Name: Arja Dayal
Email: ad5313@nyu.edu
Program: International Education
Research Interests: Inclusive education, education policy, accountability, child protection, learning assessments in low-, middle-income, and conflict settings
Principal Advisor(s): Elisabeth King
Research Description/Bio: Arja Dayal is a second-year doctoral student in the International Education program at NYU Steinhardt. Her research interest lies in investigating issues of inclusive education for the marginalized groups in low-, and middle-income contexts in Africa and South Asia. During her doctoral study, she will focus on supply-side and demand-side barriers faced by children with disabilities and out-of-school children by looking into policy uptake, implementation fidelity, and accountability models that can impact short-term and long-term outcomes. She plans to use quantitative and mixed methods research design.
Her varied experiences both in the classroom as well as at the policy level fuel her interest to employ an interdisciplinary lens and the use of evidence-back decision-making to problems in the education sector. Prior to her doctoral studies, she worked with academics, donors, government, and implementing partners to undertake multiple rigorous evaluations across sectors, primarily using randomized control trials in Liberia, and Sierra-Leone with Innovations for Poverty Action, and using mixed methods quasi-experimental study in Timor-Leste. Recently, Arja supported the drafting of the first Liberian National Assessment Policy and Framework and the development of the Grades 3 and 6 assessments. As a Teach for India Fellow, she also embedded herself as a second and third-grade teacher in a low-income public school working not only on student outcomes but also engaging with parents, school management, and the community on projects.
She holds a master’s in Public Administration in Development Practice from the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, and a bachelor’s (honors) in Economics from Hindu College, University of Delhi.