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The Achievement & Assessment Institute

AAI and its centers partner with numerous agencies to improve the lives of children and adults through academics, employment, career advancement, and building healthy environments, and to enhance the capacity of organizations that help children, adults, and communities succeed.

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Aspire, Achieve, Inspire

Explore the Achievement & Assessment Institute and learn how we impact our local, regional, and national communities through academics, research, direct-impact programming, technology, community engagement, and more.

About AAI

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AAI Centers

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Grant Support

Learn about our life cycle grant support for AAI researchers and KU faculty.

Our Services

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Celebrating 10 Years of AAI

Learn about our origins and how we have grown over the last 10 years.

AAI in the News

Turning Data into Action:  Interactive Pathway to Advance Child and Family Well-Being in Kansas. Collage featuring hands on a tree trunk, sunflowers, and stars.

Turning Data into Action: Interactive Pathway to Advance Child and Family Well-Being in Kansas

Center for Public Partnerships & Research, on behalf of the Kansas Children’s Cabinet, is developing an interactive Child and Family Well-Being Pathway for Kansas. The tool will include a statewide dashboard and action-oriented toolkit to help communities assess needs, track progress, and improve outcomes for kids and families. Co-designed with community input, it’s set to launch in late 2025.
Image Card: Montessori handbook co-edited by CLARA Director Angela Murray now in paperback. Book cover and headshot of Angela Murray.

Paperback release expands reach of Montessori handbook co-edited by CLARA Director Angela Murray

A paperback edition of the Bloomsbury Handbook of Montessori Education, an accessible guide to Montessori education edited by Angela Murray, director of the Achievement & Assessment Institute’s Center for Learner Agency Research and Action (CLARA), and colleagues is now available for purchase.
Social Card: How CEEL Expands School Support Through Business Partnerships. Center for Evaluation and Educational Leadership (CEEL) Director Bart Swartz engages new and established school districts at the Spring 2025 Showcase and Advisory Board on March 24 at KU Innovation Park.

AAI’s Center for Evaluation & Educational Leadership Expands School Support through Business Partnerships

The goal of the Center for Evaluation & Educational Leadership (CEEL), a center within the Achievement & Assessment Institute (AAI) at the University of Kansas, is to help school district leaders navigate challenges to foster effective, well-balanced learning environments for students. One of the primary ways Director Bart Swartz accomplishes this is through a network of business partners that can help districts with their needs.
Liz Langdon and Sarah Jen

KU faculty awarded AAI Arts & Humanities Grant to expand art-based aging project

The Achievement & Assessment Institute (AAI) at the University of Kansas has awarded the 2024 AAI Art & Humanities Grant to Sarah Jen, associate professor in the School of Social Welfare, and Liz Langdon, a lecturer in the Department of Visual Art, for their project, “Untold Stories of Aging in Action – Revealed and Traveled.” The project’s aim is to create and document the influence of an art-based intervention among communities of older adults and intergenerational audiences.