Improving the lives of millions of school children

R. Fulghum (1993) contended that all he really needed to know, he learned in kindergarten. This finding does not generalize to predoctoral-postdoctoral education and school-based action researchers. After 20 years, the author's current aspiration is to collaborate with others to disseminate research-based social and emotional learning programs that improve the lives of millions of school children. High-quality graduate and postdoctoral training inspired this commitment. However, realistically speaking, ongoing early- and midcareer training are needed to achieve it. This author describes 2 sets of advanced learning experiences that strongly affected his current activities. He draws implications from these experiences to encourage more support for the early- and midcareer training of school-based action researchers. The address also highlights several priorities that midcareer scientists should address to advance the positive impact that psychology has on the lives of children.