Bobbi Newman

Bobbi Newman is director of AIR’s practice area for standards and assessments. She has more than 20 years of experience in research, evaluation, technical assistance, and partnership development. Dr. Newman has worked at every level of the education system, from the classroom to the state. As a researcher, she has worked with state and local education agencies to study reform efforts such as school turnaround, effective leadership programs, assessment, and standards implementation. Dr. Newman works closely with foundations to carry out their missions. On the state level, Dr. Newman worked with New Jersey and Pennsylvania on their teacher and principal effectiveness systems and contributed federal waiver applications. 

She led the update of Pennsylvania’s academic standards in science, engineering, technology, environment, and ecology in collaboration with state leaders and through stakeholder engagement. She serves as a state lead for Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform (CEEDAR) Center, where she provides K–12 agencies and postsecondary institutions with technical assistance and solutions for preparing educators in research-based multi-tiered systems of support in Vermont and Washington State. She works closely with states through her outreach and partnership efforts with CCSSO, NGA, NCSL, ECS, NASSP, CGCS, and NASBE.

Dr. Newman worked at the Educational Testing Service (ETS) and published the Pathwise Framework Minicourses for Teachers on Communicating with Families, and developed training resources for the School Leaders Licensure Exam. As a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, she successfully created a virtual space to unite policymakers, practitioners, and researchers around problems of education practice. She has expertise in strategic education partnerships and facilitating stakeholders to accomplish shared goals. She has completed formal training in designing and implementing cluster randomized control trials from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). She is group design certified through the What Works Clearinghouse.