Pakethia Harris, PhD, is a technical assistance (TA) consultant at the American Institutes for Research (AIR). She has expertise in K-12 special education curriculum and policy and school finance. She has more than 10 years of experience in the special education field. Dr. Harris currently provides technical assistance and professional development to states pertaining to fiscal policy and procedures, collecting and using high-quality data, and data reporting with the Center for IDEA Fiscal Reporting (CIFR). Harris also engages in product development and state technical assistance with the National Center for Systemic Improvement (NCSI) and IDEA Data Center (IDC).
Prior to her position at AIR, Dr. Harris was a graduate fellow engaged in research at University of South Florida were her research agenda focused on the reciprocal relationship between education policy and the multiple dimensions of education finance and economics. Also, Dr. Harris taught university coursework. Prior to her experiences in higher education, she was an instructional coach for general and special education teachers, where she developed and provided professional development workshops for teachers and administrators related to the area of curriculum and instruction and behavioral interventions.