Sakiko Ikoma

Sakiko Ikoma is a senior researcher at AIR. She provides technical assistance for the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). She leads multiple research projects focused on analyzing large-scale assessment data, such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the High School Longitudinal Study (HSLS), and the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).

Dr. Ikoma’s area of expertise is the sociology of education, especially regarding professionalization of teaching, school climate, professional learning communities (PLCs), teacher quality, academic resilience, homework, and credentialism and meritocracy. Using NAEP, she has led studies that analyzed characteristics of students who perform below NAEP Basic as well as a study that examined academic resilience focusing on high-performing students who are eligible for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). Regarding research related to teachers, her authored chapter in the International Handbook of Teacher Quality and Policy examined sociological theories of the teaching profession and historical contexts of professionalization of teaching in the U.S. She also conducted data analyses and co-authored a federal report, Certification status and experience of U.S. public school teachers: Variations across student subgroups (NCES 2017-056). Currently, she provides NCES with technical and content support to organize a teacher survey framework regarding the NCES data collection of K-12 teachers and teaching.

Prior to her graduate study in the U.S., Dr. Ikoma taught mathematics, science, and English to middle and high school students for eight years in Tokyo, Japan.