Atnreakn Alleyne, a doctoral candidate in the University of Delaware's Department of Political Science and International Relations, has been selected as a Strategic Data Project Fellow by Harvard's Center for Education Policy Research.
A cohort of Strategic Data Project Fellows is selected each year by the Harvard center, which places them in partner education agencies around the country to bring high quality research methods and data analysis to bear on strategic management and policy decisions.
Alleyne, a resident of Camden, N.J., has been placed in a two-year fellowship in the Delaware Department of Education, where he will work with the Teacher and Leader Effectiveness Unit to evaluate education reform efforts pioneered through Race to the Top federal funding.
"This is a great opportunity to promote a culture that uses data to drive decision making, especially in education, where the lives of children are at stake," he says.
Through the fellowship, Alleyne will analyze data related to various innovative reform efforts, as well as set up data systems for the state.
Candidates for the fellowship must hold an advanced degree, have a strong background in quantitative analysis, proven leadership and management experience, excellent communications skills and a demonstrated passion for education reform.
Alleyne holds a master of public administration degree from Rutgers University. He and his wife are also the founders of TeenSHARP, a college access organization program that provides underrepresented students with quality preparation, advising, resources, and leadership development to attain higher education.
Recently, Alleyne was awarded a first-place prize of $2,500 from the "Be Big In Your Community" contest sponsored by the publisher Scholastic to train high school students to promote higher education in schools that lack a "college going culture."
