Joseph Harris, Ph.D.
Dr. Joseph R. Harris is a Principal Analyst for AIR. He has an extensive background in science, mathematics, and technology reform as both a practitioner and researcher/evaluator, and more than two decades of experience as an administrator and high school teacher in an urban public school environment.
Dr. Harris has served as the Project Manager for a major technical assistance contract, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in support of the Systemic Initiatives, a multi-year NSF effort designed to promote improved mathematics, science, and technology education in 100+ state, rural, and urban school districts and regional consortia. Dr. Harris also leads several K-12 projects, ranging from the Math Science Program Evaluation Advisory Board to a differentiated compensation project for Springfield (MA) public schools. His recent projects include the establishment of a nonprofit Superintendents Coalition, the multi-year development and implementation of the Automated Accountability System (AAS), and several evaluation studies. Dr. Harris has served as project leader on numerous consulting projects in areas such as program evaluation, student assessment, strategic planning, education policy, program equity, minority student achievement, and public/private partnerships. In that capacity, he has conducted numerous qualitative and quantitative evaluations and research studies that have focused on improved program operations and outcomes. He also has served as a senior research analyst in the design, administration, and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data collected through written surveys, focus groups, and telephone and in-person interviews for both national and local research studies.
Prior to joining The McKenzie Group and AIR, Dr. Harris served as an administrator and teacher in the District of Columbia Public Schools. For more than a decade, he coordinated the development, implementation, and operation of an automated instructional management system and played a major role in the development and implementation of the district's five-year computer literacy plan.
Dr. Harris holds a B.A. in Mathematical Statistics from the University of Florida, an M.A. in Secondary Education from the Catholic University of America, and a Ph.D. in Education Policy from the University of Maryland, College Park.