American Institutes for Research

After 45 years with AIR where she contributed immeasurably to our research in health, employment equity, and education, Fran passed away in November 2020 after a long illness.

Fran Stancavage is a managing research scientist at AIR, where her career spans over 40 years of work in education and health. Most recently her interests have centered on issues in educational assessment, particularly the utility and policy relevance of student assessment results and the valid and appropriate use of assessments for summative and formative purposes. A related area of focus is the use of cognitive labs to study assessment items, including studies examining item accessibility, usability, and construct validity.

Since 1995, Stancavage has directed the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Validity Studies project, which assists the National Center for Education Statistics in maintaining high standards of validity for the NAEP assessment.