Niu Gao is a principal researcher at AIR specializing in K-12 education policy. Her current work focuses on COVID-19 and education, and she is leading multiple projects to examine the impact of the pandemic on K-12 education and identify effective strategies to help students recover—and recover equitably. Her other areas ...
A strong science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education is becoming increasingly recognized as a key driver of opportunity. In a series of discussion-based workshops, 30 experts and thought leaders were invited to exchange ideas and develop recommendations for the future of STEM education. ...
Since 1998, the Alabama Reading Initiative has captured the attention of many who are interested in reading and educational reform. This report is a descriptive study of the Initiative in secondary schools and how the secondary component of the Initiative fared, especially amid decreased state funding for education in Alabama ...
If place heavily impacts social mobility, could strengthening schools be the key to overcoming the effects of growing up in a poor neighborhood? Peter Cookson, AIR principal researcher, explores this question in a blog post for the Education Policy Center.
Dena D. Slanda is a senior TA consultant in the Education and Instruction division at AIR. Dr. Slanda provides technical assistance and professional development to states and school districts with an emphasis on improving results for students with high-intensity needs. She does this by strengthening educator and administrator professional learning ...
Since 2007, the MTSS Center has been a national leader in supporting states, districts, and schools across the country in implementing tiered support systems that address students’ academic, behavioral, social, and emotional needs.
Chronic absence is a nationwide problem, even among young students. Those with poor attendance are more likely to face challenges later in school and in life. This study tested four versions of an adaptive text messaging strategy to see which, if any, would reduce chronic absence among 26,000 elementary school ...
This research brief shares findings related to participants’ awareness of xenotransplantation as a potential future kidney transplant option in light of recent advancements. We also discuss what the participants perceived as the benefits and risks of xenotransplantation as well as their recommendations for when and how patients, families, and clinicians ...
As NAEP transitions from a paper-based to a digitally based assessment, the question arises: Are all children are ready for the transition—and would any of them would be disadvantaged by it? To investigate these issues, AIR developed a new set of survey items related to digital technology for the 2015 ...
The CompuPower program was developed by Kimberly Scott and her colleagues at Arizona State University to address a need for culturally responsive computing courses. AIR served as the project’s external evaluator to evaluate the CompuPower program’s impact on students’ social-emotional skills and academic achievement, as well as examine whether the ...