Improving the lives of millions of school children

R. Fulghum (1993) contended that all he really needed to know, he learned i n kindergarten. This finding does not generalize to predoctoral-postdoctora l 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 mil lions of school children. High-quality graduate and postdoctoral training i nspired this commitment. However, realistically speaking, ongoing early- an d midcareer training are needed to achieve it. This author describes 2 sets of advanced learning experiences that strongly affected his current activi ties. He draws implications from these experiences to encourage age more su pport for the early- and midcareer training of school-based action research ers. The address also highlights several priorities that midcareer scientis ts should address to advance the positive impact that psychology has on the lives of children.