Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.

Amber Northern is senior vice president for research at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, where she supervises the Institute’s studies and research staff.  She has published in the areas of educational accountability, principal leadership, teacher quality, and academic standards, among others. Prior to joining Fordham, she served as senior study director at Westat. In that role, she provided evaluation services for various federal, state, and local education agencies, as well as oversaw multiple research studies involving reading instruction, math and science partnerships, performance-based pay, and more. Her work and commentary has been featured in various print and broadcast media, including Fox News, HuffPost Live, NPR, National Review, and Education Next. Northern serves on the Board of Trustees for Somerset Prep, a charter school in Washington, D.C. She holds a Ph.D. in education policy and evaluation from the University of Virginia, and a M.S. in secondary education from Old Dominion University. She started her career as a high school teacher.