This spotlight takes a look at the history of Title I, how the program has changed over time, and how it affects children, schools, families and education policy. Experts weigh in on the program's past and future in interviews, briefs, and blogs.
Maria Payri is a researcher in the Youth, Family, and Community Development program at AIR. Payri has over 10 years of experience as an evaluator with expertise in qualitative research and survey design for large-scale federal studies such as the National Household Education Study (NHES), where she serves as qualitative ...
Wehmah Jones is a principal researcher at AIR with over 18 years of experience designing, implementing and managing research projects that focus on improving the developmental, educational and health outcomes of youth and adult populations.
Iris Daruwala is a senior researcher at AIR, where she works with foundations and federal, state, and local agencies on research and evaluation projects. Her work is primarily focused on understanding how educational interventions and reforms can reduce inequities among marginalized student groups and support whole child well-being. As an ...
Manolya Tanyu is a community psychologist and prevention researcher with 15 years of expertise in evaluation of school- and community-based interventions to prevent risk behaviors and promote youth development and well-being. A core aspect of her work is understanding the interrelationships across the settings (i.e., human serving systems, communities, schools, ...
Megan Austin is a principal researcher at AIR, where she develops and directs research studies and technical assistance projects for the Midwest Regional Educational Laboratory (REL Midwest), Southeast Regional Educational Laboratory (REL Southeast), and the U.S. Department of Education Office of State Support. She also designs, leads, and conducts analyses ...
The National Center for Healthy Safe Children offers resources, training, and technical assistance to support states, tribes, territories, and local communities as they promote overall wellbeing for students and their families. Learn more about what we do.
Cecilia Xuning Zhang is an interdisciplinary researcher with years of mixed-methods research experience and a wide breadth of content knowledge in the areas of Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Technology-Based Learning Supports. She has rich technical expertise in collecting and analyzing extant data to inform enrollment trends and population estimates, leading user ...
Anne Diffenderffer is a senior survey research specialist for Survey and Data Sciences at AIR. In this role, she provides survey operations expertise in all aspects of the survey data collection: planning, execution, quality control and reporting. She also provides technical assistance and support to schools and school districts that are ...
Kwelin Waller is senior program manager with the AIR Equity Initiative. Waller works to combine research and technical assistance with real-world applications, leading the Equity Initiative's work in the interconnected areas of workforce development, community health and well-being. Additionally, she leads the AIR Scholars and Leaders Award grant competition, an initiative that ...