Ebony N. Bridwell-Mitchell

Ebony Bridwell-Mitchell is the Herbert A. Simon Professor of Education, Management and Organizational Behavior at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. She studies how institutional and organizational conditions enable and inhibit the implementation of U.S. K-12 education reform policies. Her research, employing both qualitative and quantitative methods, such as social network analysis, has been published in high-impact peer-reviewed journals across fields, translated for practice-oriented outlets, supported by funders, such as the National Science Foundation, and awarded by professional associations. Ultimately, Bridwell-Mitchell’s research program aims to provide researchers, policymakers, and practitioners with theoretically grounded and empirically rigorous conceptual frameworks, analytical tools, and research evidence needed to improve schools and extend educational opportunities, especially for underserved students. The values driving her work were instilled by parents with long careers in education and human services and a family with rural roots prizing integrity, hard work, and fair play. Bridwell-Mitchell’s early experiences in Montessori education taught her to value self-directed, interdisciplinary learning, and problem solving as much for the sake of personal fulfillment as individual attainment. She brings these values not only to her work as a researcher and teacher in academia but also when partnering with leading-edge education organizations to support organizational development, institutional change, and school reform across the country.