Announcements
Education Policy Dissertation Research Fellowship 2025-2026 Winners!
TREVOR BAISDEN, Ph.D Candidate
Education Policy
Education Policy and Social Analysis Department
“Mom and Pop” Chartering in a New Era of Choice: Contested Logics and Institutional Change in Freestanding Charter Schools
CLAIRE DELCOURT, Ph.D Candidate
Education Policy
Education Policy and Social Analysis Department
How highly politicized classroom content laws are implemented: Constraints on teachers and teacher interpretation and instruction
WHITNEY HOUGH, Ph.D Candidate
Comparative and International Education
International and Transcultural Studies Department
Teachers as Transformative Agents in Protracted Conflict: The Case of Cameroon
SARITA ORE QUISPE, Ph.D Candidate
Economics & Education
Education Policy and Social Analysis Department
Spillover Effects of School Infrastructure Upgrade: Evidence from Peru
NICOLAS ROJAS SOUYET, Ph.D Candidate
Economics & Education
Education Policy and Social Analysis Department
A Loanly Road to Teaching: Recruiting Talented Students Through Service Scholarships
REBECCA SHMOYS, Ph.D Candidate
Education Policy
Education Policy and Social Analysis Department
Benefits for Life: Effects of Intentionally Diverse Charter Schools on Long-Term Social and Academic Student Outcomes
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE WINNERS!
The Education Policy Dissertation Research Fellowship is open to TC students, regardless of their department or program, whose dissertation research has the potential to inform societal efforts to improve educational opportunity, achievement, or equity. This research should be focused on an important policy issue at any level of government, reflect potential for policy utility, and show a strong likelihood of being accepted in the most well-respected journals. Our view of policy relevance is a broad one, encompassing research that affects policy indirectly by shifting public understanding of societal challenges and opportunities for effective intervention.
2024 - 2025 EPSA Education Policy Dissertation Research Fellowships Winners
EMMA HART, Ph.D Candidate
Developmental Psychology
Human Development
Probing Child Skill Development using Longitudinal Educational Intervention Impacts
JESSICA SPERBER, Ph.D Candidate
Developmental Psychology
Human Development
Associations among maternal stress, child epigenetics, and behavioral and cognitive development across early childhood
ANNA KUSHNER, Ph.D Candidate
Education Policy
Education Policy & Social Analysis
Inclusion for whom? A critical policy analysis of trans-inclusive guidance in schools
ARNELA COLIC, Ph.D Candidate
International and Comparative Education
International and Transcultural Studies
Dividing the Demos: Parallel Schooling and Post-War Nation-State Development in Bosnia and Kosovo
ELENA PEEPLES, Ph.D Candidate
Anthropology and Education
International and Transcultural Studies
Planning Expertise and Community Access in Trenton, NJ
2023 - 2024 EPSA Education Policy Dissertation Research Fellowships Winners
Fabiola Alba Vivar, Ph.D Candidate
Economics & Education
Education Policy & Social Analysis Department
Opportunity bound: Transport and access to higher education in a megacity
Tomás Esper, Ph.D Candidate
International & Comparative Education
International & Transcultural Studies Department
Reforming schools via autonomy and accountability: a multi-scalar analysis of the global transformation of education governance
Melissa Giebler, Ph.D Candidate
Developmental Psychology
Human Development Department
Associations among the home language environment, neurodevelopment, and language skill
Jalnidh Kaur, Ph.D Candidate
Economics & Education
Education Policy & Social Analysis Department
Teachers' Beliefs about Education Production: Evidence from India
Cami Touloukian, Ph.D Candidate
Sociology & Education
Education Policy & Social Analysis Department
Education for Social Change: A Historical and Contemporary Analysis of Ideological Shifts, White Supremacy, and the Role of Schooling in the Pursuit of Racial Justice
Ying Xu, Ph.D Candidate
Economics & Education
Education Policy & Social Analysis Department
School Competition, Resource Allocation, and Inequality in Student Outcomes
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE WINNERS!
