Graduate students in Brown’s Urban Education Policy (UEP) program, class of 2025, presented their capstone projects in a conference-style event attended by faculty, peers, and professionals working across the education policy landscape. This event marked the culmination of the program and showcased each student’s work on a pressing policy issue encountered during their internship.
Throughout the year, students integrate insights from their coursework in policy analysis, data methods, and leadership with their on-the-ground experience in partner organizations. The capstone projects reflect this synthesis, offering policy recommendations grounded in research, data, and the lived realities of students and communities.
“The internship is at the heart of the UEP experience,” says Professor Emily Kalejs Qazilbash, interim director of the UEP program. “Students engage directly with organizations that are working to change outcomes for students and families in local urban school systems, and their capstone projects reflect a deep understanding of the policy landscape, the voices of families and communities, and the systems shaping educational equity.”
Below is a list of UEP students from the Class of 2025 and the titles of their capstone presentations.
Reimagining Support: Centering Students, Families, and Educators in Equitable Schooling
- Arion Brooks: Fugitive Care: Youth Power, Well-Being, and Resistance Beyond the Classroom
- Alexa Kastner: High-Impact Tutoring in Practice: Navigating the Gap Between Research and Reality
- Emily Plummer: Redistributing Power: Student-Led Conferences as a Tool for Family Engagement
- Tyshon Hattori-Lindsey: Centering Teacher Voice: Insights on Belonging, Race, and Instructional Support in Rhode Island Schools
Pathways Forward: Policy, Partnership, and Possibility for Youth in Urban Schools
- Asaada Craig: Local Change, Lasting Solutions: How School & Business Partnership Can Co-Support Students’ Postsecondary Success
- Dana DeMaire: Collaborative Equity: Uniting Schools, Non-Profits, and Policy
- Josh Dufour: Reimagining High School: A Blueprint for Student-Driven, Community-Based Capstone Learning
- Qimei (Coco) Chen: Growing Educators Together: A Case Study of an EPP–ES Partnership
Opening Doors: Evidence from Programs Supporting Underserved Learners
- Sophia Eleni Daphnis: Instruments of Change: Experience, Findings, and Recommendations from the Victoria’s Dream Project Program Evaluation Study
- Thyra Tuttle: Impact of Out-of-School-Time Programs for RI Students
- Dionna Jenkins: Parting the Gates to Giftedness: A Survey Analysis of the I-REECCH Grant
- Juan Loayza-Miranda: Providence Promise: A Path to Higher Education
Building Trust and Transforming Schools: Lessons from Educators, Families and Reform Efforts
- Yu Tian: Planning for Impact: An Evaluation of Last-Dollar Scholarships in the Educator Pathway Program
- Alaira Blackwell: Bridging Gaps in Teacher Certification: Evaluating and Enhancing Equity Institute’s Praxis Exam Prep Workshop
- Kyra Corcoran: Returning Home: A Case Study on Facilities Access and Educational Equity at Highlander Charter School
- Mike Jones: School Policy and Organizational Impact
- Nasia Norris: Charter School Expansion and Parent Perception: Navigating Choice and Trust in Providence
Designing for Impact: Policy and Practice Across Learning Communities
- Emily Greenberg: Building Skills for Small-Group, Peer-Led Instruction
- Lizzy Wendel: Strengthening Faculty Support: Implementing and Evaluating CCRI’s Mentorship Program
- Renina Wynn: Advancing Education Justice Through Community Engagement
- Lauren Do: Strengthening Rhode Island’s DSP Workforce: A Training Program Initiative at The Sargent Center