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 ...
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.
Tamara Linkow is a senior director at AIR. In this role, she provides direction and support across AIR’s portfolio of federal education evaluation studies. With over 15 years of experience in research and evaluation, she has led impact and descriptive studies that inform foundation, state, and federal decisions.
Her areas ...
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 ...
Lois Kimmel is a TA consultant at AIR. Kimmel’s expertise focuses on educator shortages and diversifying the teacher workforce, with a specific emphasis on teacher recruitment and preparation. Ms. Kimmel builds the capacity of state education agencies to strengthen their workforce through designing interactive professional development workshops, conducting mixed-methods research, ...
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 ...
Whitney Cade is a senior researcher at AIR. She currently supports multiple projects, including two Institute for Education Science grants and the Regional Education Laboratories Southwest. Her recent work focuses on understanding the impacts of 8th grade algebra on school trajectories and college readiness, evaluating UTeach teacher characteristics and program ...
Ashley Pierson is a senior researcher in the Education Systems and Policy, Human Services program at AIR. She has over 15 years of experience conducting applied research, including experimental, quasi-experimental, and mixed-methods studies. Dr. Pierson is a certified reviewer under What Works Clearinghouse Group Design Standards (Version 5.0). She brings ...