airnews - american institutes for research · and technical assistance to improve people’s lives...
TRANSCRIPT
American Institutes for Research® ■
www.air.org
newsAIRMaking Research Relevant
®
ISSUE TWO | 2010 | N0. 32
Groundbreaking Effort
to Help Students and the
Syracuse, N.Y., Public
Schools ..................................1
AIR Finds Consumers’
Understanding of Evidence-
Based Health Care Lacking ....1
AIR and Learning Point
Associates Join Forces ...........1
AIR Helps Earthquake-
Devastated Haiti Rebuild
Its Schools .............................1
A Message From the
President and CEO .................2
Farmer Voice Radio: A New
Force to Combat Hunger in
Sub-Saharan Africa ................3
Study Finds Key Elements
in High-Achieving Schools:
Autonomy in Both Staffing
and Designing the
School Day.............................4
AIR Develops Body Mass
Index Calculator App
for the iPhone ........................5
Hamburg and Liakopoulos
Join AIR’s Board of
Directors ................................9
Staff in the News .................11
Cheryl Vince Whitman Joins
AIR .......................................12
All patients expect the very best care when visiting their
doctors. But according to a new AIR study, how patients
define “best care” is very different from how scientific
evidence would define the same term.
AIR’s study, which was conducted with funding from the
California HealthCare Foundation and in collaboration
with the National Business Group on Health, found
that there is a fundamental disconnect between the
central tenets of “evidence-based health care” and
what patients believe to be the best care. The findings
appeared in the July 2010 issue of Health Affairs.
“Consumers believe that ‘more’ care is ‘better’ care
and that new types of care and treatment are always
better — and it’s hard for them to accept evidence to the
contrary,” said Dr. Kristin Carman, who led the AIR study.
An unprecedented
effort is under way
in Syracuse, N.Y., to
transform the city’s
public school system
to improve student
achievement and offer
financial assistance
to those going to
college. To make this happen, an unusual public–private
partnership has been formed by Say Yes to Education,
Inc., Syracuse University, the school district and school
board, the teachers’ union, the mayor and the county
executive, business and community leaders, and AIR,
which has made a $7.5 million commitment to the
success of the effort.
AIR Finds Consumers’ Understanding of Evidence-Based Health Care Lacking
Groundbreaking Effort to Help Students and the Syracuse, N.Y., Public Schools
Continued on page 6 Continued on page 8
The devastating earthquake
in Haiti not only left a large
part of the country in shambles
but also destroyed or damaged
an estimated 4,000 schools,
leaving more than 500,000
children without places to learn.
AIR Helps Earthquake-Devastated Haiti Rebuild Its Schools
AIR and Learning Point Associates, two of the nation’s
leading not-for-profit education research firms, have
joined forces in a development that brings together
the strengths of both organizations and improves their
ability to provide cutting-edge research, evaluation
and technical assistance to improve people’s lives and
well-being.
AIR and Learning Point Associates Join Forces
Continued on page 10Continued on page 9
American Institutes for Research® ■
www.air.org
2
It is certainly an exciting time for the
American Institutes for Research.
In July, we formally announced
that AIR was joining with Learning
Point Associates on August 1, 2010.
Learning Point is a terrific organization. In addition to
running the Regional Education Laboratory Midwest,
Learning Point has become a national leader in education
research and consulting, particularly at the school and
district levels. The organization has distinguished itself in
areas such as educator effectiveness, district and school
improvement, literacy and after-school services.
Over the years, AIR and Learning Point have partnered
together on important projects that have shaped the
future of public education. Through these experiences, we
discovered a shared mission and a shared commitment to
the community, particularly those with the greatest need.
And we realized that together, we could have an even
stronger impact.
The move signals a new era in education research and
technical assistance. Together, we provide a seamless
continuum of research, direct professional services and
policy knowledge, from the classroom all the way to
federal and international levels. AIR has long stood as the
gold standard for education research and evaluation in
the United States. Learning Point’s work only strengthens
that reputation, providing us with additional “boots on
the ground” in those schools and districts that are
working to improve opportunities and learning outcomes
for all children.
