Prashant Loyalka

Prashant Loyalka is a Center Research Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and an Assistant Professor (Research) at the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University. His research focuses on examining/addressing inequalities in the education of youth and on understanding/improving the quality of education received by youth in large developing economies, including China, Russia and India. In the course of addressing educational inequalities, Prashant examines the consequences of tracking, financial and informational constraints, and psycho-social factors in highly competitive education systems. His work on understanding educational quality is built around research that assesses and compares student learning in higher education, high school and compulsory schooling. Furthermore, he conducts large-scale evaluations of educational programs and policies that seek to improve student outcomes.

Prashant’s research agenda is based on long-established and close collaborations with researchers at a number of universities in China, Russia's National University Higher School of Economics and Apple University. Before coming to Stanford, Prashant worked as an Assistant Professor in Peking University. He spent five years (2007-2012) at the China Institute for Educational Finance Research, a think tank that conducts research and makes policy recommendations directly to China's Ministries of Finance and Education.