November 15, 2022

Dr. Theo Dawson is the founder and CEO of Lectica, Inc. Since the early 1990s, Dawson’s research has focused on developing and building an alternative assessment infrastructure and the technologies to support it. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education. Her award-winning dissertation presented a new approach to measuring learning and describing learning pathways. 

She is the author of numerous articles, book chapters and papers on issues related to human development in journals such as Cognitive Development, Mind, Brain, and Education, The European Journal of Developmental Psychology, Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, The Journal of Applied Measurement, and Developmental Review, has contributed chapters to several edited books, has made many presentations at professional conferences and events. 

Dr. Dawson has run several successful organizations, including Lectica, Inc., and its predecessor, the Developmental Testing Service, LLC. She has secured more than $1.5 million in grants from funding agencies like the Spencer Foundation, the NSF, and IES, and has held appointments at the University of California at Berkeley, Hampshire College, the Medical Center at Louisiana State University, and the Graduate…