Megan Austin Named New Director of CALDER at American Institutes for Research
News related to:American Institutes for Research · 2 min read
ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 8, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- American Institutes for Research (AIR) has appointed Megan Austin as the new director of the National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER), a move that will see the center continue to develop timely research to inform policy and practice in K-12 education.
Austin, a veteran education researcher who has worked with numerous states to generate and use evidence to improve student outcomes, will lead CALDER into the future. She brings to the role a commitment to rigorous methodology and a determination to ensure that evidence is amplified and used to improve outcomes for students across the country.
Austin, who joined AIR in 2017, is a principal researcher focusing on education systems and policy. She has led research using longitudinal data in partnership with state education agencies across the U.S., including those in Georgia, Indiana, Minnesota, Texas, and Washington. Her research has been funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the National Science Foundation, the ECMC Foundation, and the American Educational Research Association.
In recent years, Austin has conducted research on the impact of the pandemic on education, how federal pandemic aid was used, and teacher shortages in key areas. She recently concluded an IES grant examining strategies for increasing participation in advanced high school courses and is leading and supporting partnerships with multiple states to implement strategies based on evidence generated by the study.
Austin previously conducted statewide longitudinal research for the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Southeast at AIR, served as principal investigator and co-PI for REL Midwest applied research studies, and was quantitative lead for an IES-funded study of developmental education in Texas community colleges. Her research has been published in many journals, including American Educational Research Journal, Educational Researcher, AERA Open, Review of Educational Research, Education Finance and Policy, and Sociology of Education, as well as in several prominent edited volumes. She has also published numerous federal research reports and policy briefs.
Austin holds a Ph.D. and master's degree in sociology from the University of Notre Dame, a master's degree in Humanities from the University of Chicago, and a bachelor's degree in English and American Studies from the University of Notre Dame.
CALDER, founded in 2006, began as a federally funded research and development center and became an AIR-funded center in 2017. Its researchers and affiliated scholars are national experts on a range of critical issues, and partner with policymakers and state education agencies to develop systematic, quantitative evidence on critical education issues. In recent years, CALDER experts have conducted research on the impact of the pandemic on education; how federal pandemic aid was used; and teacher shortages in key areas.
Dan Goldhaber, who had served as CALDER director since 2011, will now step down from his role. Austin succeeds him and looks forward to collaborating with the CALDER team and their partners to continue the center's work applying rigorous methods to generate insights into timely, policy-relevant questions.
Established in 1946, the American Institutes for Research® (AIR®) is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit institution that conducts behavioral and social science research and delivers technical assistance both domestically and internationally in the areas of health, education, and the workforce. With headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, AIR has offices across the U.S. and abroad.