This merger also comes as AIR prepares for the next
chapter in its impressive history. Earlier this summer, I
announced that I will retire at the end of the year, to be
succeeded by Dr. David Myers, AIR Senior Vice President
and Director of our Education, Human Development and
the Workforce (EHDW) Division.
When I merged Pelavin Associates Inc. with AIR in 1994,
the organization had 200 staffers and annual revenues
of $12 million. We closed 2009 with 1,500 employees
and annual revenues of $300 million. Such growth is
important. But what is more important is that AIR is now
synonymous with high-quality research, assessment and
technical assistance around the world.
Our successes truly have been the result of a team effort.
Together, AIR empowers communities and institutions
with solutions to the most critical education, health,
workforce and international development challenges.
Across the United States and around the world, our
efforts in EHDW, Education Assessment, Federal Statistics,
Health and International Development are making
a real difference. We are improving lives, improving
communities and improving our world.
I am excited by AIR’s future, in both the coming months
and years. AIR has long been an industry leader. I am
confident that we are now redefining the industry and its
measures of success for generations to come.
Sol H. Pelavin
Corporate Headquarters: 1000 Thomas Jefferson Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20007. Phone: (202) 403-5000.
AIR’s purpose is to conduct and apply behavioral and social science research to improve people’s lives and well-being, with a special emphasis on the disadvantaged. It is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization that provides research and technical assistance domestically and internationally in the areas of health, education and workforce productivity.
Sol H. PelavinCEO
David MyersPresident
Patrick RiccardsExecutive Director, Public Affairs and Communications
Larry McQuillan Director of Communications
Margaret Monrad Communications Specialist
A Message for the CEO
American Institutes for Research® ■
www.air.org
3
How do you find out how to grow the best bananas in
sub-Saharan Africa? Listen to Mr. Muthomi, a leading
banana farmer from the Meru district of Kenya, on
the radio. He was recently interviewed as part of an
innovative radio “extension” system called Farmer Voice
Radio (FVR), which reaches out to small-scale farmers in
Africa to help improve their productivity, livelihoods and
well-being.
AIR and partners in Africa are developing FVR through
a $10 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation. Millions of small farmers in sub-Saharan
Africa are learning about new farming techniques and
resources through a network of public, private and
community radio broadcasters and agricultural experts.
FVR partner radio stations have all agreed to provide
substantial amounts of airtime for FVR programming at
no cost during prime listening hours. The project began
in July 2009, and programming began being broadcast
on nine African radio networks in Malawi and Kenya on
April 12, 2010.
The need for new ways to reach out to farmers is great.
Africa is the only continent where hunger is expected
to increase dramatically within the next 20 years
unless sustainable food sources are created. Conventional
ways of reaching farmers do not work effectively in
Africa because of the limited number of university and
government “extension” officers with little access to the
majority of small farmers in rural areas. With FVR, the
extension workers can use a radio “megaphone” to reach
more farmers.
“We are hopeful that Farmer Voice Radio will do more
than just provide state-of-the-art agricultural tips,” said
Tara Shariff, AIR’s project manager. “We also want to be
able to listen and respond to the needs and preferences
of small-scale farmers in this region. We are planning
to establish a research desk at every radio station that
will enable stations to change programming strategies
quickly based on feedback from their audience.”
There are clear signs of success. For example, in Malawi,
the farmers of Kacheta village report that the information
broadcast in the AgTips program has helped them
improve their corn harvest while reducing post-harvest
losses. The village chief notes that it was the first to
adopt the practices and that 200 out of 250 households
in his village now use them.
Looking ahead, Shariff said, “Radio, enhanced by cell
phones and other communication technologies offers
new hope for reaching large numbers of farmers and
truly becoming their voice. We plan to expand to other
countries in Africa as well. In the end, FVR can help
alleviate hunger in Africa over the long term.”
Farmer Voice Radio: A New Force to Combat Hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa
American Institutes for Research® ■
www.air.org
4
High-achieving schools of all types — traditional, charter
and pilot — share a critical common characteristic: They
have school leaders who use their authority to adapt to
the changing needs of students and staff quickly and
deliver the support needed, according to an AIR study of
schools in Boston.
