Using Evidence for Equity | The AIR Equity Initiative

AIR is committed to using evidence in ways that will improve people’s lives. Rigorous evidence can be a powerful tool to promote equity in success at work, school, and care, but evidence does not speak for itself.

The AIR Equity Initiative will build the connective tissue between evidence and its use and help promote better outcomes. Investments will facilitate seamless transitions between the scholastic and the practical, and aid the development of structures, tools, and processes that support the use of evidence in policy and program implementation. This work will also begin and end with a focus on equity and how evidence might be used to better meet the needs of all citizens.

The investments will attend to the social side of evidence use, and nurture the relationships, exchanges, and debate needed to develop trust and understanding of evidence in ways that enable more equitable distribution of resources. The approaches for using evidence will also be evaluated to inform improvements.

COVID-19 Response

COVID-19 required that leaders at all levels of the education system navigate new and continually changing terrain. During this difficult time, AIR leveraged it funds, existing evidence, and expertise in supporting practice, policy and systems change to respond. AIR investments supported the development of a virtual platform that created a highly organized and easily navigated library of growing resources, communities of practice for policymakers and practitioners, peer network learning exchanges, and intensive technical assistance.

Projects include:

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