Dr. Candice Bocala

Biography

Candice Bocala is a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where her research focuses on the connections between educator learning and organizational conditions that support collaborative work. She studies how schools and districts utilize data for continuous improvement to build equitable schools. Bocala serves as the research director for the Data Wise Project at HGSE and co-chairs multiple Data Wise Institutes. She is a co-author of "Data Wise: Educators Collaborating to Make Learning Thrives" (Harvard Education Press, 2025) and the "Internal Coherence Framework: Supporting Conditions for Continuous Improvement in Schools" (Harvard Education Press, 2017). With a career beginning as an elementary school teacher in Washington, D.C., Bocala has experience as a senior research associate at WestEd, a researcher, technical assistance provider, and data coach, and has led numerous formative and developmental evaluation projects using a collaborative, participatory approach. She holds an Ed.D. from Harvard Graduate School of Education, an M.A.T. in elementary education from American University, an M.A. in policy analysis and evaluation from Stanford University, and a B.A. in government from Cornell University.

Research Interests