Areas of Expertise : School Improvement and Effectiveness
AIR Experts in Education Guide (PDF)
Adult English as a Second Language
AIR evaluates strategies for teaching adults English, identifies promising programs, and recommends ways to promote effective approaches.
Recent Reports
- Children’s Elementary School Outcomes After Participating in Family Literacy Programs
- Common ELL Terms and Definitions
- Transitioning English Language Learners, Annotated Bibliography
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Recent Projects
Classroom Instruction
Understanding and improving classroom instruction is a central component of many of AIR’s evaluation and technical assistance projects. AIR designs high- and low-inference classroom observation tools and, using highly trained observers, conducts observations in a variety of classroom settings. Data on classroom instruction are integrated into recommendations for improving schools and classrooms.
Recent Reports
- Study of Teacher Preparation in Early Reading Instruction
- Expectations and Reports of Homework for Public School Students in the First, Third, and Fifth Grades
- Impact of Two Professional Development Interventions on Early Reading Instruction and Achievement Report
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Recent Projects
- Wisconsin Reading Excellence and Demonstration of Success Initiative (READS)
- Indiana Diagnostic Assessments Study
- Ohio Healthy Schools Profile System
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Recent Products
Conditions for Learning
Successful schools must create and maintain effective conditions for learning. Such conditions have historically been regarded as including high-quality pedagogy, well-trained teachers, adequate resources, and effective leadership. AIR has proposed that educators also examine the social and emotional conditions for learning—the factors that ensure students feel safe and supported in school. AIR conducts research and evaluation, designs and analyzes surveys, synthesizes information, develops tools to improve, and provides consultation and technical assistance regarding student and teacher perceptions of safety, support, and connectedness; academic challenge and engagement; and individual and peer social emotional learning. AIR’s work is both national and international and includes consultation with districts, states, federal officials, and Ministries of Education regarding how to monitor and improve conditions for learning and teaching.
Recent Reports
- Wisconsin Culturally Responsive Education for All (CREATE) Initiative - Training and Enhancement Initiative
- Texas Principal Excellence Program (TxPEP)
- Student Connection Research: Final Narrative Report to the Spencer Foundation
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Recent Projects
Cultural Competency
The ability to understand, communicate with, and interact effectively with people from different cultures is an especially important skill to possess in a 21st century global economy. AIR conducts research and evaluation, synthesizes information, develops tools to improve, and provides consultation and technical assistance to increase cultural and linguistic competence in education, mental health, juvenile justice, child welfare, and youth development. AIR’s approaches involve individual and organizational assessment and capacity development, disparity reduction, and the collection and analysis of data.
Recent Reports
Educational Organization and Leadership
Paired with expertise in organizational and leadership theory, AIR boasts a staff that includes several former district and school leaders and works closely with several large- and mid-sized districts conducting evaluation and providing technical assistance that requires an understanding of how educational organizations and leaders work.
Recent Reports
- The Ripple Effect
- Measuring School Climate for Gauging Principal Performance
- Exploratory Study of the HOPE Foundation© Courageous Leadership Academy: Summary of Findings
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Recent Products
Evaluation of Educational Programs and Policies
AIR is a national leader in identifying and evaluating education environments and systems both locally and nationally. We help stakeholders determine which policies and practices are most effective in their schools and communities. AIR provides a range of program assessment and evaluation tasks, including: developing evaluation plans; training; technical assistance; formative research; survey design and analysis; and process and outcome evaluations.
Recent Reports
- Instruction Across the High School—College Divide (2009)
- Can Financial Aid Improve Student Success at Louisiana’s Community Colleges?
- Hawaii Race to the Top Evaluation
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Recent Projects
- ELL Policy Analysis and Related Work
- Evaluation of the Massachusetts Rethinking Equity and Teaching for English Language Learners (RETELL) Initiative
- Evaluation of the TEACh Initiative
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Recent Products
Evidence-Based Research in Education
AIR applies rigorous standards to the review and synthesis of research to determine what approaches to education are based on high quality evidence. Our staff help set standards for the quality of impact studies, through the What Works Clearinghouse and Doing What Works, as well as other federal, foundation, and state projects. AIR also develops tools for analyzing data across studies and manages complex reviews.
Recent Reports
- Hawaii Race to the Top Evaluation
- The Kindergarten Year
- Wisconsin Culturally Responsive Education for All (CREATE) Initiative - Training and Enhancement Initiative
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Recent Projects
- Texas Statewide 21st Century Community Learning Centers
- Wisconsin Reading Excellence and Demonstration of Success Initiative (READS)
- New York State Curriculum Audits
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Recent Products
Good Behavior Game
The Good Behavior Game is a behavioral classroom management strategy that involves helping children learn how to work together to create a positive learning environment. It promotes each child’s positive behavior by rewarding student teams for complying with criteria set for appropriate behavior, such as working quietly, following directions, or being polite to each other. The team-based approach uses peer encouragement to help children follow rules and learn how to be good students. At the same time, it enables teachers to build strong academic skills and positive behaviors.
