Please briefly describe how the ICE MA program would help you achieve your academic and professional goals. (1500 characters) Though I have extensively worked in the education field in my non-profit, I have never studied education formally. I believe that a holistic overview of the issues in education and learning might give me the grounding and language required to take grow my non-profit. I have an interest in public policy and believe that policy change is the only way to create impact at scale. I believe that the ICE MA program with it's courses on policy would provide me with an understanding of how government systems work and allow me to become an effective policy advocate. ----- Please describe your research interests and/or any projects you hope to work on in the GSE's doctoral program. (1500 characters) It is my belief that learning spaces must be co-created with learners and must involve high degrees of ownership and agency for learners to craft their own journeys. I hope to understand effective processes to create such spaces, particularly to understand how we can build effective participative assessment methodologies without bringing children any anxiety. Environmental factors and administrative challenges have prevented us from scaling our initiative in the most effective manner. I'm curious to understand how initiatives are built keeping in mind diverse communities and potential environmental shocks that might occur. While I have worked extensively with technology in a startup environment I have never been able to introduce it effectively in a low-resource setting like my non-profit. I would love to understand better how technology can play a role in low resource settings and how it can be used to build more equitable societies.