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Dr. Anastasia Kitsantas
PhD, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York
Professor
Educational Psychology

Contact Information

Send email to Dr. Kitsantas

Phone: (703) 993-2688
Email: akitsant (@gmu.edu)

George Mason University
Fairfax Campus
West Building 2001
4400 University Dr.
MS 6D2
Fairfax, VA 22030

Profile

Anastasia Kitsantas PhD, is Professor of Educational Psychology in the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University (GMU). She has served as Director of the PhD in Education Program and the Division of Educational Psychology, Research Methods, and Education Policy. She was also the Academic Program Coordinator of the Educational Psychology Program for 12 years. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology with a specialization in Development, Learning, and Instruction from the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York. She has previously served on the faculties at James Madison University in the School of Psychology and at Florida State University in the Department of Educational Research. Prior to working in higher education, she taught in K-12 settings.

Dr. Kitsantas’ research interests focus on the development of Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) and student motivation across various areas of human functioning including academic learning, athletics, and health. She has also studied the role of learning technologies in supporting student SRL. She finds joy in mentoring students to conduct research in these areas and has chaired more than 35 doctoral dissertations. She is the editor, co-author, or author of three books and over 240 journal articles, book chapters, refereed proceedings, and reports, many of which are directed toward the training of self-regulation. Her publications have appeared in diverse outlets across many fields such as educational psychology, teacher education, learning technologies, health psychology, and sport psychology. She has also published a textbook "Essentials of research methods for educators, https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/essentials-of-research-methods-for-educators/book275625 which won a 2025 Textbook & Academic Authors Association (TAA) Most Promising New Textbook Award. She has presented over 250 papers or invited addresses at local, national, and international conferences. Her research output has been widely cited by others with more than 25,000 Google Scholar citations. She has received funding support for her scholarship by various agencies. She is currently the Principal Investigator of a U.S. Department of Education grant focused on developing self-regulatory skills in literacy and mathematics among school-aged students and their tutors, with the goal of preparing them for postsecondary education, the workplace, and lifelong learning.

Dr. Kitsantas was awarded the Outstanding Dissertation Award by Division 15 of the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1997 and had been honored to receive the 2019 Barry J. Zimmerman Award for Outstanding Contributions to the fields of studying and self-regulated learning research by the Studying and Self-Regulated Learning (SSRL) Special Interest Group (SIG) of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association’s: Division 15, Educational Psychology, a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science (APS), and a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). In addition, in 2024, she was awarded an Honoris Causa Doctoral Degree from the University of Ioannina, Greece. She has excelled at teaching in a variety of course modalities and was awarded a George Mason University Teaching Excellence Award. She is the former Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Experimental Education and has served on the Editorial Boards of a number of professional journals, including Contemporary Educational Psychology, Educational Technology, Research and Development, Metacognition and Learning, Educational Psychology: An International Journal of Experimental Educational Psychology, and many others.

Dr. Kitsantas has been extensively involved in the profession and has held numerous leadership roles in major professional organizations. She served as a Member-at-Large on the Executive Board of APA Division 15 in 2011 and, more recently, chaired both the Fellows Committee and the Webinar Committee. Within AERA’s Studying and Self-Regulated Learning Special Interest Group, she has served as SIG Chair, Program Chair, Chair of the Barry J. Zimmerman Award Committee, and Chair of the Graduate Student Award Committee. She has also contributed to the field through service as a panel reviewer for the Institute of Education Sciences, the National Science Foundation, and other funding agencies. Her professional engagement extends internationally through partnerships between George Mason University and universities abroad, teaching and study abroad initiatives, and continued efforts to cultivate international collaborations. She currently serves as President of APA Division 15, https://apadiv15.org/about-us/

Recent Publications

Selected Books

  • Kitsantas,  A., Cleary, T., DiBenedetto, M. K., & Hiller, S. (2025). Essentials of research methods for educators. SAGE Publications. Textbook & Academic Authors Association. (n.d.). Past textbook award recipients-Most Promising 1st Edition Textbook Award Winner, https://www.taaonline.net/past-textbook-award-recipients
  • Kitsantas, A. & Dabbagh, N. (2010). Learning to Learn with Integrative Learning Technologies (ILT): A Practical Guide for Academic Success. Information Age Publishing.
  • Bembenutty, H., Cleary, T. J., & Kitsantas, A. (Eds.) (2013). Applications of self-regulated learning across diverse disciplines: A tribute to Barry J. Zimmerman.Information Age Publishing.

Selected Publications

  • Kitsantas, A., & Varier, D. (2026). Ready to shift: Supporting goal transitions through self-assessment and calibration in middle school mathematics. Theory Into Practice. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405841.2026.2721204

  • Kitsantas, A., Pamas, R., Nardelli, C., & Wahidi, S. T. (2026). Implementing high-impact tutoring through a self-regulated learning framework: An elementary school case study. The Journal of Educational Research. Advance online publication.  https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.2026.2633435
  • Kitsantas, A., Cleary, T. J., & DiBenedetto, M. K. (2025). Leveraging self-regulated learning principles to enhance instruction and learning of research methods [Aprovechando los   principios del aprendizaje autorregulado para mejorar la enseñanza y el aprendizaje delos métodos de investigación]. Bordón. Revista de Pedagogía, 77(3), 51–75. https://doi.org/10.13042/Bordon.2025.112824
  • Kitsantas, A., Bembenutty, H., Cleary, T. J., Alexander, P. A., DiBenedetto, M. K., Kaplan, A., Kolovelonis, A., Mandell, B. E., Martine, A. J., McCrudden, M. T., Panadero, E., Salisbury-Glennon, J. D., & Schunk, D. (2025). Barry J. Zimmerman’s enduring legacy: The inspiring fusion of self-regulated learning theory, practice, and mentorship. Educational Psychology Review, 37(78), 1-25.

Selected Book Chapters

  • Kitsantas, A., Kolovelonis, A., Gorozidis, G. & Kosmidou, E. (2018).  Connecting self-regulated learning and performance with high school instruction in health and physical education. In M. K. DiBenedetto (Ed.), Connecting self-regulated learning and performance with instruction across high school content areas (pp. 352-377). Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer.
  • Kitsantas, A., Cleary, T. (2016). Development of self-regulation in secondary students A social cognitive instructional perspective. In Wentzel, K., & Miele, D. (Eds). Handbook in Motivation at School. Routledge.
  • Zimmerman, B. J., & Kitsantas, A. (2005). The hidden dimension of personal competence: Self-regulated learning and practice. In A. J. Elliot & C. S. Dweck (Eds.), Handbook of competence and motivation (pp. 204–222). Guilford Press.

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