Ishita Ahmed Awarded Prestigious Fellowship for Her Work in Justice-Focused Education Assessment

National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME)

PHILADELPHIA, PA — Ishita Ahmed, a doctoral candidate at Stanford University, has been named the 2024 recipient of the CMJ-NBME Dissertation Fellowship. This accolade recognizes Ahmed’s commitment to developing an assessment and measurement system that champions justice and inclusivity. The fellowship, known for promoting diversity and anti-racist practices, supports Ahmed’s research in making educational assessments more reflective of students’ lived experiences.

Allison Acevedo of NBME praised Ahmed’s innovative approach to evaluation, which prioritizes executive functions—a set of cognitive processes crucial for learning. Ahmed’s work aims to integrate these functions into assessment models that value diverse cultural backgrounds and experiences.

Ahmed’s research focuses on identifying ways children in rural Bangladesh use executive functions in daily activities, highlighting the need for assessments that capture these out-of-classroom learning experiences. Her goal is to reshape global education policy evaluation by introducing a framework that accommodates the varied learning contexts of children from different backgrounds.

By bridging her Bangladeshi American heritage with her academic pursuits, Ahmed contributes a unique perspective to the fellowship’s mission of fostering an anti-racist assessment field. She advocates for assessments that acknowledge and validate the cultural identities of all learners.

The CMJ-NBME Fellowship offers a stipend for dissertation research and provides opportunities for networking, skill development, and professional growth in the field of educational assessment. Jennifer Randall, PhD, President of CMJ, commended Ahmed’s broad commitment to equity and justice in education.

Ahmed’s work stands as a testament to the importance of developing educational assessments that are not only fair but also empowering for students from all walks of life. Through her research, she aims to ensure that future generations will benefit from evaluations that truly reflect their cultural and contextual realities.

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