Areas of Expertise : Early Childhood and Child Development
AIR Experts in Education Guide (PDF)
Assistive Technology
Assistive technology (AT) includes any technology item, piece of equipment, or product system that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities. AIR evaluates the implementation and effectiveness of devices designed to improve functional capabilities of students with disabilities.
Recent Reports
- National Leaders Explore Technology Issues During NCTI’s 2010 Technology Conference
- The Use of Simulation for Training Teamwork Skills in Health Care
- Toward a Generalized Human Factors Taxonomy for Classifying ASAP Incident Reports, AQP Performance Ratings, and FOQA Output
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Recent Projects
At-risk Populations in the Educational Setting
AIR conducts research and evaluation on individual, school, and community interventions for students who are at risk for poor school and community outcomes. Further, AIR provides consultation and technical assistance for developing and implementing such interventions. AIR’s approaches involve promotion, prevention, early intervention, dropout prevention, and treatment. They are strength-based and child- and youth-guided or driven.
Recent Reports
- Children’s Elementary School Outcomes After Participating in Family Literacy Programs
- National Disability Policy: A Progress Report
- Texas Ninth Grade Transition and Intervention (TNGTI) Grant Program: January 2011 Evaluation Report
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Recent Projects
- New York State Curriculum Audits
- Milwaukee Public Schools Striving Readers Evaluation
- Supplemental Educational Services in Texas
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Recent Products
Behavior in the Educational Setting
AIR conducts research and evaluation, synthesizes information, and provides technical assistance regarding positive behavioral and relational approaches to student behavior and school discipline. AIR staff use research to identify effective and ineffective approaches, and to study and support the scale–up and alignment of evidence- and theory-based approaches. AIR’s foci include individual, classroom-based, school-wide, and community-supported approaches to improving student behavior and school discipline.
Recent Reports
- NIDA Notes: Behavior Game Reduces Later Drug-Related Problems
- Student Victimization in U.S. Public Schools: Results from the 2005 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey
- Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2007
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Recent Projects
- Anchorage Social and Emotional Learning and School Climate Analysis
- Center for Integrating Education and Prevention Research (EdPrev)
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Recent Products
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
Data Analysis
Recent Reports
- The Project Talent Twin and Sibling Study
- Examining NAEP Achievement in Relation to School Testing Conditions in the 2010 Assessments
- Alternative Approaches to Setting Performance Standards for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
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Recent Projects
- Center for Survey Methods
- National Household Education Survey (NHES)
- Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS)
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Recent Products
Early Childhood Education
AIR conducts research to assist in the development of programs and policies that aid young children and their families, including many large-scale studies of early care and education programs for states and the federal government. AIR also designs results-based accountability systems for child development programs, conducts statewide assessments of supply and demand for preschool and infant/toddler services, and has developed a Preschool Cost Estimator.
Recent Reports
- Teacher Practice and Student Outcomes in Arts-Integrated Learning Settings: A Review of Literature
- Condition of Children Birth to Age Five and Status of Early Childhood Services in California
- Children’s Elementary School Outcomes After Participating in Family Literacy Programs
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Recent Projects
- Wisconsin Reading Excellence and Demonstration of Success Initiative (READS)
- Regional Educational Laboratory Midwest (REL Midwest)
- The CALDER Center is Now Located at AIR
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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
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
Reading and Literacy
AIR’s work in reading and literacy spans early childhood to adult education, and focuses on literacy in schools and the workplace. Varied methodologies include quantitative and qualitative analyses, cognitive laboratory interviews and critical incident exercises, and evidence-based technical assistance. Whether investigating teacher knowledge about beginning reading instruction, studying the effectiveness of computer-based reading interventions, or providing guidance about adolescent struggling readers, sound theoretical principles and scientifically-based evidence are AIR’s touchstones.
Recent Reports
- The Impact of the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Program on Student Reading Achievement
- Evaluation of the Content Literacy Continuum: Report on Program Impacts, Program Fidelity, and Contrast
- Children’s Elementary School Outcomes After Participating in Family Literacy Programs
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Recent Projects
- Wisconsin Reading Excellence and Demonstration of Success Initiative (READS)
- New York State Curriculum Audits
- Milwaukee Public Schools Striving Readers Evaluation
- View All Projects
Recent Products
