American Institutes for Research

Christina LiCalsi is a principal researcher specializing in program evaluation and social and education policy analysis at AIR. Dr. LiCalsi has a background in educational and social disparities with expertise in quasi-experimental designs for causal analysis. She has experience employing a wide range of quantitative methods including regression discontinuity, comparative interrupted time series, and instrumental variables analysis.

Dr. LiCalsi has collaborated on several projects since joining AIR. She currently serves as principal investigator for the I3 evaluation of the Central Virginia Advanced College and Career Readiness Region, as project manager of AIR’s work for the Regional Education Laboratory (REL) Southwest Texas Hispanic STEM Alliance, as project director for the Colorado Boettcher Teacher Residency Project, and as quantitative lead for a variety of education research and evaluation projects. Her previous experience includes working as a predoctoral fellow at Northwestern University’s Institute for Policy Research, conducting studies on such topics as the effect of maternal education on infant health and socioeconomic disparities in the implementation of Florida’s statewide third grade retention policy. Dr. LiCalsi also worked as a research analyst and project manager at Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago managing and conducting studies on the educational experiences of children in foster care. Her dissertation was entitled “Maternal Education and Children’s Health and Educational Outcomes.”