Do you want to be a part of something innovative and cutting edge? If your answer is yes, then join our team of project managers, designers, and software specialists that are smart, creative and excited about the impact they are making on students’ education around the nation. American Institutes for Research (“AIR”) Assessment provides assessment services and technical assistance to school systems nationwide.

We are currently seeking a Program Manager to join our team in Washington, DC.

The Program Manager (Alternate Assessment) will assist with managing all aspects of state testing projects for students with significant cognitive disabilities. They must be able to work collaboratively in a fast paced environment; anticipate problems and come up with creative methods of solving them; develop strong, positive, constructive relationships with clients; coordinate among the various project teams; and make sure that quality control procedures are adhered to in order to produce high quality assessments within deadline and budget. Successful candidates will create a proactive culture in which the efficient creation of high quality products is second nature.

The responsibilities of the Program Manager (Alternate Assessment) include:

• Develops processes, procedures, and schedules for meeting project deliverables and client needs.
• Working with state clients, ensures that all plans and schedules are viable, that the state understands their roles and deadlines, and that clear lines of communication are established.
• Develops meeting agendas, chairing meetings, and documenting decisions.
• Ensures that a master schedule is developed and maintained of deadlines and deliverables and making sure that all project staff are aware of the parts of the master schedule that affect them, and are aware of all changes that are made to the schedule.
• Provides information, support, direction, and problem-solving to the clients, as needed, in a manner that provides positive solutions, and if needed, adjusts current processes to improve the delivery, coordination, or quality of the product.
• Manages changes of scope so that all necessary changes to contracts, budgets, and activities, and schedules are in place.
• Ensures that other members of the project team are aware of any changes to the project scope.
• Coordinates among the senior staff members who manage the various project teams (item development, technical, reporting, website, databases, etc.) and making sure that each team receives what it needs from the other teams.
• Keeps AIR senior management informed of any potential project problems, including issues with a client or another stakeholder and any potential for missed deadlines or budget over-runs.
• Manages subcontractors.
• Monitors budgets.

• Master’s degree or equivalent required, preferably in special education or a related field.
• 3 years of progressively increasing responsibility managing tasks and projects in a fast-paced environment.
• Prior experience teaching special education.
• Experience working in large-scale assessment or a related field, such as publishing or large-scale surveys is preferred.
• Experience working with clients.

AIR Assessment is one of America’s leading K -12 educational assessment entities, currently holding prime contracts for educational testing and scoring in many states. AIR Assessment is a national leader in computer based adaptive assessments; a market that is rapidly growing. We focus on providing our clients with customized assessments that not only measure student achievement against state standards, but also provide meaningful score reports that can help students, parents, and educators address any areas of student weakness. Our environment is fast-paced and requires people at all levels who are willing to roll up their sleeves to get the work done on time while maintaining high quality. As a part of AIR, a not-for-profit organization, we are more than 1,900 people working to improve lives in communities domestically and around the world. Our mission calls for us to turn the best research into practice, which we do in every arena in which we work.

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