Madeline Cheek Hunter (1916–1994) was an American educator who developed a model for teaching and learning that was widely adopted by schools during the last quarter of the 20th century.
As Hunter was a "sickly" child, the family ultimately moved to California to avoid the harsh winters in Saskatchewan.
In junior high she was placed in an experimental school to test some of Stanford University's psychological theories on intelligence.
As a 16-year-old she entered the University of California at Los Angeles as a combination pre-medicine and psychology major while continuing her ballet dancing.
She had to choose either going to South America on tour with the Ballet Russe or finishing her degree in pre-medicine.
She chose to finish her degree and then realized that she had limited hand eye coordination which would deny her the chance of becoming a neurological surgeon.
A second influence occurred during her first work experiences at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles and at Juvenile Hall.During World War II she married an engineer, Robert Hunter, who worked at Lockheed Aviation until he retired.
She held many positions, including school psychologist, principal, director of research, and assistant superintendent.
In Hunter's lifetime, she wrote 12 books, over 300 articles, and produced 17 videotape collections.
According to the Graduate School of Education at U.C.L.A where she worked, Hunter died at the age of 78 in Los Angeles from a series of strokes.
Madeline Hunter developed the Instructional Theory into Practice teaching model.