David Bamat is a senior researcher in the Education Statistics program at AIR. Dr. Bamat’s primary responsibilities include leading and supporting NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) research projects. His work focuses on studying and leveraging statistical methods to overcome small sample limitations in large-scale assessment (LSA) research. It also ...
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 ...
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.
Robyn Madison is a senior technical assistance consultant in the Education Systems and Policy program at AIR. Her primary responsibilities include supporting many AIR project teams with advancing diversity-equity-inclusion and cultural and linguistic competence through their work with each other as colleagues and with our external constituency. Dr. Madison works ...
Elizabeth Spier is a principal researcher at AIR. She has over 20 years of experience designing and managing large-scale, policy-relevant studies examining the effectiveness of programs, and interventions designed to improve developmental and educational outcomes for children. Her expertise includes child development, safe and supportive learning environments, child and family ...
Alison Hauser is a researcher with AIR focusing on early childhood. She is currently the survey task lead in the Evaluation of California’s Transitional Kindergarten Program and assisted with survey development on the Edwin Teaching and Learning project for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Hauser is has ...
Carolyn Corea is a senior researcher at AIR and leads the lead for Evidence-to-Action (E2A) portfolio. Building on her background in social work, she is committed to bringing actionable evidence to the field to inform the work of policymakers and practitioners. Corea is well versed in conducting social program research ...
Scott Davis is a principal economist at AIR. He is a labor economist with over 16 years of experience designing and implementing research and evaluation projects for a variety of clients, including the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the U.S. Department of Education (ED), state and local workforce agencies, community ...
Kyle Neering is an economist in the Workforce Development program at AIR. As an applied microeconomist and mixed methods researcher, he relies on a wide variety of analytical techniques to better understand the implementation and effects of programs and policies in training and education. He has extensive experience applying these ...
Vanessa Coca is a senior researcher in the Workforce Development program at AIR. Her primary responsibilities include directing, designing, and conducting research projects and activities related to postsecondary student success initiatives. Dr. Coca also provides coordination and thought leadership as part of the leadership team for the Postsecondary Practice Area ...