Janet Lundeen is an organizational leader in supporting federal research and policy related to special education and children and youth with disabilities. She is co-project director for the Analysis, Communication, Dissemination and Meetings (ACDM) contract for the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), U.S. Department of Education. Lundeen leads development ...
Jessica Heppen, a nationally recognized expert in education research, policy, and practice, is the president & CEO of AIR. Dr. Heppen been with AIR for 20 years and, in that time, has held several key roles during her tenure.
Niu Gao is a principal researcher at AIR specializing in K-12 education policy. Her current work focuses on COVID-19 and education, and she is leading multiple projects to examine the impact of the pandemic on K-12 education and identify effective strategies to help students recover—and recover equitably. Her other areas ...
Bobbi Newman is a principal researcher and director of AIR’s practice area for standards and assessments. She has more than 15 years of experience in research and evaluation of school reform efforts. Dr. Newman has worked at every level of the education system, from the classroom to the state. As ...
Jordan Rickles is a principal researcher at AIR. Dr. Rickles has fifteen years of education research and evaluation experience, including work within the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and the University of California National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST). He specializes in research design ...
Mary Kay Dugan is a managing technical assistant consultant at AIR. She is passionate about identifying evidence-based promising practices and translating them into policies and effective programs focused on underserved populations including disadvantaged youth and young adults. Dugan has over 30 years of experience helping federal, state, and local governments ...
Jill Bowdon is a principal researcher at AIR. Dr. Bowdon has extensive training in statistical methods appropriate for making causal inferences, including experimental design and quasi-experimental methods. Altogether, she has 10 years of experience performing education research. Dr. Bowdon is a lead analyst for the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Midwest ...
Kim Gattis is a nationally recognized expert in large-scale mathematics assessments through her work at the state, national, and international levels. For over a decade she has led AIR projects supporting the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics. Currently ...
Beth Howard-Brown is a principal technical assistance consultant at AIR. She is currently supporting the early warning and intervention and monitoring system project and the AIR social and emotional learning solutions group. Dr. Howard-Brown has over 25 years of experience leading and managing local, state and federal initiatives. She served ...
Toni M. Smith is a managing researcher at AIR where she directs research and development projects focused on mathematics instruction and teacher professional learning.
Dr. Smith currently directs the development and experimental testing of a virtual coaching program designed to improve the alignment of teachers’ instruction to state standards funded by ...