Kathleen Carroll is owner of Kathleen Carroll Communications, a full-service editorial company founded in 2014. Prior, she had a 14-year career in daily newspapers and was the founding Publications Editor for TNTP, a national education nonprofit.
Her work is focused on making the complex clear for maximum impact, with a driving interest and enduring commitment to communications in the public interest.
Kathleen has won the nation’s top prizes for longform education and investigative reporting, as well as a dozen national and regional awards for narrative, commentary, and public service journalism, from organizations including Education Writers Association, Investigative Reporters and Editors, Livingston Awards, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Society of Silurians, Newswomen's Club of New York, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the New Jersey Press Association.
As an editorial writer for The Record (Bergen County, NJ), she covered and critiqued major regional issues such as public employee pension plans, mass transit, and education funding. Earlier, as lead education reporter, she reported on federal and state policy, teachers unions, and curriculum trends. Major investigations into public preschool funding and inner-city school construction prompted federal prosecutions and statewide reforms. Her in-depth narrative reporting about students with autism inspired new state laws.
Kathleen began her career at the New York Times, where she contributed local reporting and supported the foreign desk in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and dawn of U.S. action in Afghanistan and Iraq. She was a contributor to the Times’ post-9/11 Neediest Cases appeal, which raised $60 million.
Kathleen earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from McGill University and a master’s degree in teaching as a graduate fellow at Montclair State University. She lives in Montclair, NJ, with her husband and sons. She is an active public-school parent and mentor to young journalists.
Currently, Kathleen partners with foundations and changemaking organizations to refine and share their experiences in high-impact communications, including whitepapers, books, and magazine articles. She applies her expertise and writing, interviewing, and analytical skills to a variety of projects, from case studies to organizational vision statements. As a developmental editor, she helps funders, analysts, and researchers translate on-the-ground discoveries and data into compelling narratives with actionable implications for public policy. She is also available to help individuals and organizations strategically shape and articulate their messages, including through collaborative writing, designing brainstorming sessions, and leading professional-development seminars.
Recent clients include Carnegie Corporation of New York, Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Bloomberg Philanthropies/Global Cities, the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, the Knowledge Matters Campaign, Education First, Disruptive Partners, Dalio Philanthropies, Education Pioneers, and Grantmakers for Education.