Two types of autonomy appear to have a critical
“gateway” role in empowering a school leader: autonomy
over scheduling, and over time and staffing.
The study, Out of the Debate and Into the Schools, was
commissioned by the Boston Foundation and provides
the first evidence-based research that analyzes strategies
and practices in traditional, charter and pilot schools
within a single school district.
“One of the most interesting findings of this report is
that there are two autonomies — scheduling and time
and staffing — that strongly influence the degree to
which school leaders are able to optimize autonomy in
other areas,” said Dr. Susan Bowles Therriault, a senior
AIR researcher based in Concord, Mass. “Even more
interesting is that principals of high-achieving traditional
schools, who were not necessarily granted this autonomy
by the district, were able to exert autonomy over staffing
by maneuvering around the district hiring system and
developing a strong school culture. Still, even the most
effective traditional school leaders were constrained in
their ability to control the schedule and time in school.”
“It was also notable that while the longer school day
at charter schools was important, how the extra time
was used by staff and students appeared to be the most
significant factor in high-achieving charter and pilot
schools. The best schools allowed time for teachers to
plan cooperatively, focus on professional development,
and assess and work with individual students,” said
Therriault, who co-authored the report with Allison
Gruner Gandhi, Julia Casasanto and Samantha Carney.
Students who attend charter schools have an 8.2-hour
school day on average, while traditional school students
have a 6.1-hour school day. Based on the Massachusetts
requirement that students attend school for 180 days,
this results in an estimated difference of 378 hours
per year, which is equivalent to 62 days of additional
schooling in charter schools. The key to this finding is not
the length of the school day, but how that time is used in
high-achieving charter schools. These schools embedded
Study Finds Key Elements in High-Achieving Schools: Autonomy in Both Staffing and Designing the School Day
Continued on page 5
American Institutes for Research® ■
www.air.org
5
AIR has developed a new app
for the National Institutes of
Health’s National Heart, Lung,
and Blood Institute (NHLBI): a
BMI Calculator for the iPhone.
The calculator is featured in
the apps gallery of the newly
relaunched USA.gov site.
NHLBI’s online Body Mass Index
(BMI) Calculator has been a
popular tool for years, helping
users screen themselves for
weight categories. Results of
the screen may indicate health
problems. BMI is a reliable
indicator of total body fat,
which is related to the risk of
disease and death. The online BMI calculator receives
1.6 million visitors a month and ranks #1 on Google.
Now the downloadable phone application puts the fully
functioning calculator right on your phone, along with
links to resources on the NHLBI site.
Research has shown that more and more people are
using their mobile phones to interact online in many
ways, including searching for health information. Some
demographic groups that have low participation online
using traditional methods actually have a much higher
rate of smart phone adoption. To reach this growing
audience, AIR recommended that NHLBI consider
developing downloadable phone applications. Since the
BMI Calculator is consistently the largest draw for search
traffic to the site, it was natural to consider it as the first
project for development.
AIR Develops Body Mass Index Calculator App for the iPhone
support for students into the regular school day and
provided more opportunities for teachers to participate
in collective professional development, student-focused
discussion and collaborative planning time.
While scheduling and time were primarily something
that only charter schools — and some pilot schools
— were able to control, staffing was a different story.
High-achieving traditional schools were able to control
staffing on a par with pilot and charter schools. By
developing relationships with teacher training programs
and investing time in recruitment of candidates that met
the needs of students, traditional school principals were
able to ensure that new teachers fit the needs of their
school. Principals at traditional schools described taking
this control as a “risk.”
AIR’s researchers surveyed school principals and
conducted case studies, classroom observations and
a document review. The study focused on the main
difference between traditional, charter and pilot schools:
school-level autonomy in the areas of leadership and
governance, budget, staffing, professional development,
scheduling and time, and curriculum and instruction.
The study is a follow-up to the Informing the Debate
report, which found that students attending charter
schools significantly outperformed their counterparts in
traditional schools.
