Shelley Pasnik, CCT's former Director from 2007–2021, is Senior Vice President of the Education Development Center, where she leads the global nonprofit's business development strategy and communication groups. At CCT, she directs a team that advances knowledge of how the thoughtful use of technology can support educators in enhancing learning, engaging families, and closing opportunity gaps. Her long-term research on young children and technology is providing evidence of effective strategies to foster school readiness and success—especially for young children living in impoverished communities—that is helping inform policy-making and practice in the U.S. and around the world.

In 2019, Shelley edited the collected volume, Getting Ready to Learn: Creating Effective, Educational Children’s Media (Routledge), which describes how educational media have played and are continuing to play a role in meeting the learning needs of children, parents, and teachers. The book is based on a $100 million federal program that uses media to improve the literacy and STEM skills of children in high-need communities. Shelley invited Sir Ken Robinson and Dr. Alice Wilder to write the foreword and recruited more than 45 leading children’s media producers, programmers, researchers, and community outreach experts to contribute. She also shares insights from this work at national forums, such as the White House Symposium on Early STEM Learning, the American Educational Research Association, Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness, and the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

A spokesperson for the thoughtful integration of digital media in education, Shelley frequently talks with news outlets, including The New York Times, Axios, Christian Science Monitor, EdWeek, Reuters, NPR, and The Washington Post. She has served on advisory boards, including Apple ConnectEd, Games for Change, Joan Ganz Cooney Center, and Global Action Project.