Carol Fendt

Carol R. Fendt is the director of the Promoting Action, Inquiry and Reflection in Evaluation (PRAIRIE) Group, housed at the Learning Sciences Research Institute (LSRI) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). The PRAIRIE Group focuses on conducting developmental, formative, and responsive program evaluations drawing on multidisciplinary research methodologies and analytic approaches. Prior to coming to UIC, Fendt was a research assistant at the Consortium on Chicago School Research. When it was established in 2002, Fendt was one of three original founders of PRAIRIE Group. She became the sole director in 2016. In 2019 she oversaw the move from UIC’s College of Education to the LSRI, where the multidisciplinary approach enhances the objectives of the PRAIRIE Group.

Fendt has an extensive background conducting evaluations of varying scopes and complexities –from small pilot programs to large-scale reform initiatives –in a wide range of educational realms, including K-12 formal education, out-of-school educational partnerships, teacher preparation programs, as well as adult formal and informal education, training, and professional development. Her personal focus is on the implementation of reforms in large urban settings.

Fendt has evaluated programs for Chicago Public Schools, multiple research universities, museums, as well as federally funded and privately funded educational initiatives. Under her direction, the PRAIRIE Group currently serves as the external evaluator for “Integrating Pathways: Student Success through Junior Year Transition,” at Governors State University and funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

Also ongoing is the PRAIRIE Group’s formative assessment for UIC’s five-year “Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Inclusive Excellence Initiative.”Under Fendt’s direction, the PRAIRIE Group has helped Principal Investigators (PIs) strengthen their theory of action and provided formative feedback to the leadership team.

PRAIRIE Group has been collecting evaluation data and providing formative feedback across all strands of UIC’s Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI)Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM)Grant: “Increasing LATIN@s Access to Networks for Advancement in Science (L@S GANAS).” In the final year of a five-year Department of Education grant, work is underway to secure further funding.

Fendt is Co-author of Math and Science Education Systemic Reform in Chicago, 2002-2008. A White Paper(Loyola University, 2009), and Language Matters: Developing Educators’ Expertise for English Learners in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities. Language, Culture and Curriculum (2018)

Fendt holds a BS in English and Secondary Education (University of Wisconsin -Milwaukee, 1987), an MA in Educational Administration (Dominican University, River Forest, IL, 1995) and a PhD in Educational Policy Studies (University of Illinois at Chicago, 2010). She is a member of and a presenter/reviewer for the American Evaluation Association.

This year, Fendt and the PRAIRIE Group began to evaluate UIC’s National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded five-year “Monarchs and Milkweeds Project: An Integrated and CulturallyRelevant Science Curriculum.”