American Institutes for Research® ■
www.air.org
6
Say Yes to Education is committed to dramatically
increasing high school and college graduation rates for
inner-city youth. Its efforts began a quarter-century
ago, when hedge fund pioneer George Weiss offered to
pay for the college education of 112 sixth-graders at
a Philadelphia elementary school. Over the years Weiss
has given tens of millions of dollars to send inner-city
students to college, but he and Mary Ann Schmitt-
Carey, the education entrepreneur and a former AIR
vice president hired in 2006 as president of Say Yes to
Education, wanted to do more. They wanted to apply the
lessons learned from those two decades of work to an
entire school system.
After Schmitt-Carey joined Say Yes to Education, she
enlisted AIR’s help to formulate a strategy and model
for change built around closely monitoring student
performance and providing extensive support for each
school and student in grades K–12 — including providing
individual education plans, after-school and summer
enrichment programs and close attention to the health
and social and emotional needs of the students.
AIR Vice President David Osher, an authority on how
children’s social and emotional well-being affects their
learning, helped develop the plan. “It really has the
chance of being transformative, being a game changer,”
he said. “It is both bold and do-able, because it has been
designed in a realistic manner and implemented in a
sustainable way.”
Schmitt-Carey had the model and a strategy for moving
forward developed before the foundation settled on
an urban school district. During a conversation with
Syracuse University Chancellor Nancy Cantor, who serves
on AIR’s Board of Directors, Schmitt-Carey mentioned
Say Yes to Education’s desire to help an entire district.
The chancellor replied, “Have I got a city for you.”
They found a ready partner in the Syracuse school
superintendent, Daniel Lowengard, and soon were joined
by local political, civic and community leaders. In keeping
with Say Yes to Education’s longtime goal of not
only preparing disadvantaged youth for college but also
making it financially possible, Cantor and Schmitt-Carey’s
efforts have secured commitments from nearly 100
public and private colleges and universities to guarantee
full-tuition scholarships for all qualified graduates of
Syracuse public schools.
The partnership has positively affected the community
as well. Rebecca Herman, AIR’s project director for this
work and leader of the implementation study, said,
“A lot of the people we interviewed in a focus group
said, ‘We’ve never worked together before; we often
didn’t see eye-to-eye.’ ” But the opportunity changed
minds. The project was embraced not just as a way to
repair Syracuse’s public schools, but as a chance to spur
economic development for a city that has lost almost
half its population and much of its industrial base since
the 1950s.
Syracuse has 21,000 students enrolled in 33 general
enrollment schools. Fewer than half of those who enroll
in kindergarten will receive a high school diploma.
Almost a third of the city’s 142,000 residents live in
Groundbreaking Effort to Help Students and the Syracuse, N.Y., Public SchoolsContinued from page 1
Continued on page 7
American Institutes for Research® ■
www.air.org
7poverty, and nearly 80 percent of students qualify for
free or reduced-price meals. Only a quarter of the city’s
population is African-American, but black students
make up more than half of the public school enrollment.
Hispanics, who are 5 percent of the population, account
for 11 percent of enrollment. Sixty-two percent of city
residents are white, but they account for less than a third
of student enrollment.
The changes under way in Syracuse schools include more
counselors and social workers, more instructional time
and planning time for teachers, and additional health
services. Vice President Joseph Biden and Education
Secretary Arne Duncan have visited the Syracuse schools
and praised the project, and the presidents of both
the American Federation of Teachers and the National
Education Association have made trips to Syracuse to see
the experiment in action.
AIR’s contributions include developing a Student
Monitoring System that identifies each student’s
academic, social-emotional and health status and makes
recommendations for addressing individual needs. The
system lets students, their parents and teachers know
whether a pupil is on track to graduate.
AIR also prepares school profiles that analyze strengths
and weaknesses and suggests ways to address gaps. The
profiles draw on school visits, surveys and other measures
of performance. Additionally, AIR is carrying out an
implementation study and two separate effectiveness
studies, as well as providing professional development
for teachers. AIR is also helping the district manage and
interpret the large volume of data being generated and
helping community organizations work with the schools.
