Provides services and technical assistance for students so they benefit from research-based curricula taught in safe environments.

Adult Education & Literacy Children's Mental Health District Consulting Education Evidence & Indicators Early Childhood Education Finance Education Technology Higher Education School Reform Special Education

Produces and disseminates information to provide motivation and tools to enable individuals to make informed decisions about health issues.

Communications & Social Marketing Research & Policy Analysis Conference Services, Technical Writing & Clearinghouse/Call Center Management Technical Assistance & Training Informatics, Web Site Development & Information Management

Develops and implements education testing programs that benefit students, parents and public officals.

State Student Testing Computer Statistical Services

Works with the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the government's primary source for collecting and analyzing data about public education.

Helps to provide all children with access to a quality education, and empowers people, organizations, and communities to bring about social change.

Is committed to helping clients improve the effectiveness of their workforce through a wide range of management, organizational, and business improvement efforts.

Equity Analysis Organizational Performance Skills Assessment Team Performance Usability Engineering

Produces, maintains and disseminates systematic reviews of the effects of social and behavioral interventions.

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School Reform

 

National High School Center (www.betterhighschools.org)

• The National High School Center serves as a source of information and expertise on high school improvement for the Regional Comprehensive Centers (RCC), which assist states in helping districts and schools meet their student achievement goals. We assist the RCCs in building the capacity of states to meet the goals and objectives of the No Child Left Behind Act. Through our work, we aim to ensure that all students perform to their fullest potential and are adequately prepared for college, work and life after high school.

  The National High School Center is based at AIR in cooperation with our partners: Learning Point Associates, MDRC, the National Center for Educational Accountability (NCEA), and WestEd.

  Jointly funded by the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Office of Special Education Programs at the U.S. Department of Education, the National High School Center believes in ensuring challenging learning strategies and appropriate academic environments for all students. In meeting our goal, we identify effective programs and tools, offer user-friendly products, and provide high-quality technical assistance to support the use of research-based practices as they relate to high schools. A significant aspect of our work includes identifying strategies that have a proven track record for students with disabilities and English Language Learners.

  The National High School Center is dedicated to providing the latest information and research on the following pressing topics focused on high schools:
  
  

  • Dropout Prevention
  • Transitions into High School
  • Transitions out of High School
  • Restructuring High Schools
  • High School Literacy
  • High School Curriculum and Instruction
  • Best Practices in High School Improvement
  
  Our work has three main focus areas:
  

  High School Readiness. Topics of focused review include the critical transition from middle school to high school, with a special focus on the ninth-grade year; prerequisite learning skills; behavioral issues (motivational, social, physical, and emotional); dropout prevention; and student personalization.

  Rigorous Content Mastery. Within this focus area, the National High School Center encourages rigorous and appropriate course work for all students. Areas of close attention include college prerequisites; differentiated instruction; high school literacy; Response to Intervention (RTI); and accelerated learning through Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and honors courses.

  Postsecondary Pathways. Areas of particular focus include Early College High Schools, dual enrollment, and useful programs assisting with the transition out of high school.

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National Evaluation of the Early College High School Initiative (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation)

• AIR and our partners are conducting a seven-year evaluation of the foundation's early college high school initiative. The initiative funds intermediary organizations to create Early College High Schools. Early College High Schools blend the high school and college years so that students receive a high school diploma and two-years of college credit in four or five years. These schools also enroll students typically underrepresented in postsecondary institutions. The evaluation combines analysis of student outcomes, interviews, site visits and surveys to determine the effectiveness of these school for students.
  
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National Evaluation of High School Transformation: National School District and Network Grants Program (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation)

• AIR and our partners are conducting a multi-year evaluation of the Gates Foundation’s national school networks grants, national districts grants, technical assistance grants, and assessment development grants programs. The Foundation's improvement strategy is to create smaller, more personalized learning environments by: breaking up large, urban high schools either into small schools within schools or free standing small schools, and funding intermediary organizations to create small schools.

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Proposition 227: Impact on The Education of English Learners, K-12 (California Department of Education)

• This five-year project studies the effects of Proposition 227 and the English Language Acquisition Program (ELAP) on California’s public school system, helps identify English learner programs and curricula that are effective and ineffective in teaching pupils the English language, and evaluates the viability of Proposition 227 and ELAP as originally written and implemented. The final report will summarize local district evaluations of the program, help to identify criteria and procedures for identifying effective programs and curricula for English learners, and provide recommendations to improve services to English learners.

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Reading First State Monitoring (U.S. Department of Education)

• AIR monitors the state-by-state implementation of Reading First, a major nationwide federal initiative to improve reading instruction in grades K-3. The project collects information through visits to every state and selected districts within the states on the states' and districts' fidelity to their approved Reading First plan. A few of the areas monitored include the selection of eligible schools and districts, the choice of reading programs, the provision of professional development, state technical assistance to districts, and the teaching of reading in K-3 classrooms.

