About

Frank C. Worrell received a BA and a Masters in Psychology at the University of Western Ontario and a Ph.D. in School and Educational Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently a Distinguished Professor in the School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley, where he serves as Faculty Director of the School Psychology program, the Academic Talent Development Program, and the California College Preparatory Academy. His areas of expertise include academic talent development and gifted education, at-risk youth, cultural identities, scale development and validation, teaching effectiveness, time perspective, and the translation of psychological research findings into school-based practice. His research examines the role of psychosocial constructs as risk and protective factors in relation to students’ educational and psychological functioning. Dr. Worrell has held prominent roles in various professional organizations, including serving as the 2022 President of the American Psychological Association, and has been involved in editorial capacities for several journals. He is a Fellow of multiple associations, including the American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association, and the Association for Psychological Science, and is an elected member of the National Academy of Education and the Society for the Study of School Psychology. His numerous awards include the Chancellor’s Award for Advancing Institutional Excellence and Equity from UC Berkeley, the Distinguished Scholar Award from the National Association for Gifted Children, and the Outstanding International Psychologist Award from APA. An accomplished author, Dr. Worrell has published over 350 articles and book chapters, and authored or edited several influential books on talent development, gifted education, and applied school psychology. His ongoing research collaborations span multiple countries, including Brazil, Chile, China, Ethiopia, Germany, Iran, Italy, New Zealand, Slovenia, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Psychology
• Pedagogy
• Mathematics education
• Computer Science
• Sociology
• Cognitive science
• Law
• Epistemology
• Cognitive psychology
• Social psychology
• Public relations

Selected publications

• All They Need is a Little Respect: Exploring Associations Among Identity, Respect, and Teacher Retention

  Psychology in the Schools · 2026-04-07

  articleSenior author

  ABSTRACT The present study utilized data from the 2017 Educator Quality of Work Life Survey (EQWLS). The EQWLS was distributed through the American Federation of Teachers and the Badass Teachers Association to document educators' experiences regarding their well‐being, working conditions, and stressors. We found that the extent to which teachers feel respected is a significant predictor of their likelihood of remaining in the profession. Specifically, feeling respected by supervisors, coworkers, students, and parents was a significant predictor of remaining in the profession when controlling for all demographic variables, including teacher race and gender, after controlling for stress and a sense of safety, suggesting that respect may be a particularly salient and important dimension of teacher retention efforts.

  PublisherDOI

• Underachievement from the Lens of the Talent Development Megamodel

  2026-01-01

  book-chapterSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• A Little Hope Goes a Long Way: Identifying Profiles of Hope Among Gifted and Talented Turkish Adolescents

  Gifted Education International · 2026-03-31 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Gifted and talented (GT) students are widely recognized for their academic strengths, yet less attention is given to their social-emotional experiences. Hope, a cognitive-motivational construct reflecting perceived ability to set meaningful goals, identify pathways to achieve them, and maintain the motivation to pursue those pathways (Snyder, 2002), has been linked to academic and psychosocial functioning but remains underexplored in GT students. In this study, we examined hope profiles in 194 Turkish adolescents attending a residential high school. Using latent profile analysis, two distinct groups emerged: a Hopeful profile characterized by slightly above-average hope scores and a Low Hope profile with substantially below-average scores. Students in the Hopeful profile reported higher positive affect, self-esteem, and well-being, as well as lower depressive symptoms and psychological distress, compared to peers in the Low Hope profile. Findings highlight hope as a meaningful psychosocial resource for GT adolescents and underscore the importance of fostering hope to support talent development.

