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Laurel Nishi, M.T. lnishi@air.org Primary Interests Learning Disabilities Emotional/Behavioral Disorders Transitioning Students with Disabilities from School to Postsecondary Endeavors Enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act

Laurel Nishi, currently a Research Analyst, joined the American Institutes for Research as a Research Associate in 1999, after graduating from the University of Virginia with a Master's degree in special education. In addition to working on the EMSTAC project, Laurel works on other projects involving education, including linking research to practice to improve outcomes for students with disabilities, and violence prevention and crisis intervention in schools.

A history of advocating for the rights of and better outcomes for persons with disabilities led Laurel to joining AIR. Laurel was born and raised in Hawaii, where she graduated from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1989 with a double major in journalism and English. She moved to Washington, D.C. a month later to serve as a media relations assistant and legislative correspondent to Hawaii Congresswoman Patricia Saiki. Laurel next worked in the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, where she served for 4.5 years as an investigator in the Disability Right Section, the office designated to enforce Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). As she became more involved in investigations concerning the provision of accommodations for persons with learning disabilities, Laurel realized that she wanted to further her education to better understand the complexities surrounding learning disabilities. When she was offered a graduate assistantship at the University of Virginia, Laurel decided to leave the Justice Department to pursue a master's degree in special education.

While working on her master's degree, Laurel taught in a variety of special education settings. She taught for one year in a fourth and fifth grade self-contained special education classroom and resource room of students with learning disabilities, emotional and behavioral disorders, and mild mental retardation in a small town elementary school. She also taught in a self-contained special education classroom and resource room of students with learning disabilities in a rural middle school, and at a small town high school, where she taught students ninth through 12th grade with learning disabilities and/or emotional and behavioral disorders. As a high school special education teacher, she taught in a self-contained classroom, collaboration classrooms, and a resource room. Furthermore, Laurel tutored individual students in reading and math, and led a program designed to improve self-determination skills of high school students with disabilities so that they may more actively and effectively participate in their IEP meetings.

With her knowledge of the ADA and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and her experience as a federal civil rights investigator and a special education teacher, Laurel brings a unique background and perspective to AIR in its efforts to improve outcomes for persons with disabilities.

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