Harman Patil (Editor)

American Institutes for Research

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Location
  
Washington, D.C., U.S.

Founded
  
1946

Founder
  
John C. Flanagan

Motto
  
Making research relevant

American Institutes for Research httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaenbb1AIR

Type
  
Nonprofit research, assessment, and technical assistance organization

Focus
  
Education, student assessment, health, human development, international development, work and training

Origins
  
Critical Incident Technique, Project Talent

Area served
  
United States and international

Key people
  
John C. Flanagan, David Myers (current president and CEO)

Headquarters
  
Washington, D.C., United States

Similar
  
Henry M Jackson Foundati, RTI International, Noblis, CAQH, NORC at the University

American institutes for research pooja reddy


American Institutes for Research (AIR) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan behavioral and social science research, evaluation, assessment and technical assistance organization based in Washington, D.C. One of the world's largest social science research organizations, AIR has more than 1,800 staff in locations across the United States and abroad.

Contents

In 2010 and 2011, The Washington Post selected AIR as one of the top ten nonprofit firms in the Washington metropolitan area.

History

AIR's founder, John C. Flanagan, a pioneer in aviation psychology, is known for developing the Critical Incident Technique, an innovative method for screening and selecting personnel. While working for the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, Flanagan developed CIT as an aptitude test to identify potential combat pilots. Later, the technique was adapted for other industries, and CIT is still a model for numerous organizations and researchers.

Flanagan established American Institutes for Research in 1946. He focused on workforce education research and launched Project Talent, a longitudinal study following 400,000 high school students across the U.S., which has continued for the past 50 years and provided data for hundreds of researchers and publications.

Mission statement

"AIR's mission is to conduct and apply the best behavioral and social science research and evaluation towards improving peoples' lives, with a special emphasis on the disadvantaged."

Areas of Work

AIR Assessment
develops student tests, score reports, and online reporting tools for students, teachers, parents, and administrators in states across the U.S. Psychometricians and statisticians provide data and analysis for policy and curriculum decisions.
Research and Evaluation, Technical Assistance and Policy, Practice & Systems Change - Domestic and International
AIR practice areas include early childhood; P-12 education including teacher, school and district leadership; social development; health and well-being; higher education and career readiness; adult learning and workforce issues; and survey development and tech solutions.

Some of the work Flanagan and AIR are known for includes: Project Talent, the largest and most comprehensive study of high school students ever conducted in the United States; core evaluations for U.S. Department of Education programs; technical expertise on the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA); Project A, the largest personnel survey in the history of the U.S. Army; partnering with states to design and administer student assessment testing in schools across the U.S.; and projects including Regional Education Labs (RELs) and Comprehensive Centers, National Center for Family Homelessness, Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER), College and Career Readiness and Success Center, Center for English Language Learners, among others.

Leadership

Education researcher David Myers is AIR's president and CEO and serves on its board of directors. Previously, Myers was senior vice president and chief strategy officer at Mathematica Policy Research.

The twelve-member board of directors is led by chair Patricia B. Gurin, professor emerita of social psychology and women's studies at University of Michigan and vice chair Lawrence D. Bobo, a professor of social sciences at Harvard University.

References

American Institutes for Research Wikipedia