  PublisherDOI

• Being Gifted and Adolescent: Issues and Needs of Diverse Students

  2026-01-15

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  In this chapter, the author reviews the literature on adolescents from diverse backgrounds. The chapter begins with definitions of adolescence, giftedness, and diverse students, and this section is followed by a review of the literature on disproportionality in the context of the achievement gap. In the third section, the empirical literature on gifted adolescents from several groups, including African Americans, American Indians/Native Americans, Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, and Hispanic Americans, is reviewed. The fourth and fifth sections focus on socio-cultural issues and adolescence as a critical period for development in gifted and talented students. The penultimate section highlights contemporary concerns related to adolescence, including research on the implications of artificial intelligence for schooling and the impacts of COVID-19. The chapter concludes with the implications for the adults who work with gifted adolescents and some questions for the field to consider.

  PublisherDOI

• Gender Similarities and Differences in Time Perspective in the Age of COVID-19

  The Journal of Genetic Psychology · 2025-02-23 · 3 citations

  article

  = 24.77; 50% female) through an online survey. Results showed that women had more negative views about time, spent more time thinking about temporal dimensions, and tended to use more negative emotional terms to define the present and the future compared to men. Albeit data were collected during COVID-19, the lack of studies comparing time perspective before and after the pandemic does not allow us to ascertain the pandemic's impact on gender differences. Hence, a further understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on thoughts and feelings about time by women and men needs to be addressed to successfully cope with future stressful events.

  PublisherDOI

• Violence Against Administrators: The Roles of Student, School, and Community Strengths and Cultural Pluralism

  UNC Libraries · 2025-05-02

  articleOpen access

  Scientific and public attention regarding educator-directed violence has increased over the past 15 years; however, research on violence against administrators is limited. Although school administrators are responsible for school performance and safety, they can be particularly vulnerable to violence from students, teachers, and parents. This study includes 497 pre-K–12th grade school administrators in the United States. A path analysis was conducted to examine the associations between administrator perceptions of student-, school-, and community-level strengths and administrator experiences of verbal/threatening and physical violence. Cultural pluralism, which incorporates student and staff support of cultural differences and honors different voices and cultures in curricula and discussion, was investigated as a moderator of these associations. Results indicate that (a) student strengths are associated with less student verbal/threatening violence against administrators; (b) school strengths are associated with less student and colleague verbal/threatening violence against administrators; and (c) community strengths are associated with less physical violence from students and less verbal/threatening violence from parents against administrators. Cultural pluralism practices significantly moderated the relationship between student strengths and physical violence from colleagues. Findings highlight school practices and policies across the school ecology that are associated with less administrator-directed violence.

  PublisherDOI

• Addressing Violence Against Educators: What Do Teachers Say Works?

  UNC Libraries · 2025-03-04

  articleOpen access

  School personnel safety and well-being have received increased attention via national outlets; however, research is limited. The current investigation is the first to examine the reported use and perceived effectiveness of commonly used school-based intervention approaches for addressing school violence, specifically violence against teachers in U.S. schools. A sample of 4,471 prekindergarten-12th grade teachers was asked to rate the use and perceived effectiveness of common school-based approaches, namely exclusionary discipline (e.g., suspensions), school hardening (e.g., metal detectors, school police), prevention (e.g., school climate improvement, social-emotional learning, classroom management), and crisis intervention practices (e.g., de-escalation, physical restraint) to address verbal/threatening, physical, and property violence against teachers. Findings revealed that teachers rated prevention practices as most effective in reducing violence against teachers. The use of exclusionary discipline and crisis intervention practices at school was positively associated with all three forms of violence. Ratings of the effectiveness of specific practices were associated with lower likelihoods of verbal/threatening (i.e., hardening, prevention), physical (i.e., exclusionary discipline, hardening, prevention), and property (i.e., hardening) violence. Implications for school practice, research, and policy are presented.

