American Institutes For Research In The Behavioral Sciences

Programs: Air organizes its program activities across three programs: assessment, professional services, and grantmaking. The assessment division provides student assessment services. Collaborating with states, districts, and international organizations, it develops and deploys effective and efficient cognitive assessment programs to yield information about student progress. The program fuses statistics, technology, and standard-aligned content into powerful k-12 formative, summative, and supplemental products and services primarily delivered on-line. It also studies the validity of assessments performed by federal, state, and local education agencies. The information and analyses enable (see schedule o for continuation) schools and oversight agencies with the ability to measure compliance with requirements of federal and state education standards and laws. The program has pioneered and leads in the delivery of computer-based adaptive testing and alternative assessment for students with physical and cognitive disabilities.

professional services - the reach of air's professional services division ranges from research and evaluation to policy, practice and systems change. The research and evaluation work is grounded in evidence and pairs the best methodological and statistical science with subject matter expertise to shape and inform stakeholder programs and policymakers. Examples of the focus areas spanning the life course of indiviuals include early childhood education, language acquisition and literacy, special education, school climate and turnaround, teacher effectiveness, career readiness, adult learning, patient-centered health outcomes, mental health supports, juvenile justice and aging. To support evidence-based decision-making; solve important research questions; and address implementation (see schedule o for continuation) effectiveness and build capacity to improve interventions, processes, and outcomes, the research activities also make use of: state-of-the-art design, analysis, and reporting methodologies, including rapid-cycle, randomized controlled trials for studies powered to identify the impact of a program or policy. Survey and acquisition methodologies for collecting data to inform research. Efficient and effective analytic tools and techniques. Statistical and social science methodologies. Air's activities that are focused on policy, practice and systems change also use evidence-based methods and strategies to create and improve information available for use by legislative, policy making or public practitioner communities. The work aims to strengthen the knowledge, skills and repeatable infrastructures used in program administration by public-facing clients. The activities involved in this work also include: research-based knowledge translation and utilization services include systematic literature reviews to identify critical questions, analyze existing research, and transform and disseminate findings that inform practice. The design, implementation, and evaluation of communication and behavior change campaigns to motivate and support people in adopting healthy behaviors and to address issues such as hiv-aids prevention, opioid abuse prevention, tobacco cessation and abstinence, obesity prevention and management, and child protection. The facilitation of systems change, including the improvement of education in the nation's poorest districts, working with juvenile justice agencies to prevent recidivism, and partnering with ministries of education and nongovernmental organizations abroad to improve basic literacy and early reading skills. The design and execution of pay for success programs that partner public and private stakeholders on innovative approaches to address social problems such as homelessness, disadvantaged communities, and language acquisition for english learners. The use of technology as an integral component of our service delivery strategies in responsive to website functionality, distance learning, digital and social media, and geospatial information systems.

grantmaking activities - the board of directors designates a portion of the fund balance to act as a quasi-endowment. The purpose of the quasi-endowment being 1) to ensure long-term, future financial strength based on established covenants, 2) to support the needs of major non-recurring transactions such as loan collateralization to support a merger or acquisition and 3) to fund grant-making initiatives that carry out air's mission that are otherwise not funded from third-party sources. Specifically with regard to the third purpose delineated above, the board of directors has approved a policy authorizing the annual expenditure of a portion of the (see schedule o for continutation) quasi-endowment to make awards for restricted research grants on selected topics. The board establishes the general areas of research to be featured for grant award. The amount of the annual appropriation is determined with the intention of maintaining the inflation-adjusted purchasing power of the quasi-endowment and is based on its trailing thirty-six month fair market value. Grant applicants are required to submit proposals detailing the research activities to be supported by the grant if awarded. A panel of experts reviews grant applications related to the selected research and technical assistance areas aligned to air's mission and makes funding recommendations to air's executive committee for approval by the board of directors. After award, grant recipients are required to comply with obligations to provide periodic and final progress reports related to the grant activities, expenditures and accomplishments.