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Dr. Terris Ross is managing director of the Equity Initiative at the American Institutes for Research (AIR) – a $105M investment in research and technical assistance to address longstanding inequities in the U.S. and globally. In this role, Dr. Ross is refining the long-term, substantive agenda of the Equity Initiative’s work in education and building partnerships to connect AIR’s work with policy, practice, and other researchers and funders. She provides intellectual and technical leadership to improve educational and economic opportunity, with deep appreciation for the challenges faced by communities segregated by race or place.
Dr. Ross has more than 15 years of experience leveraging research, evidence, and data for school improvement and policy reform. Prior to joining AIR, she was the vice president of policy and advocacy at Leadership for Educational Equity (LEE), a national nonprofit dedicated to developing equity-minded civic leaders in policy, advocacy, elected, and community organizing roles. Dr. Ross is also a leader in research and evaluation who has directed and designed numerous studies in her roles at the U.S. Department of Education, first at the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and then as a division leader in the Policy and Program Studies Service (PPSS) of the Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development (OPEPD).
Dr. Ross holds a Ph.D. in education policy studies/research, measurement and statistics from Georgia State University and B.S./M.S. degrees in mathematics from Clark Atlanta University, a historically black university. She lives in the Atlanta area with her husband and son.
