Stephanie Levin

Stephanie Levin specializes in educational leadership and school finance. Her work is dedicated to improving outcomes in public K–12 education. As deputy director of the Strategic Funding and Finance Center—a content center funded by the U.S. Department of Education—Levin provides guidance to states and districts on school finance policy. Her focus is on developing funding models and resource allocation strategies that enhance transparency, efficiency, and fairness in education.

Levin is recognized as the school finance expert for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) School Quality Reviews project. In this capacity, she leads reviews of district budgeting processes, resource allocation, and financial management practices. Her leadership extends to rigorous cost studies, including two federally funded, five-year impact evaluations of professional capacity-building initiatives. Additionally, Levin has spearheaded public engagement efforts for a statewide school funding study in Colorado and currently leads similar engagement activities for a district strategic finance study in Clark County, Nevada.

In addition to her work in school finance, Dr. Levin brings expertise in school leadership development to multiple federal- and foundation-funded evaluations. As a project director and task lead, she manages both large- and small-scale implementation and impact studies. Her responsibilities include managing client relationships, designing research methodologies, overseeing data collection through surveys, focus groups, and interviews, and analyzing findings. Levin is also adept at translating research outcomes into accessible briefs, papers, and reports.

Prior to her tenure at AIR, Levin taught applied research at the University of Pennsylvania. She also co-led the Equitable Resources and Access team at the Learning Policy Institute, where she conducted research on principal turnover and professional learning. Her contributions include work on Developing Expert Principals – Professional Learning That Matters (2024).