American Institutes for Research Employer Reviews

The AIR assessment staff have interesting jobs. A typical day for editors would involve reading and editing test questions for standardized tests; proofreading client-approved materials; and editing letters and booklets to go to parents, teachers, principals, and school boards. Editing graphics includes size, placement on the page, and consistency throughout – more... test booklets by state. Proposals, statistical reports, and articles targeted for journal submission help round out the day. Co-workers are pleasant and happy to help each other. Management is effective, but not looking over everyone's shoulder. The hardest part of the day is when work runs out; the best is when piles of work to be done are sitting, waiting, aching to be done. – less

AIR is a nice place to gain experience for young professionals fresh out of school. However, you will soon find that your purpose at AIR will be served within a year or two. Co-workers are generally friendly and helpful, but you must be cautious of those in management roles. Often they look out for their best interest and not the interests of their – more... hardworking employees. I have found it to be unstable with many managerial and role shifts and have often been unclear as to what my role is. The hardest part of the job is the instability. The most enjoyable part of the job is interacting with many friendly colleagues who are often willing to help. – less

It was a great 18 years. Amazing growth and committment to human development.

AIR has some of the most talented, dedicated people I've had the pleasure to work with on education, health, and other topics. Very generous benefits, especially after 10 years. Generally conservative management which has yet to figure out how to overcome the silo effect of a multitude of individual contracts and realize some true advantages of scale – more... one would expect from an organization of this size. Focus is on government contracting at federal and state levels. – less

AIR was a great place to work. My typical work day basically surrouned visits to various elementary schools and doing private interviews with students who were in the trial start of the Whole Day First Grade Program.

I learned much about the school administration and the everyday life in the classroom. Of course I've been in elementary school before, – more... but I was moreso the outside looking in.

My co-workers were awesome! Some of the greatest people ever! We all supported each other and we were truly a team!

The hardest part of the job was hearing some of the sad stories that the students had to tell. Seeing kids in pain is painful for me. The most enjoyable part of the job was seeing the children smile. One kid said to me, "I want to be just like you!" Now, who wouldn't enjoy hearing that?! :-) – less

A nice friendly laid back atmosphere, where 30-40 people work as a large team to accomplish goals set out by a supervisor every day. Mentally challenging items and subjects keep you on your feet and learning new things everyday.

Work with people interested in what their doing and are generally interesting. Great work life balance... not expected to put in crazy long hours (only on rare occasion). Lots of food leftover from meetings. Management is pretty hit or miss. Terrible corporate structure for advancement - hardly merit based. Benefits are alright, but salary is terrible.

Though some of the work is interesting, and the benefits aren't bad, upper management has no respect for those at lower levels--treating them as suspect resources to be chewed up without any serious prospect of advancement (unless you're the favorite of the right supervisor).