American Institutes for Research (AIR)

AIR, a not-for-profit education research firm, works with local First 5 commissions, county offices of education, school districts, child care resource and referral agencies, local child care planning councils, and providers to plan, develop and evaluate preschool and other school readiness initiatives. AIR provides technical assistance on the development of county-specific preschool plans, by working with local teams to:

• Develop plans for improving and expanding access to quality programs;
• Assess the local supply and demand of early care and education by program setting, zip code, and school district. To access your county’s supply and demand data, go to ftp://needsassessments.air-ca.org. Username: guest2, Password: Preschool2 (password is case-sensitive);
• Provide GIS maps to illustrate areas of greatest need;
• Estimate the cost of expanding and upgrading services to quality standards;
• Identify new funding sources and fiscal leveraging opportunities;
• Assist with the development of state and federal grant applications;
• Help counties identify priority areas for preschool expansion; and
• Develop options for phasing in preschool and other school readiness programs.

AIR also helps federal, state and local entities evaluate the effectiveness of preschool and other early childhood programs. We are currently involved in evaluating Preschool for All programs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Mateo Counties.

AIR offers a number of resources to assist with preschool planning, including the California Preschool Planning Toolkit and the First 5 California Preschool for All: Step by Step Toolkit. To contact AIR, you may reach Susan Muenchow at 650-843-8153 or smuenchow@air.org.