American Institutes for Research

Dean Gerdeman is a senior director at AIR, where he leads projects designed to build rigorous and applicable evidence for addressing problems in education. His experience includes leading and supporting high-profile and complex lines of work, experimental and quasi-experimental research, and researcher-practitioner partnerships. As director of the $38 million REL Midwest, Dr. Gerdeman leads a portfolio of eight research alliances with educators and stakeholders in the seven-state region, encompassing applied research and evaluation, analytic technical assistance, and dissemination activities focused on using data and evidence to improve practices and outcomes. Dr. Gerdeman is principal investigator for AIR’s role in a multi-partner Gates Foundation project piloting the “positive deviance” improvement process with teachers in Long Beach, California and project director for the evaluation component of a $20 million U.S. Department of Education “i3” grant examining the impacts of TNTP’s teacher training partnerships in seven large urban districts.

Previously, Dr. Gerdeman was a project officer for the Institute of Education Sciences, where he managed a $105 million program portfolio. He is a past recipient of the American Association for the Advancement of Science policy fellowship at the National Science Foundation. At the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Dr. Gerdeman served as a researcher in science education and as a field supervisor for first-year science teachers in urban schools. He earned his doctorate in education from UCLA.