Guest Post: Deb Herbage on American Institutes for Research (AIR)
Deb Herbage
Deb Herbage (@DebHerbage) was born and raised in Massachusetts and worked for a Fortune 100 company for 20 years as a business analyst. She relocated to Trinity, Florida in 2007 with her husband and daughter. Deb is an outspoken advocate and active member of the Opt Out Florida Network and over 50 Opt Out groups across the country.
The following is a guest post by Herbage, who has been investigating American Institutes for Research (AIR).
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Who is Really Benefiting from the State Assessment Contracts?
by Deb Herbage
With its inception in 1946, the American Institutes for Research is world famous for their social science and behavioral and psychological research. Partnering with the US DOD (Department of Defense), the US DOH (Department of Health), the US COC (Chamber of Commerce), and the US DOE (Department of Education), AIR is a non-profit company based in Washington, DC, and is the recipient of many contracts from the various states for their Common Core “state assessments,” whether it be signing a contract directly with a state Department of Education (like the case in Florida, North Dakota, Delaware, Washington, Oregon, Maine, Michigan and Arizona)or through the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) (established in December 2010 for $175,649,539with the funds provided by the Federally funded Race To The Top, RTT).
On September 6, 2012 – AIR announced its partnership with the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium to create an online test delivery system for the states.
Here is an excerpt from the SBAC Memorandum of Understanding touting the “services” it is providing to their membership states (after they pay the fees of Guest Post: Deb Herbage on American Institutes for Research (AIR) | deutsch29: