Wagner Student Jo Al Khafaji-King Named 2024 National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellow

Jo Al Khafaji-King, a PhD candidate in Public Policy and Administration at NYU Wagner, was selected as one of 35 National Academy of Education (NAEd)/Spencer Dissertation Fellows, from a highly competitive pool of over 380 applicants. The fellowship supports scholars across disciplines whose dissertation topics focus on the improvement of education. 

Al Khafaji-King will receive support to complete their dissertation entitled “Evaluating the Consequences of Suspension Reform for Special Education Placement and Services,” which will explore the methods and significance of employing disciplinary alternatives to student suspensions in K-12 schools. Their work will focus specifically on the 2012 New York City suspension ban and its impact on subjective special education classifications, as well as the effects on student attendance, academic performance, and graduation rates. 

In addition to financial support for their dissertation, as an NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellow, Al Khafaji-King will attend two NAEd professional development retreats and receive mentorship from an NAEd member or other esteemed scholar.

Al Khafaji-King is also a Institute of Education Sciences-funded Predoctoral Interdisciplinary Research Training (IES-PIRT) fellow. Framed by the economics of education and sociology literature, their studies focus on discipline policies and behavior management in K-12 schools in the U.S. and their effects on marginalized students.