You say you need some tests translated from Hindi to Spanish? Well I'm your girl! It's like my whole life has been building to this moment:

And We're Off!

I just finished up my first week at Peru’s Ministry of Education (MINEDU). I’ve mostly been reviewing academic papers and PowerPoint presentations in an accelerated attempt to get up to speed. My MINEDU Dropbox folder has swelled to twelve subfolders, and I’ve learned plenty of new buzzwords in Spanish (my favorite so far is “retroalimentación,” which is a very literal translation of  “feedback”).

My main takeaway so far? I had no idea that policymakers took academic papers this seriously. Around the Kennedy School, I feel like it’s common to hear professors and students lament the divide between academia and government. In the week that I’ve been here, however, I’ve seen the ministry draw on sources of expertise as diverse as J-PAL, Pratham, McKinsey, and the University of Oregon Center on Teaching and Learning. It’s encouraging and a little sobering to realize that those “ivory tower” debates sometimes have avid listeners.

Looking Back, Moving Forward

I hear office wear in Peru is a little different...

I'm posting this from my old office in Chennai, India, where I'm spending a few weeks setting up a study with female flower-garland stringers. Then I'm headed to Lima, Peru. I'll spend the rest of the summer working for the Ministry of Education there, thanks to generous funding from the Women and Public Program and additional support from the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies. 

One of the projects I'll be working on is adapting a successful tutoring model from India to help struggling students in Lima. I'm excited to have a chance to visit both countries this summer, and to apply lessons I've learned here in India toward closing the gender gap in education in Peru.