Arlington, Va. – September 20, 2026 -- The American Institutes for Research (AIR) will present at more than 25 sessions during the 2026 Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness (SREE) conference, running September 23-26 at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront in Baltimore, Maryland.
AIR secures Silver Sponsor status and exhibitor booth at flagship research conference
AIR will operate a booth in the Exhibitor Hall throughout the four-day event, which convenes education researchers, policy leaders, and professionals under the theme "Education and Public Trust: Evidence and Accountability in a Changing Landscape."
Researchers present findings spanning AI-assisted instruction, workforce programs, and digital learning
Sessions include a paper on using large language models responsibly in program evaluation, presented by Ruhan Circi, Burhan Ogut, Tabitha Tezil, Eben Witherspoon, and Amelia Vasquez on September 24. Separate poster sessions examine AI-supported formative assessment through the ADAPT-AI project and AI-assisted qualitative analysis workflows for education impact studies.
A systematic review and meta-analysis on work-based learning programs, led by Kelly Reese and Susan Therriault, will be presented September 23, alongside a quasi-experimental study of Illinois Bridge Programs for adult learners conducted by Neha Nanda, Amani Talwar, Roman Ruiz, Jessica Stockham, and Oshin Khachikian.
Panel examines federal policy shifts affecting classroom practice and school accountability
AIR researcher Laura Brady will present findings on how federal Dear Colleague letters and injunctions have influenced teachers' use of culturally responsive practices. A separate September 25 panel, led by Drew Atchison and Kerstin Le Floch, addresses school accountability and turnaround strategies amid what organizers describe as federal limbo.
Keynote panel convened by AIR's Dan Goldhaber probes evidence-to-policy gap
Dan Goldhaber will convene and chair a keynote panel titled "The Education Research Ecosystem: What Would it Take for Evidence to Matter More?" on September 25 at 10:45 a.m.
Additional AIR-authored research covers individualized math instruction through the Modern Classrooms Project, cost-benefit findings from the Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools Program evaluation led by Jesse Levin, Rachel Feldman, Katie Laird, and Brad Salvato, and an economic evaluation of postsecondary nudge interventions presented by Chris Brooks and colleagues.