Julia Freeland Fisher is the director of education research at the Clayton Christensen Institute. She leads a team that educates policymakers and community leaders on the power of disruptive innovation in the K-12 and higher education spheres through its research. Her team aims to transform monolithic, factory-model education systems into student-centered designs that educate every student successfully and enable each to realize his or her fullest potential.

Julia is the author of Who You Know: Unlocking Innovations That Expand Students’ Networks (Wiley, 2018). The book focuses on emerging tools and practices that leverage technology to radically expand who students know – their stock of “social capital” – by enhancing their access to and ability to navigate new peer, mentor, and professional networks.

Julia has published and spoken extensively on trends in the EdTech market, blended learning, competency-based education, and the future of schools. Julia’s writing has appeared in outlets including Education Next, Forbes, entrepreneur.com, the Chicago Sun-Times, and CNN. Her recent white papers focus on how disruptive innovations are changing the education landscape. These include The educator’s dilemma: When and how schools should embrace poverty relief with Michael B. Horn, Schools and software: What’s now and what’s next with Alex Hernandez, and Blending toward competency: Early patterns of blended learning and competency-based education in New Hampshire.

Prior to joining the Institute, Julia worked at NewSchools Venture Fund, a venture philanthropy organization that supports education entrepreneurs who are transforming public education. She also served as an instructor in the Yale College Seminar Program. Julia holds a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a JD from Yale Law School.