Jessica Heppen, a nationally recognized expert in education research, policy, and practice, is the president & CEO of AIR. Dr. Heppen been with AIR for 20 years and, in that time, has held several key roles during her tenure.
Stacia J. Rush joined AIR as a research analyst in 2005. For the Access Center, she served as a technical assistance liaison with the Mid-South Regional Resource Center and assisted with developing products and presentations for the center. Dr. Rush also served as team leader on the Instructional Strategies Team ...
James Colyott is a senior TA consultant at AIR with over twenty years of experience in rural district and school leadership, monitoring, and improvement. Colyott is currently the project director for the Developing a Statewide School Improvement Implementation Monitoring Tool Project with the Wyoming Department of Education, the project lead ...
Nara Nayar joined the Midwest Comprehensive Center at AIR as a technical assistance consultant in 2012. Her work with the MWCC has included providing content expertise and support for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s academic and career planning initiative and American Indian studies work. She also works on other ...
Dr. George Bohrnstedt is a senior vice president and AIR Institute Fellow and a leading expert in measurement, statistical methods, education policy, and social psychology. His early work at AIR focused on leading or co-leading large-scale evaluations including the Congressionally-mandated evaluation of Trial State NAEP, the California K-3 class size ...
Terris Ross is managing director of the AIR Equity Initiative. In this role, Dr. Ross will refine the long-term, substantive agenda of the Equity Initiative’s work in education. She will provide intellectual and technical leadership to improve educational and economic opportunity, with deep appreciation for the challenges faced by communities ...
Kimberly Kendziora is a managing researcher at AIR with experience and expertise in evaluating school-based student support initiatives. Her recent work has focused on evaluations of school- and community-based initiatives to promote social and emotional learning and support students who are not succeeding. She has directed or served as principal ...
Matthew Welch is a senior researcher with AIR. His primary interests are policy implementation and organizational change. His work has focused on accountability-related school improvement projects, the implementation of new state standards (including the Common Core), the role of district offices, and statewide policy initiatives. At AIR, he has worked ...
Will Tad Johnston is a senior technical assistance consultant at AIR specializing in mathematics education. He works with the AIR District and School Improvement Team as a mathematics instructional coach working with teachers, building instructional coaches, and administrators in high poverty schools with high percentages of students of color and/or ...
Cheryl Krohn is a senior technical assistance consultant for AIR with more than 16 years of experience developing and leading trainings, professional development, and coaching opportunities in K-12 education. She serves as a senior advisor supporting AIR’s Center on Great Teachers and Leaders, providing coaching to the center’s national collaborative ...