Rosa Castro-Zarzur is an economist in AIR’s International Development Division, with extensive training in experimental and quasi-experimental impact evaluations and more than seven years of experience conducting evaluations of social and agricultural programs in developing countries.
Her current work includes evaluating programs aimed at improving child wellbeing and reducing household ...
Russia’s child protection system is engaged in a national initiative to reduce the number of children in orphanages and state care, build capacity of foster parents, and recruit mentors and adoptive parents to support young people as they learn to live on their own. The US-Russia Social Expertise Exchange is ...
One-third of the 400,000 children in foster care enter the system before age five, just as they should be making the transition from preschool to kindergarten. Seventy-five percent of kids in foster care must change schools, often multiple times, which means they tend to fall behind their classmates, miss more ...
All children in foster care are at risk for poor developmental outcomes. ZERO TO THREE created The Safe Babies Court Team™ approach, which aims to reduce the time a child spends in foster care before reaching a permanent, safe home, and supports the long-term well-being of children and families. The ...
This spotlight takes a look at the history of Title I, how the program has changed over time, and how it affects children, schools, families and education policy. Experts weigh in on the program's past and future in interviews, briefs, and blogs.
The number of people displaced by war, persecution, or violence has reached its highest point since World War II—more than 70 million refugees and internally displaced people. Understanding the needs of teachers in refugee settings is critical to providing stability and continuity for children affected by displacement. ...
Countries such as Bangladesh and Mozambique have made universal access to pre-primary education a priority in recent years. Other countries hoping to improve their pre-primary education programs can learn from the experiences of Bangladesh and Mozambique; specifically, some of the necessary conditions to make pre-primary education programs effective. ...
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 ...
Disparities and disproportionalities in human services and behavioral health care—such as lack of access to prevention and treatment services—can threaten child, youth, and family development and well-being, as well as performance in school and on the job. This Blueprint enables communities and states to develop and implement data-driven strategies through ...
Zero-tolerance school policies that remove youth from the classroom are resulting in an increasing number of students failing to complete high school, and in unnecessary involvement in the juvenile justice system. AIR has developed an evidence-based framework to address the issue across educational settings. ...