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National Longitudinal Evaluation of Comprehensive School Reform (NLECSR) (U.S. Department of Education)

• AIR is investigating the large-scale implementation of research-based comprehensive school reform models as a strategy for increasing student achievement. Using qualitative and quantitative data, the study seeks to measure the effects of CSR models on student reading and mathematics achievement in elementary and middle schools. This project will expand our understanding of which comprehensive school reform models have positive effects and describe the conditions under which those effects are obtained.

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National Longitudinal Study of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (U.S. Department of Education)

• The National Longitudinal Study of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) is a four year longitudinal evaluation of the district and school level implementation of the NCLB, the most recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Together with our partners, AIR is exploring the implementation of four key components of NCLB: accountability, teacher quality, choice, and resource allocation. A report of these findings will be delivered to Congress in 2007, preceding the next ESEA reauthorization.

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National Center for Technology Innovation (NCTI) (U.S. Department of Education)

• The National Center for Technology Innovation (NCTI), www.nationaltechcenter.org, advances learning opportunities for individuals with disabilities by fostering technology innovation. NCTI helps researchers, vendors, and developers identify strategic partners who can help them bring innovative technology products to market; provides up-to-date information on public and private funding opportunities, legal issues, federally funded technology innovation projects, and publications of interest; sponsors forums for expert collaboration and information exchange ; and provides daily updates on technology issues.

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Supplemental Educational Services Quality Center (U.S. Department of Education)

• The Supplemental Educational Services Quality (SESQ) Center (www.tutorsforkids.org) helps many low-income parents benefit from new opportunities provided by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 for them to choose free tutoring to meet their children’s needs. The SESQ Center conducts activities that build informed demand for supplemental educational services (SES), increase the supply of high quality service providers, and provide information to and improve coordination among national organizations that are support the implementation of SES.

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Transition to Teaching Program Evaluation (U.S. Department of Education)

• AIR and our partners are evaluating Transition to Teaching Program (TTT), a national program intended to bring highly qualified individuals into the teaching workforce through the creation and expansion of alternative approaches to certification. The final products of the evaluation will include a briefing report based on a annual performance report findings, case study reports from each site visit conducted, results of surveys administered during the study, and a report for Congress that integrates all of the collected data.

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Eisenhower Professional Development Program  (U.S. Department of Education)

• AIR evaluated the Eisenhower Professional Development Program, which is intended to promote sustained and intensive high-quality professional development. The program supported professional development activities in over 90 percent of the nation’s school districts and in institutions of higher education. The evaluation provided a picture of the implementation and outcomes of the Eisenhower program at the national, state, local, and school levels (www.ed.gov/inits/teachers/eisenhower/index.html).

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Immediate Intervention/Underperforming Schools Program and the High Achieving/Improving Schools Program (California State Department of Education)

• This evaluation focused on the implementation of the school improvement programs established by California’s Public Schools Accountability Act of 1999, which created a statewide, comprehensive, high-stakes school accountability system. AIR and its partners evaluated the implementation, impact, costs, and benefits of the program. The final report, and its accompanying policy brief identified significant factors that both promote and hinder systemic, sustainable improvement at the school and district level.

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Instructional Reform in San Diego City Schools (William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation)

• This evaluation project is an extension of prior work conducted for San Diego City Schools (SDCS). In 2003, AIR completed an independent evaluation of the district’s comprehensive district-wide school reform initiative, known as the Blueprint for Student Success in a Standards-Based System [pdf]. With support from the Hewlett and Gates Foundations, AIR is carrying out a second phase of research activities continuing the study of the instructional reform efforts in San Diego elementary and middle schools.

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Ohio High School Transformation Initiative (KnowledgeWorks Foundation of Ohio)

• AIR is conducting a multi-year evaluation of the Ohio High School Transformation Initiative, funded through the KnowledgeWorks Foundation. The initiative seeks to transform large urban high schools throughout the state into autonomous smaller schools, each comprising learning communities of approximately 400 students. The initiative seeks to increase academic achievement, provide safer schools, increase graduation rates, improve student attendance, increase teacher satisfaction, and improve parent, family, and community involvement.

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Schools for a New Society Initiative (Carnegie Corporation of New York)

• AIR and our partners are evaluating the Schools for a New Society Initiative sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation in seven urban communities across the nation. The Initiative is designed to strengthen urban high schools through partnerships between districts and significant community-based change agents, redesign of the district role and relationship to schools, and restructured high schools that offer personalized learning environments and improved instruction.

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Comprehensive School Reform Quality (CSRQ) Center (U.S. Department of Education)

• The Comprehensive School Reform Quality Center, www.csrq.org, provides publications, tools, and technical assistance to support educators and education decision makers in choosing high quality comprehensive school reform (CSR) programs and approaches. It publishes CSRQ Center Reports, a series of consumer guides on the effectiveness and quality of the leading elementary, middle, and high school CSR programs.

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Center for Implementation of Technology in Education (U.S. Department of Education)

• The Center for Implementation of Technology in Education (CIT-Ed) was established in October 2004 to provide a coordinated system of technical assistance to support states and districts in implementing and evaluating selected evidence-based technology practices. AIR and its partners provide resources and guidance to ensure that these technology-based practices are effectively used by teachers so that children with disabilities will have access to the general education curriculum and achieve high education standards.

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