Nicole C. Mittenfelner Carl University of Pennsylvania, USA

Nicole Mittenfelner Carl is a postdoctoral fellow in the Teaching, Learning, and Leadership Division at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. She received her doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Pennsylvania in 2017. Carl teaches courses related to qualitative research methods, practitioner research for educational leaders, and mentoring strategies for veteran teachers coaching first-year teachers.

Carl has been conducting qualitative research for more than a decade, beginning in 2005, when she was awarded a Mellon Fellowship. Since then, she has led and participated in numerous qualitative and mixed-methods research projects. She recently co-authored a text for Harvard Education Press, Applied Research for Sustainable Change: A Guide for Education Leaders, that exemplifies ways for practitioners to use local research as a driver of school change. Carl has also published several articles on students’ experiences with schooling, democratizing schooling, the impacts of educational policies on teachers and leaders, and applied research in peer-reviewed journals.

Carl has worked with school leaders, teachers, and students in various settings (public and independent) to consider ways to use research to drive school improvement. She has also led a multiyear, multisite evaluation of the impact of these projects on the schools and individuals involved. She continues to research ways that practitioners can conduct and use research in their schools, and she supports educators in the implementation of these projects.