Name: Arja Dayal
Email: ad5313@nyu.edu
Program: International Education
Research Interests: Education policy, learning crisis, inclusive education, peer preferences, intergroup prejudices, classroom exclusion, Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia
Principal Advisor(s): Elisabeth King (Committee Chair), Janet Njelesani, Andreas de Barros (UC Irvine)
Research Description/Bio: Arja Dayal is a sixth-year doctoral student in the International Education program at NYU Steinhardt. She also serves as a Senior Education Research Advisor at Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) Africa.
Her research intersects education policy, social psychology, and disability studies, integrating two historically parallel agendas: the foundational learning crisis and disability inclusion. Centering disability as a critical lens, she is conducting a disability-centered equity inquiry that investigates whether policy commitments translate into equitable classroom realities in Zambia.
With nearly a decade of experience in field research, policy, and classroom settings, she employs interdisciplinary, quantitative, and evidence-based approaches. 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. 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.
Selected Awards, Publications, and Presentations:
Awards:
- NAEd/ Spencer Dissertation Fellowship, USD 27,500 (2026-27)
- SREE Conference Support Grant, USD 750 (2025)
- NYU International Education Conference Support, USD 1,000 (2025)
- NYU Doctoral Funding Support, USD 1,500 (2025)
- NYU Steinhardt Shearwater Small Grant (2022; 2023)
- NYU Bañuelos Family Changemaker Fellowship, USD 10,000 (Summer 2022)
Publications:
Acris, S., Blewitt, A., Cabochan, L., Dayal, A., Huff, K R., King, E., and Salvatore, J. Disrupting Partisan Bias through Arts: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment. (in preparation)
Desrosiers, A., Kumar, P., Dayal, A., Alex, L., Akram, A., and Betancourt, T. Diffusion and spillover effects of an evidence-based mental health intervention among peers and caregivers of high-risk youth in Sierra Leone: study protocol. BMC Psychiatry 20, 85 (2020).
Reports:
Liberia National Learning Assessment Policy, 2021