The Student Monitoring System looks at far more than
test scores and grades. Teachers are asked to rate their
students yearly across social-emotional and academic
domains. For example, teachers are asked whether they
know of any health, behavioral or emotional issues that
might affect a student’s ability to succeed in school, how
well the student handles stress and whether he or she
can concentrate in class. In the year ahead, students in
grades 6 and above will be given a chance to answer such
questions themselves and also will be asked whether
their friends and family support the idea of their going to
college. Teachers will share with parents the information
on whether or not a student is on track to graduate high
school, and what is needed to address identified needs or
further enrich strengths.
Say Yes to Education is contributing $10 million to the
initiative, and AIR is donating $7.5 million over five
years. All told, $31.5 million has been raised, including
$9 million allocated by state and local governments
and the school district, $2 million from the Wegmans
supermarket chain and $1.1 million from Syracuse
University. Those funds will help provide scholarships for
graduates who go to public colleges, and they pay for
summer school and enrichment programs, as well as full-
time Say Yes to Education staff members in every school.
American Institutes for Research® ■
www.air.org
8
The study used a mixed-methods approach that included
focus groups, one-on-one interviews and an online
survey with more than 1,500 individuals. All participants
had health coverage through an employer or a union-
sponsored health plan. The study found that:
■ A total of 41 percent said they had not asked ques-
tions of their physician during a visit or did not
mention a medical problem they were experiencing
because they were unsure how to talk to the doctor
or because the physician seemed to be in a hurry.
■ No more than 34 percent said they could ever
remember their physician discussing what medical
research had shown about the best way to manage
their care.
■ More than half of respondents said they never
took notes during a medical appointment, and 28
percent said they never brought questions to ask
their doctors.
Participants believed that medical guidelines inherent
in the “evidence-based” approach could be too rigid,
interfering with providers’ abilities to tailor care to the
needs of individual patients. Respondents also perceived
these guidelines as a means to protect physicians from
potential lawsuits or as tactics invoked to deny care.
Respondents reported a deep faith in the ability of
their doctors, relying on them heavily for information,
interpretation and guidance on treatment options. Most
assumed that their health care providers always based
decisions on medical evidence.
Health care writer Dana Blankenhorn, describing the
findings of the study in an article on ZDNet, noted that
“the idea of using data to drive medical decisions is the
key to any health reform.” He said the AIR report “gives
serious pause to all reformers, because it shows patients
still do not buy the premise … If insurers or government
are to say no to any type of care, that decision must be
based on facts. Debates must move toward the evidence
and away from emotion.”
AIR has developed web-based tools to help patients
better understand the goals of evidence-based
care. Communication Toolkit: Using Information
to Get High Quality Care (available at http://www.
businessgrouphealth.org/usinginformation/) is a
collection of materials designed to support understanding
about key concepts in evidence-based health care so
patients and their families can make decisions about
medical care based on research and evidence about what
works.
The toolkit translates difficult-to-understand concepts
for a mainstream audience, with topics including
understanding the basics of health care quality, cost
and quality, tips for getting good quality care and
using the Internet to find health information. AIR is
currently conducting a project to increase the toolkit’s
dissemination, implementation and effectiveness.
AIR Finds Consumers’ Understanding of Evidence-Based Health Care LackingContinued from page 1
American Institutes for Research® ■
www.air.org
9
Nationally recognized business
leaders Edward Hamburg and
Andrew Liakopoulos have
joined AIR’s Board of Directors.
Hamburg advises or serves on the
board of directors of numerous
high-technology companies and
is a venture partner with
Morgan Stanley Private Equity.
Liakopoulos is a principal in
the Human Capital Practice
of Deloitte Consulting LLP and
leads Deloitte’s National Talent
Strategies practice.
Both served on the board of directors of Learning Point
Associates, an education research and consulting firm
that merged with AIR on August 1, 2010.
“We welcome the valuable insights and contributions
that both of these outstanding leaders bring with them,”
said Patricia Gurin, the chair of AIR’s Board of Directors.
“We are delighted that they are joining us.”
Hamburg is the former executive vice president of
corporate operations and chief financial officer of SPSS
Inc., a global provider of predictive analytics computer
software and services, which was acquired by IBM in
2009. He earned a Ph.D. from the department of political
science at the University of Chicago.
