Jonathan Margolin is a principal researcher in the Human Services program at AIR. His primary responsibilities involve managing evaluations of K–12 education programs and systems related to K-16 STEM education, educational technology implementation, and civics. He has extensive experience with evaluating educational interventions in STEM programs, including educational simulations, apps ...
Jill Walston is a principal researcher at the American Institutes for Research. Dr. Walston leads quantitative research and technical assistance projects mainly for the Midwest and the Southwest Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) programs, sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). Dr. Walston serves as the project director for AIR’s ...
James Colyott is a senior TA consultant at AIR with over twenty years of experience in rural district and school leadership, monitoring, and improvement. Colyott is currently the project director for the Developing a Statewide School Improvement Implementation Monitoring Tool Project with the Wyoming Department of Education, the project lead ...
Cecilia Xuning Zhang is an interdisciplinary researcher with years of mixed-methods research experience and a wide breadth of content knowledge in the areas of Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Technology-Based Learning Supports. She has rich technical expertise in collecting and analyzing extant data to inform enrollment trends and population estimates, leading user ...
Dominique Bradley is a senior researcher at AIR and deputy director for the Long Beach Network for School Improvement. She serves as the qualitative research lead for evaluations of the Community Schools Initiative, Full Service Community Schools and Sustainable Community Schools for Chicago Public Schools and the research lead and ...
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.
Robert Nathenson is a senior researcher at AIR. He has over 10 years of experience in the execution of rigorous econometric and behavioral science techniques to applied policy questions in the postsecondary education, pre-k-12 education, and health fields. Dr. Nathenson regularly conducts research using both experimental and quasi-experimental designs. His ...
Robert Schwarzhaupt is a quantitative researcher at AIR, where he seeks to broaden participation in CS and STEM by examining PK-12 teacher preparation, instruction, and professional development, particularly for underserved and underrepresented groups.
Amanda Danks is a senior researcher at AIR with extensive experience supporting investigations aimed at enhancing equity and opportunity for learners of all backgrounds and abilities. Dr. Danks is the associate director of the Economic Evaluation of Policies and Programs (EEPP) Methods Hub at AIR, that ensures all economic evaluations ...
Deborah Holtzman, an AIR principal researcher, specializes in the statistical analysis of quantitative data, particularly achievement data and survey data. She recently concluded the evaluation of a College Board school-intervention program for which she analyzed achievement and other outcome data for schools in three states using a comparative interrupted time ...