James L. Hamilton American Institutes for Research, USA

Dr. James Hamilton is currently a managing director at the American Institutes for Research (AIR). He is Principal Investigator of the ACCESS Center, which is providing technical assistance to states and school districts to help students with disabilities gain access to the general education curriculum. Previously, he was Project Director of the Elementary and Middle Schools Technical Assistance Center, which developed and evaluated a technical assistance model aimed at improving outcomes for students with disabilities in elementary and middle schools.

Before joining AIR, Dr. Hamilton held various positions, over a 20-year period, at the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the U.S. Department of Education. While at OSEP, he worked in the areas of research, leadership personnel training, early childhood, technical assistance and dissemination. He held several OSEP positions, including Director of the Division of Educational Services, Chief of the Early Childhood Branch, Chief of the Leadership Personnel Branch, and Chief of the Research Projects Branch. During his tenure in the Department of Education, Dr. Hamilton was a member (and chair for a year) of the Joint Dissemination Review Panel and the Program Effectiveness Panel.

Prior to serving in the U.S. Department of Education, Dr. Hamilton was a classroom teacher, a senior research associate at the Research Institute for Educational Problems, and the Coordinator of two graduate programs at Lesley University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Missouri in 1972.

His primary interests include special education policy, early childhood, and identification and dissemination of effective practices.