Staff
John R. Mergendoller, PhD
Executive Director
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | 415.883.0122 x 305
John's professional career has encompassed teaching, research and evaluation, curriculum, pedagogical and professional development. He began his career teaching music in rural Louisiana elementary schools as a VISTA volunteer, and then taught high school English at Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, New Hampshire. He concluded his high school teaching career by teaching English and French in Roxbury Latin School in West Roxbury, Massachusetts.
John left teaching to attend Harvard Graduate School of Education and the University of Michigan, where he worked with Phyllis Blumenfeld and Loren Barritt. After graduation, John then took a position at Far West Laboratory (now WestEd), a federally-funded regional educational laboratory, and rose to become Senior Program Director. In 1989, he left Far West to become BIE's first Research Director. In 2000, following a national search, BIE's Board selected John as Executive Direcor.
During his career, John has published his work in the following peer-reviewed journals: American Educational Research Journal, Educational Researcher, Teaching and Teacher Education, Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem Based Learning, Journal of Research on Computing in Education, Journal of Economi Education, Simulation and Gaming, Journal of Educational Research, California Journal of Middle Grades Research and The Social Studies. He has contributed chapters to the following books: Handbook of Classroom Management: Research, Practice and Contempory Issues, Encyclopedia of Psychology, Technology and Teacher Education Annual, The Educator's Handbook: A Research Perspective and Handbook of Classroom Management.
John received an A.B. in Letters from Wesleyan University, an Ed.M. from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a Ph.D. in Education and Psychology from the University of Michigan. He lives in Marin County, California with his wife, Jessica Muller, and a Yellow Lab named Juno.
