Developmental
Research Institute

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Nonprofit · Human Development Research

Advancing the Science of Human Development

DRI conducts and shares research that helps people better understand human development across the lifespan, empowering educators, organizations, communities, and practitioners to navigate an increasingly complex world.
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Our Mission

Why It Matters

Why Human Development Matters

Today’s most complex challenges cannot be solved by information alone. They also require a deeper understanding of how people develop—the ways we think, learn, relate to others, collaborate, lead, and respond to complexity. Developmental research helps explain how these capacities emerge in childhood and continue evolving across the lifespan. DRI advances this science so families, educators, practitioners, organizations, and communities can better support healthy development at every stage of life.
Two dirt paths merge into one winding trail across green hills, with a rainbow arcing beneath a rising sun.

20+

Published Studies

25+

Years Advancing Developmental Science

[#]

Countries Represented

[#]+

Practitioners, Educators & Leaders Reached

WHAT WE DO

Four Pillars of Our Mission

DRI works across research, education, publication, and community to make developmental science accessible and useful in the world.

Research

Conducting studies that ground research in application, and application in research

Education

Making developmental science accessible to counselors, educators, and practitioners

Publication

A clearinghouse of references and research documenting human development across the lifespan

Community

Connecting an international community of researchers, practitioners, and educators

OUR APPROACH

From Theory to Evidence

Many frameworks describe how people grow. Few can measure it. DRI’s work rests on turning developmental theory into validated, repeatable measurement.

OBSERVE

Decades of developmental theory

Building on Loevinger's ego development research, developmental science describes how meaning-making matures from early childhood through late adulthood.

MEASURE

A validated instrument

The STAGES model translates theory into a scoring system with peer-reviewed evidence for inter-rater reliability, convergent validity, and longitudinal growth.

APPLY

Evidence in practice

Validated measurement lets educators, counselors, and organizations ground their work in evidence rather than intuition alone.

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ABOUT DRI

Research That Serves Humanity

The Developmental Research Institute supports individuals, practitioners, educators, and organizations seeking a deeper understanding of human development across the lifespan and its application in practice.

Our purpose is to support the development of humanity through investigating the unfolding of consciousness in individuals and collectives.

— DRI Mission Statement

Learn about our mission
Table of the STAGES Matrix showing twelve developmental stages, 1.0 Impulsive through 6.5 Illumined, classified by tier, social preference, and learning sequence.

Advancing the Validation Research Behind STAGES

A peer-reviewed validation of the STAGES developmental model, covering inter-rater reliability, longitudinal growth, and Rasch analysis across ten independent studies.

O’Fallon, Murray et al. · Heliyon (Elsevier)

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OUR REACH

A Global Community of Practice

Developmental Research Institute serves an international community of researchers, educators, practitioners, and organizational leaders advancing the science of human development. Now headquartered in Montana, DRI continues to foster research, education, and collaboration with partners around the world while expanding opportunities for collaboration throughout Montana and beyond.

Partner With DRI

Support the development of humanity

DRI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Every study we publish is made freely available to the educators, counselors, and researchers who put it to work. Your gift keeps this research moving.

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