  PublisherDOI

• School Safety Concerns and Solutions: A Qualitative Analysis of U.S. School Psychologists’ Perspectives

  Behavioral Sciences · 2025-02-18 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access

  In the present study, we analyzed qualitative survey data from 538 school psychologists across schools in the United States regarding their perceptions of school safety issues and potential strategies to address school safety. There are only a few studies exploring the experiences and perspectives of school psychologists that have been based on large-scale qualitative data. Using inductive coding, three themes for safety concerns emerged: (a) aggressive behaviors from students, (b) mental and behavioral needs, and (c) limited staffing. Three themes also emerged for potential solutions: (a) professional development/training, (b) school-family-community relationships, and (c) threat assessments. These findings from school psychologists have implications for addressing structural issues to prevent school violence in research and practice. Policy recommendations to inform resource allocation and improve school safety are discussed.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in School Psychology Science and Scholarship: Changing Training and Practice in the Field of School Psychology

  UNC Libraries · 2025-04-11

  articleOpen access

  The intentional and sustained actions to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in school psychology science and scholarship, will have reciprocal and dynamic influences on graduate preparation and practice. Herein, the School Psychology Review leadership team provides reflections on several of our intentional efforts, to date, to advocate for and advance DEI in school psychology scholarship, and the associated implications for graduate preparation and practice. Contemporary actions of the School Psychology Review leadership team have included; (a) establishing commitments to advocating for and advancing DEI as the foundation of our scholarship; (b) diversifying journal leadership and editorial board members to reflect the diverse student body school psychologists serve; (c) preparing future diverse journal leadership through mentored editorial fellowship programs, and a student editorial board with members from diverse backgrounds; (d) featuring special topics relevant to further understanding and supporting diverse and minoritized children, youth, families, and school communities; (e) providing professional-development opportunities and resources; (f) implementation of Open Science opportunities in the journal, (g) implementing triple anonymous peer review to reduce bias, and (h) implementing a journal action plan focused on advancing DEI. Collectively these efforts are aimed to influence positive change in advancing and sustaining DEI efforts in school psychology science, scholarship, graduate preparation and practice.

  PublisherDOI

• William E. Cross, Jr. (1940–2024).

  American Psychologist · 2025-04-07

  articleSenior author

  Presents an obituary for Dr. William E. Cross, Jr. Dr. Cross's educational and psychological careers are summarized and professional recognitions and awards are noted. It is noted that his nigrescence theory revolutionized research on Black racial identity and transformed understanding of race, ethnicity, and culture. Cross's theories provided a foundation for several widely used measures of racial identity, y, including the Racial Identity Attitude Scale (1981), the Cross Racial Identity Scale (2001), and the Cross Ethnic-Racial Identity Scale (2019), which was an adaptation of the Cross Racial Identity Scale for use with people from multiple ethnic and racial groups. His psychological research was rooted in the sociohistorical realities of the Black experience, helped challenge dominant, "damage-centered" narratives in psychology. Instead, he emphasized the strength, complexity, and resilience of Black communities, changing the way we approach racial identity and consciousness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Rena F. Subotnik

  University of California, Berkeley

  62 shared

• Paula Olszewski‐Kubilius

  Northwestern University

  61 shared

• Zena R. Mello

  San Francisco State University

  53 shared

• Michael T. McKay

  University of Ulster

  29 shared

• Jon C. Cole

  University of Liverpool

  18 shared

• Dante D. Dixson

  Michigan State University

  17 shared

• Beverly J. Vandiver

  The Ohio State University

  16 shared

• Dorothy L. Espelage

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  15 shared

Labs

• School Psychology Program at UC BerkeleyPI

Education

• PhD/Educational & School Psychology, Graduate School of Education

  University of California, Berkeley

• Masters of Arts, Psychology

  University of Western Ontario

  1987

• Bachelor of Arts (Honours), Psychology

  University of Western Ontario

  1985

Awards & honors

• Chancellor’s Award for Advancing Institutional Excellence an…
• Distinguished Scholar Award from the National Association fo…
• Distinguished Contributions to Research Award from the Divis…
• Outstanding International Psychologist Award from Division 5…
• Palmarium Award for Gifted Education from the Morgridge Coll…