Amanda Danks

Amanda Danks is a senior researcher at AIR with extensive experience supporting investigations aimed at enhancing opportunity for learners of all backgrounds and abilities. Dr. Danks is highly skilled at understanding the costs associated with educational and social programs and policies, particularly for young children and children with disabilities. She leads AIR’s early childhood cost and finance work that aims to support states as they explore the cost of early education and child care and use information to shape program and funding policy. During her time at AIR, Dr. Danks has managed and supported a variety of projects aimed at estimating the cost of statewide policies undertaken by Massachusetts, Ohio, North Carolina (early education and care and Pre-K), Michigan (child care and early intervention), Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Texas along with targeted programs implemented by the Legal Aid Society of New York and the Duke Endowment Fund.

Dr. Danks is the co-director of the Center for Economic Evaluation, that ensures all economic evaluations at AIR are conducted rigorously and follow the Standards for Economic Evaluation of Educational and Social Programs (CASP, 2021), and is an affiliate of the Center for Benefit-Cost Studies in Education at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to working in educational research, Dr. Danks came to education through an alternative teaching certification program in Baltimore City, Maryland. Her teaching experience included supporting students with high incidence disabilities, while her administrative experience focused on students with significant cognitive disabilities. Dr. Danks was recruited to testify for the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee about the legislation of appropriate assessments for students with significant cognitive disabilities. After a decade of working with students in West Baltimore City, she transitioned to a state-level position at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. There she managed the policies and guidance for students with disabilities and English learners in the statewide assessment program.