Laura Hamilton

Laura Hamilton is senior director of education measurement and assessment in AIR’s Human Services division. She provides intellectual leadership and methodological expertise in measurement across projects and pursuits within the division and is responsible for business development, partnerships, and strategic planning related to assessment in education, workforce, and youth development. She also leads and conducts research on assessment policy and on social, emotional, and civic learning, with a focus on producing evidence-based guidance for practitioners and policymakers.

Before joining AIR, Hamilton served as associate vice president of the Research Centers in the Research and Measurement Sciences area at ETS, leading a portfolio of research on assessment and learning related to K-12 and postsecondary education, workforce development, and language assessment. She also oversaw the technical review process at ETS in her role as Eignor Executive Editor. She previously held the distinguished chair in learning and assessment at RAND, where she co-directed the American Educator Panels and directed RAND’s Center on Social and Emotional Learning Research. 

Hamilton has served on numerous committees and panels including the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Committee on Developing Indicators of Education Equity, the Research Advisory Council for CASEL, the Research Advisory Board for FutureEd, and the technical advisory committees for a number of state assessment programs. She’s held several editorial roles, most recently as an associate editor of the journals Educational Researcher and Social and Emotional Learning: Research, Practice, and Policy. She also received the Joseph A. Zins Distinguished Scholar Award for SEL Research.