The American Psychological Association’s division on educational psychology has awarded Edward Haertel, professor emeritus at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, its most prestigious prize.

The association’s E.L. Thorndike Career Achievement Award is given each year to living recipients for their substantial contributions to educational psychology. Haertel, an expert on K-12 testing and assessment, will receive the honor and deliver an award address at the association’s annual conference in August 2017 in Washington, D.C.

Haertel, who retired in 2012 as the Jacks Family Professor of Education after more than three decades on the Stanford faculty, has a long history of advancing education research and policy. He has been closely involved, for example, in the creation and maintenance of California’s school accountability system over the last 30 years, and helped craft the state’s response to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and is helping now with plans to meet the new requirements in the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015.

Haertel has also served on advisory committees for other states and for testing companies. Among other key leadership roles, he is a former president of the National Council on Measurement in Education and a former vice president of the National Academy of Education. He has also led the National Research Council’s Board on Testing and Assessment.

Tim Urdan, chairman of the Thorndike Award selection committee, credits Haertel’s decades-long contributions in the areas of assessment, methodology, and bridging the gap between research and policy.

“The committee members were not only impressed with how productive Ed has been through decades of research, but also with his substantial contributions to practice — specifically, how educators assess student learning,” says Urdan, an education and psychology professor at Santa Clara University.

Haertel joins at least 10 other Stanford scholars who have received the Thorndike Award — named after the American psychologist and educator who is considered the founder of modern educational psychology — since it was created half a century ago.

“I’m genuinely astonished,” says Haertel, “to find myself in such distinguished company.”

The award adds to Haertel’s long list of accolades. Earlier this year the American Enterprise Institute named Haertel one of the 200 most influential national scholars who are shaping education policy and practice.

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Krysten Crawford is a freelance writer.