The American Institutes for Research is a nonprofit, nonpartisan behavioral and social science research, evaluation and technical assistance organization based in Washington, D.C. One of the world's largest social science research organizations, AIR has more than 1,100 staff in locations across the United States and abroad. 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. AIR ran a Defense Department-funded counter-insurgency program in Thailand during the Vietnam War years, which involved designing programs that supported "assassinating key spokesmen strengthening retaliatory mechanisms and similar preventative measures." Charles Murray, the controversial political scientist, worked on this AIR program and claimed the experience was formative in his later advocacy. AIR reached an agreement with Cambium Learning Group, Inc. at the end of 2019 to sell off its student assessment division.
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 conducts behavioral and social science research and delivers technical assistance, both domestically and internationally, in the areas of health, education and workforce productivity. Specific practice areas include early childhood; P-K-12 education, including teacher, school and district leadership; juvenile justice; health and well-being; higher education and career readiness; adult learning and workforce issues; and social and emotional learning. 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. Data from Project Talent is now being used to conduct research on aging and dementia; core evaluations for U.S. Department of Education programs; technical expertise on implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act and how federal funds are used; 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 fully or partially-funded federal projects, including Regional Education Labs and Comprehensive Centers, National Center for Family Homelessness, Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research, College and Career Readiness and Success Center, Center for English Language Learners, among others.