The Education Policy Dissertation Research Fellowship is open to TC students, regardless of their department or program, whose dissertation research has the potential to inform societal efforts to improve educational opportunity, achievement, or equity. This research should be focused on an important policy issue at any level of government, reflect potential for policy utility, and show a strong likelihood of being accepted in the most well-respected journals. Our view of policy relevance is a broad one, encompassing research that affects policy indirectly by shifting public understanding of societal challenges and opportunities for effective intervention.
2022-2023 Education Policy Dissertation Research Fellowship Winners
Winners of the 2022 – 2023
EPSA Education Policy Dissertation Research Fellowships
Abbas Abbasov, Ph.D Candidate
International & Comparative Education
International & Transcultural Studies Department
The unfolding disaster on college and university campuses in Hong Kong, Johannesburg, and New York City: Examining higher education policy making amidst the Covid-19 pandemic
Saloni Gupta, Ph.D Candidate
Economics & Education
Education Policy & Social Analysis Department
Can innovation be taught in schools? Experimental evidence from India
Kamiya Kumar, Ph.D Candidate
Social Studies Education
Arts & Humanities Department
Shaping Educational Policies through Student Voices
Paula Mantilla-Blanco, Ph.D Candidate
International & Comparative Education
International & Transcultural Studies Department
Education through Memory Sites: Youth and the (Im)Possibility of Peace in Colombia
Isabela Munevar, Ph.D Candidate
Economics & Education
Education Policy & Social Analysis Department
Catholic Schools: academic achievement and gender gaps. Evidence from Chilean school lottery
Sara Sands, Ph.D Candidate
Politics & Education
Education Policy & Social Analysis Department
Teachers as Leaders: Evaluating the Impact of Teacher Leadership on NYC Schools
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE WINNERS!
The Education Policy Dissertation Research Fellowship is open to TC students, regardless of their department or program, whose dissertation research has the potential to inform societal efforts to improve educational opportunity, achievement, or equity. This research should be focused on an important policy issue at any level of government, reflect potential for policy utility, and show a strong likelihood of being accepted in the most well-respected journals. Our view of policy relevance is a broad one, encompassing research that affects policy indirectly by shifting public understanding of societal challenges and opportunities for effective intervention.
2021 -2022 EPSA Education Policy Dissertation Research Fellowships Winner
Leana Cabral, Ph.D Candidate
Sociology & Education
Department of Education Policy & Social Analysis
Black Education Amid COVID & Historical Narratives on Antiblackness
Corrine Kentor, Ph.D Candidate
Anthropology & Education
Department of International & Transcultural Studies
Immigration and Higher Education: Examining the High-School-to-College Transition for Mixed-Status Families in Los Angeles, CA
Erika Kessler, Ph.D Candidate
International & Comparative Education
Department of International & Transcultural Studies
The School Strikes for Climate Change: Why are youth protesting schools?
Matthew Kautz, Ph.D Candidate
History & Education
Department of Arts & Humanities
Punishing Promise: School Discipline and Carceral Expansion
during the Era of Desegregation
Abbey Keener, Ph.D Candidate
Sociology & Education
Department of Education Policy & Social Analysis
Sociospatial Boundaries in the Suburbs: How housing policy works to make and remake educational segregation across the suburban landscape
Tiana Moore, Ph.D Candidate
Developmental Psychology
Department of Human Development
Residential Mobility and Historical Discriminatory Housing Policy’s Influence on Contemporary Child Health and Cognition
EPSA's Statement in support of AAPI Communities
In a year where we have seen so much loss, so much violence, and so much upheaval, it is important to acknowledge that the diversity of our community, our Asian and Asian-American members, our Black members, our Latinx members, and so many more, makes us better people and more engaged scholars. We are richer for having a community that reflects the many different stories of the human experience. We hope we can be a part of creating and educating a world in which marginalized communities can move about safely, without fear, and with the comfort of knowing we support and value them.
We invite the EPSA community to review the resources below to join the fight against AAPI hate, and to support AAPI communities and their members during this time.
Justice and Care for the AAPI community:
Stop AAPI Hate https://stopaapihate.org/
The center tracks and responds to incidents of hate, violence, harassment, discrimination, shunning, and child bullying against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States.
