Allison Gilmour

Dr. Gilmour is a principal researcher at AIR. She has extensive experience in special education policy analysis, focusing on improving access to effective instruction for students with disabilities by studying special educator labor markets and teaching quality. Dr. Gilmour has methodological expertise in quantitative methods, often using data from state longitudinal data systems or nationally representative surveys. In her recent research, she has examined whether state adoption of Response to Intervention was associated with changes in specific learning disability identification, whether bonuses improved special educator retention and recruitment in Hawai’i, and whether teaching quality was associated with special educator turnover. Dr. Gilmour has published in top education journals including Educational Researcher, Exceptional Children, and the Journal of Educational Psychology, and her work has been funded by state departments of education, the Spencer Foundation, and the National Center for Education Evaluation.

Before joining AIR, Dr. Gilmour was an assistant professor of special education and a high school special education teacher.