Liakopoulos has worked with many Fortune 100
companies in the areas of talent management,
organization strategy, change management, human
resource transformation and learning development. He
holds an M.B.A. from the University of Illinois with a
concentration in organizational behavior.
“Learning Point is a true leader when it comes to
research and evaluation, direct professional services and
policy knowledge, particularly at the school, district and
state levels,” said AIR CEO Sol H. Pelavin. “Its work is a
strong complement to the district, state, national and
international education efforts long led by AIR, and we
are all quite excited by the impact we will have on our
nation’s educational infrastructure.”
Learning Point CEO Gina Burkhardt said that, “AIR has
long stood as the gold standard for behavioral and social
science research, particularly in the education sector.
By bringing Learning Point’s significant assets to such
a strong organization, we can provide a continuum of
research, assessment and technical assistance at all
levels that are unmatched and unrivaled.”
The merger was effective August 1, 2010. AIR is
headquartered in Washington, D.C., and Learning Point
is based in Chicago.
Burkhardt has become an AIR executive vice president
and the director of the organization’s Education, Human
Development and the Workforce (EHDW) Division. The
division’s more than 450 individuals will include Learning
Point Associates’ staff and current AIR EHDW employees.
Burkhardt succeeds Dr. David Myers as division director.
On July 12, AIR announced that Myers would succeed
Pelavin as AIR’s president and CEO on January 1, 2011.
As part of that transition, Myers became president of
AIR on September 1, 2010, reporting directly to Pelavin,
who will remain CEO until December 31, 2010.
AIR and Learning Point Associates Join ForcesContinued from page 1
Hamburg and Liakopoulos Join AIR’s Board of Directors
Continued on page 10
Andrew Liakopoulos
Edward Hamburg
American Institutes for Research® ■
www.air.org
10
AIR, under the PHARE (Programme Haitien d’Appui à la
Reforme de l’Education) education program funded by
the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID),
is working with the Haitian Ministry of Education and
Professional Training (MENFP) on recovery efforts from
the January disaster.
One of the most urgent needs has been to assemble
classrooms and schools to replace structures in the
heavily damaged areas of Port-au-Prince, Jacmel, Petit-
Goâve and Nippes, as well as Saint-Marc, Gonaïves, Cap
Haïtien and Les Cayes. Thus far, AIR’s efforts have made
it possible for more than 32,000 children to return to
school.
AIR has developed temporary classroom structures made
of steel bars and metal treated roofs that are hurricane
and earthquake resistant. They can be assembled in
approximately five days by local workers, depending on
the extent of the damage at each school site. In addition
to assembling classrooms, AIR’s efforts include providing
school supplies for teachers and students, as well as
recreational equipment. The project also is providing
teachers with special training to help them deal with
the social and emotional needs of children still suffering
trauma caused by the earthquake.
The first USAID-funded transitional school opened in
Bel Aire, an impoverished section of Port-au-Prince, on
April 5, 2010. The facility has drawn widespread interest
and praise. Haitian first lady Elisabeth Preval visited the
facility, as have U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana,
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida and Rep.
Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, as well as Haitian officials
and representatives from USAID and the U.S. Department
of State.
Learning Point Associates was founded in 1984 as the
North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL),
a single-contract regional organization created by the
U.S. Department of Education. In 2004, NCREL became
Learning Point Associates, a diversified consulting firm
with clients ranging from state education agencies and
single-school districts to private foundations and for-
profit corporations. It continues to run NCREL, now known
as Regional Education Laboratory Midwest (REL Midwest).
AIR is one of the world’s largest behavioral and
social science research organizations, and addresses
critical education, health, workforce and international
development challenges. With 1,500 employees, AIR’s
foundation is in education research. The organization
currently stands as a national leader in teaching and
learning improvement, providing the research, assessment,
evaluation and technical assistance to ensure all students
have access to a high-quality, effective education.
AIR and Learning Point Associates Join ForcesContinued from page 9
AIR Helps Earthquake-Devastated Haiti Rebuild Its SchoolsContinued from page 1
American Institutes for Research® ■
www.air.org
11
Daniel Montoya represented AIR at the XVIII International
AIDS Conference, the biennial meeting of the global AIDS
community that attracted 19,300 participants from
193 countries to Vienna, Austria. He presented a poster
on the Act Against AIDS communications campaign
produced by AIR for the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral
Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention.
