People

Having data is not enough to make a lasting difference in education. We need the right people to analyze and promote rigorous evidence in the service of positive change. 

  • Meet Our Fellows

    Akisha JonesAkisha Osei Sarfo is the Director of Research at the Council of the Great City Schools. After earning a PhD in Education, Evaluation, Measurement, and Statistics from the University of Delaware in 2015, Akisha joined SDP as a Fellow in Guilford County Schools in North Carolina, where she created a model that predicts the relationship between teacher race and disproportionate disciplinary referrals for Black students. After her fellowship concluded, she worked in consulting before returning to Guilford County Schools as the Chief Performance Officer. Akisha is also a Board Member and Co-Program Chair for the Eastern Evaluation Society, an organization that uses evaluation and research methods to improve professional capacity building.

  • Meet Our Faculty

    Martin West is an Associate Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government where he studies the politics of K-12 education policy in the United States and the effectiveness of reform strategies in improving student achievement. His projects include studies of the teacher labor markets, the effects of competition on student achievement across countries, and Americans' understanding of and opinions on education policy.  West serves as an executive editor of Education Next, a journal of opinion and research on education policy and is deputy director of Harvard's Program on Education Policy and Governance.

  • Meet our Fellows

    As an SDP Fellow and supervisor for the Delaware Department of Education, Atnre Alleyne led efforts to improve equity in access and outcomes in the domains of teacher  and leader effectiveness. During his time with the state department, he improved data management, technology system design, and data capacity building across districts. Atnre Alleyne is now the Founder and Executive Director of the Delaware Campaign for Achievement Now. DelawareCAN is a nonprofit that works to empower Delawareans to advocate for high-quality educational systems.  Further demonstrating his commitment to improving access to education, Atnre co-founded the award-winning organization TeenSharp, which works to improve access to college for middle and high schools students in the Philadelphia area. 

  • Meet Our Faculty

    LPLindsay C. Page is an SDP Faculty Advisor, former CEPR Research Associate, and current assistant professor of research methodology at the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh. Her work focuses on quantitative methods and their application to questions regarding the effectiveness of educational policies and programs across the pre-school to postsecondary spectrum. Much of her recent work has focused on investigating solutions to “summer melt,” the phenomenon that college-intending students fail to transition successfully from high school to college. Lindsay’s work has received significant media attention, having been covered by outlets such as Morning Edition and Marketplace on National Public Radio and in the L.A. Times

  • Meet Our Staff

    Miriam is the Senior Director of the Strategic Data Project, overseeing the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University's efforts to build and sustain data-driven leadership and research capacity in education systems and organizations. She provides direction and support for the SDP Fellowship programs, the SDP Institute for Leadership in Analytics, and the Partnering in Education Research Fellowship, among other key initiatives. Miriam also contributes to strategic leadership activities for the center. Previously, Miriam directed the Best Foot Forward project, an impact evaluation of the use of video technology in teacher evaluation. Her work has been published in Education Finance and PolicyEducation Administration Quarterly, and Education Week, among other publications. Miriam is also a lecturer at the University of Virginia on evaluating social innovation. She is a graduate of the George Washington University and the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government. Prior to joining the CEPR, Miriam managed strategic communications for the assessment and evaluation department at The New Teacher Project (TNTP). She played a critical role in the organization’s knowledge management strategy and helped launch performance-based teacher certification programs in Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, and Illinois.