Clayton R. Cook

Clayton R. Cook, PhD, is a psychologist and educational scientist whose work focuses on promoting students’ social, emotional, behavioral, and academic well-being through evidence-based, multi-tiered systems of support. He serves as chief development officer and implementation scientist at CharacterStrong, where he helps design and evaluate social-emotional learning and character education programs, and has previously held faculty positions at Louisiana State University, the University of Washington, and the University of Minnesota, including the John W. and Nancy E. Peyton Faculty Fellowship in Child and Adolescent Wellbeing. He earned his PhD in school psychology from the University of California, Riverside, and is a credentialed school psychologist in California.

Dr. Cook has authored or coauthored more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and multiple books and programs on school-based interventions, including coauthoring The Recipe for Student Well-Being: Five Key Ingredients for Social, Behavioral, and Academic Success. His scholarship includes the development of the Establish–Maintain–Restore (EMR) method for fostering positive teacher–student relationships, as well as research on universal screening, behavior intervention plans, and multi-tiered supports aimed at improving youth mental health and educator resilience.