About Renée Blumstein
Dr. Renée J. Blumstein is the Founder and President of Informed Decision Services, Inc. (IDS). A graduate of Columbia University's Ph.D. program in Educational and Psychological Measurement, Evaluation and Statistics, Dr. Blumstein’s professional accomplishments have been recognized in Who's Who in the World.
For six years while in graduate school Dr. Blumstein worked full-time in the Office of Institutional Research at the City College of New York (CCNY). One of her many achievements in this position was designing and managing a data collection system for the minimum competency testing program that was implemented in response to the open admissions policies that were instituted by the City University of New York.
Dr. Blumstein’s skills were also in demand in the private sector. After receiving her Ph.D., she was retained by American Telephone and Telegraph to develop simulation tests to select telemarketing sales personnel. She was then hired by Citicorp where she validated the effectiveness of credit scores to predict customer profitability.
Dr. Blumstein founded Informed Decision Services, Inc. in 1987 to pursue her continuing interest in education and public policy research and evaluation. Her most important early client was The New York City Board of Education. For the next seven years she participated in research and evaluation studies of programs such as the Attendance Improvement/Dropout Prevention Program designed to increase student attendance in middle school, a crucial time for many students. Her work was instrumental in identifying school variables that moderated program success, even in schools with the most challenging student populations. She left New York City to become an evaluation consultant in Newark, New Jersey when control of their school board was taken over by the State government in 1994.
Since moving to Long Island in 1996, Dr. Blumstein has been a valuable asset to institutions that serve high needs populations. She has worked with school districts and other public organizations to develop programs, identify funding sources, and win competitive grants funded at the State and Federal levels, totaling over $100 million. In addition, she works with these entities to measure program effects using qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques.
Dr. Blumstein served as an adjunct professor at the City University of New York Graduate School of Education for twelve years, where she taught New York City teachers to conduct research in their classrooms and adapt their instruction based on research findings.