Asian Americans for Equality https://www.aafe.org/donate
Through community development, Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE) advances racial, social and economic justice for Asian Americans and other systematically disadvantaged communities, guided by our experiences as Asian Americans and our commitment to civil rights.
Womankind https://www.iamwomankind.org/
Womankind works with survivors of gender-based violence to rise above trauma and build a path to healing. We bring critical resources and deep cultural competency to help Asian communities find refuge, recovery, and renewal.
Student Health and Wellness Resources:
EPSA Virtual Cafe https://spatial.chat/s/
TC Student Support & Counseling: https://www.tc.columbia.edu/
Columbia Virtual Support Groups https://health.columbia.edu/
Aaron M. Pallas, Chair, Department of Education Policy and Social Analysis (EPSA)
On behalf of the faculty, staff and students of EPSA
Teachers College, Columbia University
A Statement from the Faculty and Staff of EPSA
To members of the EPSA community:
The events of the past week have been a shocking reminder of the prevalence of racism, discrimination, and violence towards Black people in the US. The murder of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis last week is just the latest instance of lethal violence directed at Black people. Many other acts of violence towards Black people, some publicized and others not, have preceded it. It is sickening, and we are outraged at the continuing toll on the Black community.
As a community, EPSA acknowledges the history of white privilege that allows white people to move, speak, and live their lives without fear of violence, while simultaneously abridging the freedoms of people of color to do so. As scholars of education policy and social analysis, we are keenly aware of the deep roots of systemic racism that has led to educational inequalities, unequal health outcomes, and disparate experiences with the criminal justice system. Our platform as researchers, scholars, and engaged citizens gives us the opportunity to educate ourselves and others about anti-Black racism, its sources, and strategies for limiting its pernicious reach. We resolve to work together with our students to explore ways that EPSA can better support this critical work.
To our Black students, alumni, and friends, we see you, we hear you, and we want to support and be with you in your studies, your work, and your lives. To all our friends and colleagues, we are counting on you to join us in an interracial fight for a more just society free of racial bias and unequal treatment. This fight can and will take many forms, and we must press it at every turn.
Aaron M. Pallas, Chair, Department of Education Policy and Social Analysis (EPSA)
On behalf of the faculty and staff of EPSA
Teachers College, Columbia University
Education Policy Dissertation Research Fellowships
Winners of the 2020 – 2021
EPSA Education Policy Dissertation Research Fellowships
Jill Bloomberg, Ph.D. Candidate
Program in Politics and Education
Department of Education Policy & Social Analysis
Principals and the Path to Equity in Diverse Schools: Sensemaking of Policy, Reputation and Race
Maya Escueta, Ph.D. Candidate
Program in Economics and Education
Department of Education Policy & Social Analysis
The Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma: The Effect of a Mother's Childhood Exposure to Armed Conflict
Ashley Macquarrie-Tomey, Ph.D. Candidate
Program in Politics and Education
Department of Education Policy & Social Analysis
Reform by Another Name: Analyzing & Understanding Multisector Educational Public-Private Partnerships as a Vehicle for Reform
Soumya Mishra, Ph.D. Candidate
Program in Education Policy
Department of Education Policy & Social Analysis
Promise versus Practice:
Formulation and Implementation of a Higher Education Policy in India
Atsuko Muroga, Ph.D. Candidate
Program in Economics and Education
Department of Education Policy & Social Analysis
Evaluating the Costs, Benefits, and Returns on Education of A City-Led Preschool Initiative
Carolina Snaider, Ed.D. Candidate
Program in Curriculum and Teaching
Department of Curriculum and Teaching
The Appropriateness of Gender Policies in Early Childhood Education: How Kindergarten Teachers Understand and Put in Practice Gender-Inclusive Policies
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE WINNERS!
The Education Policy Dissertation Research Fellowship is open to TC students, regardless of their department or program, whose dissertation research has the potential to inform societal efforts to improve educational opportunity, achievement, or equity. This research should be focused on an important policy issue at any level of government, reflect potential for policy utility, and show a strong likelihood of being accepted in the most well-respected journals. Our view of policy relevance is a broad one, encompassing research that affects policy indirectly by shifting public understanding of societal challenges and opportunities for effective intervention.