AIR evaluates the implementation and impact of the Good Behavior Game approach to managing classroom behaviors. Through a series of related studies, AIR has developed a strong evidence base around the impact of this approach.
Recent Reports
Recent Projects
- Good Behavior Game Professional Development Study
- Center for Integrating Education and Prevention Research (EdPrev)
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Recent Products
Implementation of Educational Programs and Policies
AIR evaluates the implementation of educational programs, policies, and practices, and provides recommendations to improve implementation. We also look at capacity, challenges, and strategies for scaling up model programs and practices.
Recent Reports
- Instruction Across the High School—College Divide (2009)
- Hawaii Race to the Top Evaluation
- Turnaround Schools in California: Who Are They and What Strategies Do They Use?
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Recent Projects
Mathematics Education
The successful teaching and learning of mathematics plays an increasingly important role in ensuring that U.S. students have the right skills required to compete in a global economy. AIR has development and research expertise in the areas of curriculum review, alignment, and evaluation; research-based instructional practices; effective professional development; the development and alignment of high quality assessments; and international comparisons.
Recent Reports
- Children’s Elementary School Outcomes After Participating in Family Literacy Programs
- Access to Algebra I: The Effects of Online Mathematics for Grade 8 Students
- Eighth-Grade Algebra: Findings From the Eighth-Grade Round of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998–99 (ECLS-K)
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Recent Projects
- Texas Statewide 21st Century Community Learning Centers
- Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)
- The Mathematics Professional Development (PD) Impact Study
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Recent Products
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Title I
AIR is a leader in the evaluation of state and district implementation of the accountability, teacher quality, and English language acquisition provisions outlined in Title I, Title II, and Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), reauthorized in 2001 as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). AIR’s work has served as one of the major sources of data for the National Assessment of Title I and other reports to the U.S. Congress. Currently, AIR is conducting a national evaluation of state and local implementation of Title III standards, assessments, and accountability systems concerning English language learners for the U.S. Department of Education.
Recent Reports
- State Support for School Improvement: School-level Perceptions of Quality
- Psychometric Advances in Alternate Assessment
- State and Local Implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act Volume VI - Targeting and Uses of Federal Education Funds (TRAC)
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Recent Projects
Performance Measurement
AIR supports the development and use of outcome-based performance assessment to help educators focus on what students actually can do after they are taught. AIR also uses performance measurement data in its evaluations of educational programs.
Recent Reports
- Toward the Structural Transformation of Schools: Innovations in Staffing
- Measures and Methods for the National Reporting System for Adult Education
- Integrating State Administrative Records To Manage Substance Abuse Treatment System Performance
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Recent Projects
Professional Development
Recent Reports
- A Literature Review of STEM Graduate Education
- What the United States Can Learn From Singapore’s World-Class Mathematics System: An Exploratory Study
- Using Multifacet Rasch Analysis to Examine the Effectiveness of Rater Training
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Recent Projects
Recent Products
School Health and Nutrition in Developing Countries
AIR is actively engaged in school health and nutrition programs worldwide that promote policies to empower schools to implement skills-based health instruction at the classroom level, provide simple school-based health and nutrition services to learners (e.g., deworming), and educate learners and communities about the importance of safe water, sanitation, and the prevention of infectious diseases. Because simple health interventions and health-focused life skills promote school attendance and participation, school health programs are often designed and implemented as part of a broad systemic education reform that aims for UNESCO’s Education for All by 2015.
Recent Projects
- Zambia’s Community Health and Nutrition, Gender and Education Support 2 Program (CHANGES2)
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Recent Products
Teacher Preparation and Professional Development
AIR is widely respected for its contributions to the policy discussions around teacher preparation and professional development, including alternative ways of measuring teacher effectiveness and changes in the teaching workforce related to No Child Left Behind (NCLB). We have:
- conducted multi-year evaluations of traditional and alternate route teacher preparation;
- national studies of the impact of professional development on teacher knowledge, practice, and student achievement; and
- research on teacher assignments and student work.
Recent Reports
- Teachers’ Perspectives on Educational Research
- Wisconsin Culturally Responsive Education for All (CREATE) Initiative - Training and Enhancement Initiative
- Middle School Mathematics Professional Development Impact Study: Findings After the Second Year of Implementation
- View All Reports
Recent Projects
Teacher Quality and Effectiveness
Teachers have the greatest potential to impact student learning, and research has found that student achievement is related to teacher competence. AIR works to better understand and improve teacher effectiveness in the school setting. For example, we evaluate teacher preparation pathways, measure schools’ progress towards having “highly qualified teachers,” develop new teacher compensation strategies, and evaluate professional development approaches and programs. This work includes developing teacher knowledge tests and innovative approaches to measure teacher practice and student outcomes.
Recent Reports
- Teachers’ Perspectives on Educational Research
- Middle School Mathematics Professional Development Impact Study: Findings After the Second Year of Implementation
- Study of Teacher Preparation in Early Reading Instruction
- View All Reports
Recent Projects
- Evaluation of the TEACh Initiative
- Indiana Diagnostic Assessments Study
- Regional Educational Laboratory Midwest (REL Midwest)
- View All Projects
Recent Products
