Herbert J. Walberg

Herbert J. Walberg, 85, died February 6, 2023. Beloved husband of Madoka Walberg nee Bessho, loving father of Herb and daughter-in-law Jennifer, cherished grandfather to HJ and Willa Walberg and Alana Williams. Cousin to many Bauers, Sells and Weinhardts. To his family, Herb was best known for his love of jokes, music, sharing a good meal, generosity to those in need, ALWAYS talking about education, and an endearing habit of falling asleep nearly everywhere.



To the rest of the world, Dr. Herbert J. Walberg was a pioneer in using meta-analysis and other innovative approaches to synthesize educational research. Herb is best known for Walberg's Productivity Model, a renowned theory that he developed on educational productivity. After earning a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, Herb held research posts at the Educational Testing Services and University of Wisconsin. He was a professor at Harvard University before moving back to the Midwest when his son, Herbert J. Walberg III, was born. After more than thirty years as a teacher and research professor in education and psychology at University of Illinois at Chicago, he retired as an Emeritus University Scholar. Herb served as a distinguished fellow at Stanford University where he served on the Koret Task Force and worked as an advisor and consultant for the Vanderbilt University Center for School Choice. He was elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Royal Statistical Society (London), the American Psychological Association, and the Australian Association for Educational Research. Additionally, he was a founding fellow of the International Academy of Education, headquartered in Brussels, where he edited a booklet series on effective educational practices, which is distributed by the United Nations International Bureau of Education (IBE-UNESCO) to over 4,000 education officials in more than 120 countries. Truly an international scholar, he gave invited lectures in Australia, Belgium, China, England, France, Germany, Italy, Israel, Japan, Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Venezuela, and the U.S. as well as many other national and international venues. Supported by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Science Foundation, he was one of the pioneers in comparative research in Japanese and American schools. For the White House and the U.S. Department of State, he organized a radio series and book about American education, which was distributed to over 70 countries. He was an advisor to UNESCO and government officials on education to Australia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Sweden, U.K., and other countries. Herb also frequently testified before U.S. Congressional committees, state legislators, and federal courts and was appointed by President Bush as a founding member of the National Board for Education Sciences. Herb chaired and served on many boards including the Beck Foundation, the Heartland Institute and the Foundation for Teaching Economics.



Herb genuinely loved writing and publishing in the field of education and psychology and wrote or edited more than 75 books and published over 425 articles. For his work, he was not only sought after for speaking engagements and advisory roles, but for interviews from local, national, and international syndicates on various social media including television.



Herb was fortunate to have so many wonderful people in his life. He was admired and loved by his many students, colleagues, and friends. His former doctoral students who became dear friends include Susan Paik, Winnie Stariha, Trudy Wallace, Deborah Williams, Karen Freeman, and Tom Weinstein, and his colleagues with whom he published and shared a love of education and policy, Roger Weissberg, Margaret Wang, Ken Wong, Sam Redding, Geneva Haertel, Chester Finn, Arthur Reynolds, Tim Shanahan, Hersch Waxman, Shiow-ling Tsai, Rena Subotnik, Joseph Bast and more, too many to list. And, later in life, his downtown Chicago supper club friends.



Private funeral. Please join us for a memorial celebration of Herb at a later date. Email WalbergMemorial@gmail.com for details. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the charity of your choice. Arrangements by Smith-Corcoran Funeral Home, 773-736-3833 or visit Herb's memorial at www.smithcorcoran.com