Deborah Holtzman

Deborah Holtzman, an AIR principal researcher, specializes in the statistical analysis of quantitative data, particularly achievement data and survey data. She recently concluded the evaluation of a College Board school-intervention program for which she analyzed achievement and other outcome data for schools in three states using a comparative interrupted time series design. She also is working on an evaluation of a Gates Foundation initiative aimed at enhancing teacher quality, for which she is responsible for several large-scale surveys of teachers.

Since joining AIR, her projects have included a study of the sensitivity of NAEP to reform-oriented mathematics teaching; the National Longitudinal Study of No Child Left Behind; a study of the performance of students with disabilities on the California High School Exit Examination; and a study of the effects of San Diego’s instructional reform. Through such projects, Dr. Holtzman has developed expertise in the collection, management and analysis of multiple years of student achievement and demographic data.

Dr. Holtzman’s doctoral dissertation used hierarchical linear modeling to examine relationships among content standards, instruction and student achievement. Her primary interests are teacher quality, determinants of student achievement, assessment and accountability, and equity.