Acosta | Austin | Bauman | Cole | Corwin | Dailey | Davis | Diamond | Farag | Gerver | Hamilton | Killos | McInerney | Mesmer | Nishi | O'Cummings | Paulsen | Ritter | Ruedel | Saunders | Shami | Shanley | Welch | Williamson | Woodruff | Zaidi

Suzanne Ritter, M.A. sritter@air.org Primary Interests Program Evaluation Teacher Education Instruction and Curriculum Development Counseling

Suzanne Ritter, currently a Research Analyst, joined the American Institutes for Research in October, 1998 as a Research Associate, supporting a variety of research, evaluation, and technical assistance projects.

Recently, Suzanne's work has focused on the design and implementation of local school improvement efforts around the country. This work includes the study and creation of quality performance-based assessments, teacher training and professional development programs, web-based research products and the design and implementation of program evaluation strategies. Suzanne currently participates on teams designing assessments and teacher professional development programs for the School District of Philadelphia and with the Elementary and Middle School Technical Assistance Center to empower educators with quality, research-based interventions for students with special needs. In addition to helping provide technical assistance through EMSTAC, Suzanne serves on a team to collect and analyze data regarding the impact of the technical assistance that the Center provides to districts nation-wide.

Prior to joining AIR, Suzanne worked with a variety of local education agencies and nonprofit organizations. As a corps member with Teach For America (TFA), Suzanne taught sixth grade for two years in rural Louisiana. As a TFA Faculty Advisor, she supervised the training of new corps members during the 1994 TFA Summer Institute training program.

In 1996, Suzanne began work with a team of educators to launch an award-winning independent school district through a federal court order in St. Louis, Missouri. As an Instructional Facilitator for the district's pilot program, the St. Louis Career Academy, Suzanne worked with teachers and administrators on many projects, including the design and implementation of contextual and problems-based learning curricula projects for students in this non-traditional vocational high school. As a representative of the district, Suzanne was honored to collaborate with award-winning schools nationwide through a grant with the New Urban High Schools (NUHS) project. At the 1998 NUHS Institute, sponsored by the Office of Vocational and Adult Education, Suzanne led an interactive workshop designed to guide educators through an investigation of how to build the foundations for contextual and constructivistic learning environments, such as the environments found at the NUHS sites.

Before graduating from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in 1993 with a degree in professional writing, Suzanne worked as a volunteer support group counselor for children struggling with issues stemming from divorce and family changes. While at CMU, Suzanne worked to implement a Total Quality Management training plan with faculty and staff. She is currently pursuing graduate studies in Education Policy at the George Washington University in Washington, DC. In the future, she would like to continue working on the development and evaluation of systemic improvement programs that empower teacher and students with strong standards, accountability systems, and innovative and customized curricula.

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