Dr. Daniel Sherman spoke in Oslo, Norway, to the
International Conference on Education, Social Capital
and Health, which was sponsored by the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development and the
Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research. He
discussed synthesizing the research evidence on the
relationship between education, health and social capital.
Dr. Gary Phillips testified before the U.S. Senate
Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
during a 2½-hour hearing on the reauthorization of
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). In
his testimony, Phillips encouraged Congress to include
common content standards and common performance
standards in ESEA reauthorization. He also recommended
that Congress encourage states to use 21st century
technology-based tests that are more accurate, less
burdensome, faster and cheaper than the current paper-
and-pencil exams.
Kim Gattis received the 2010 Distinguished Service
Award from the Association of State Supervisors of
Mathematics in conjunction with ETA/Cuisenaire. The
award recognizes “outstanding dedication, leadership
and vision in the pursuit of excellence in mathematics
education.”
Dr. Brad Strickland was one of the featured speakers
at a symposium titled “Linkages Between Gender, AIDS
and Development: Implications for U.S. Policy” hosted
by the Global Health Policy Center of the Center for
Strategic and International Studies in Washington,
D.C. He discussed AIR’s work in Zambia involving HIV
prevention in schools under the CHANGES2 project.
Dr. David Osher participated with other nationally
recognized experts on children’s behavioral and
development issues in a panel discussion on research-
based strategies for safe schools during a briefing hosted
by the American Educational Research Association (AERA)
at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington,
D.C. The discussion focused on research findings about
preventing youth violence, a subject that was featured
in AERA’s Educational Researcher.
Dr. Tom Parrish and Dr. Sami Kitmitto gave two
presentations at the national conference of the
Education Writers Association in San Francisco. They
discussed the preliminary results of an AIR study they
are conducting with Larisa Shambaugh on the “Status
of K–12 Education in California at a Time of Fiscal Crisis.”
The final report will be released this year.
Nebeyou Abebe attended a White House meeting on
federal HIV prevention efforts aimed at black men. The
Office of National AIDS Policy convened the meeting to
raise awareness about the domestic HIV epidemic among
black men and promote black community involvement
in the development of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy.
He directs AIR’s efforts on the “I Know” project, which is
part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s
national HIV/AIDS education and awareness campaign
targeting young African-American adults.
Staff in the News…
American Institutes for Research® ■
www.air.org
12
newsAIRAmerican Institutes for Research
1000 Thomas Jefferson Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20007-3835
www.air.org
Making Research Relevant
®
Cheryl Vince Whitman, an internationally
recognized expert on health and human
development issues, is joining AIR as a
senior vice president focusing on a broad
range of domestic and international
health issues.
Whitman served as a senior vice
president at the Education Development
Center, Inc. (EDC), and was the director
of the organization’s health and human
development division. She directed the work of the World Health
Organization Collaborating Centre to Promote Health through Schools
and Communities.
At AIR, Whitman will focus primarily on growing the organization’s
work in the areas of health, mental health, international health and
curriculum development. Her areas of focus include emotional and
mental health; substance abuse; injury, violence and suicide; HIV and
AIDS; and sexually transmitted infections. Along with working with AIR
staff at corporate headquarters in Washington, D.C., she will establish
an AIR office in the Boston area.
“We are fortunate to have Cheryl Vince Whitman join the AIR team,”
AIR President and CEO Sol H. Pelavin said. “In recent years, we have
seen tremendous growth in our health-focused work as well as in our
international development effort, and we are confident that Cheryl will
help us continue that trend, putting her vast knowledge and expertise
to use as we continue to pursue the AIR mission and make the world a
better, more healthy place.”
Her publications include The Role of International Organizations to
Promote School-Based Mental Health (2007) and Case Studies in Global
School Health Promotion: From Research to Practice (2009). Whitman
earned her master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of
Education and her bachelor’s degree from Boston University.
Cheryl Vince Whitman Joins AIR