Stanford University, where she leads research for the National Student Support Accelerator and the AI Hub for Education.

Her work focuses on how education systems can make individualized instruction and supportive relationships more equitably available, more effective, and feasible at scale. She conducts large-scale randomized field experiments, conducted in partnership with states, districts, and educational organizations, to study tutoring, teacher-student relationships, and family engagement. Her current work examines how AI changes students’ learning experiences and educators’ work, including whether it can expand individualized instruction while strengthening the human relationships that support learning.

She is a recipient of the 2025 Early Career Award from the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness and a 2025-26 National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow. Before joining Stanford, she was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Brown University's Annenberg Institute. A former New York City teacher, she holds a Ph.D. in education from Harvard University, where she was a National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellow. She also holds a master's degree in applied positive psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor's degree in psychology from Williams College.