Anahita Kumar

Welcome to my page! My name is pronounced as A-NIGHT-ah.

Hi!

I am a Quantitative Researcher at the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, where I also currently teach Introductory Statistics for Education Research.I am also a research consultant at UNICEF's Data, Analytics, Planning, and Monitoring Division where I work on tracking Foundational Learning Skills (global progress in numeracy and literacy) using data from Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) for 49 countries.I recently received my PhD from Penn GSE, an MA in Statistics and Data Science from Wharton Business School, and I have a BA from St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai, India.Prior to my doctoral studies, I worked at UNESCO in Ethiopia on resilience-building programs. Currently, I am also an affiliate of the U.S. Institute of Education Sciences and a recipient of the 2024 APA Dissertation Research Award.

Find my recent CV

Awards, Grants, and Honors

American Psychological Association
Award Title: APA Dissertation Research Award 2024 and 2025Society for the Research on Educational Effectiveness
Award Title: Researcher of Color Mentored Award 2024Center of Advanced Study of India (CASI) at UPenn
Award Title: CASI Research Award 2021 and 2022 (two-time recipient)University of Pennsylvania
Award Title: Provost Award for Interdisciplinary Innovation 2021University of Pennsylvania
Award Titles: (miscellaneous) Dean’s Fellowship; Full merit-based scholarship (5 years)Children’s Hope India: Research Grant

Details Coming Soon

My Completed Projects

UNICEF Foundational Learning Skills 2025 (follow link below)
Kumar, A., Bloomfield, J., Balsa, A., Do, H., Cid, A., Lichand, G., & Wolf, S. (2025). Sociodemographic Predictors of Depression Among Economically Vulnerable Mothers in Urban Uruguay. Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, 100978.
Kumar, A., Bartoli, B., Lichand, G., & Wolf, S(2023).Sociodemographic predictors of depressive and anxiety symptomatology among parents in rural Côte d'Ivoire. Journal of Affective Disorders, 338, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2023.05.060
Kumar A., & Oduolowu E., Play & Resilience – A Toolkit for Teachers, Caregivers, and other Stakeholders. Addis Ababa: UNESCO, August 2019. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000370734

Foundational Learning Skills 2025

Teaching

Instructor
EDUC 6667 Introductory Statistics for Education ResearchTeaching Assistant
EDUC 6462 Principles of Monitoring and Evaluation; Fall 2024
EDUC 6689 Evaluation of Policies and Programs; Fall 2024
EDUC 8560 Interdisciplinary Studies in Human Development; Spring 2024
EDUC 514 Basic Education in Developing Countries; Fall 2020Visiting Fellow
World Teach, Chang Jun High School; Changsha, Hunan Province; China.
2016 – 2017
Hunan Agricultural University;
Changsha, Hunan Province; China. 2018