PhD Candidate · Harvard Graduate School of Education
I am a PhD candidate in Education Policy and Program Evaluation at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. My research applies the tools of applied microeconomics to study education systems in low- and middle-income countries.
I’m particularly interested in how teacher professional development programs and policies can improve teaching quality and student learning outcomes at the K–12 level. My current work examines teacher training interventions, school governance reforms, and parental engagement strategies in Pakistan, using experimental and quasi-experimental methods to identify what works, for whom, and why.
Before Harvard, I managed a large-scale education research portfolio at the Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan (CERP) with Professor Asim Khwaja and worked on education campaigns across Pakistan. I hold a Master of Public Administration from Central European University and a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from UET Lahore.
Experimental and quasi-experimental evaluations of K–12 interventions in Pakistan. Click a paper for the draft or abstract.
This paper evaluates the impact of a teacher professional development intervention based on reflective learning practices on teaching quality and student outcomes in Pakistan.
This paper studies the effects of a parental engagement intervention on mitigating learning loss in Pakistan.
In this project, I evaluate the impact of Punjab's school upgradation policy — which upgraded primary and middle schools to offer higher grade levels — on student enrollment and learning outcomes, using staggered difference-in-differences methods.
Email is the best way to reach me — rroohullah@g.harvard.edu
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Cambridge, MA 02138
Open to chatting with students from Pakistan considering a PhD in economics or education.