Bitnara Jasmine Park

Bitnara Jasmine Park is an expert in educational measurement, assessment, survey design, and evaluation with more than two decades of research experience. Her work focuses on generating valid, reliable, and actionable data grounded in sound and fair measurement practices to inform instruction and education policy. In recent years, Dr. Park has increasingly focused on making a tangible impact in the field, bridging the divide between academic research and real-world decision making. She is especially committed to identifying malleable factors that can improve student outcomes and aligning methodological rigor with practical relevance.

At AIR, Dr. Park leads and supports large-scale national and international studies, including the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), which are conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics within the U.S. Department of Education. 

Dr. Park's roles span research and evaluation, technical review, and dissemination. She also serves as a reading expert, leading alignment studies of state literacy and English language arts assessments and advising on the development of surveys for educators and school leaders. She has also managed several major NAEP special studies, such as the 2015 NAEP State Mapping Study and the 2018 NAEP Oral Reading Fluency Study.

Deeply committed to strategic and effective research dissemination, Dr. Park strives to translate complex findings into actionable insights for policy makers, educators, and other interest holders. She has authored more than 70 reports and presented at numerous conferences, webinars, and congressional briefings. Her research is widely recognized for its rigor and impact, and she won the 2024 Outstanding Research Paper Award from the AERA NAEP Studies Special Interest Group.

In addition, Dr. Park actively builds research capacity by providing data analysis training to policy makers, researchers, and graduate students, and she regularly leads professional development sessions at the AERA Annual Meeting. She is also a certified What Works Clearinghouse Reviewer for both Group Design and Single-Case Design studies. Prior to joining AIR, Dr. Park contributed to the development of early literacy and mathematics assessment tools for students in grades K–8.