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Renee Cameto

Senior Social Science Researcher

Renee Cameto, Ph.D., has more than 30 years of experience in special education and more than 15 years of experience conducting research. Since 1992, she has worked on a wide variety of projects for the U.S. Department of Education, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and private clients.

Dr. Cameto has experience designing and managing national longitudinal studies across disability groups and ages. She is co-director of the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2), a 10-year study following a cohort of youth with disabilities ages 13 to 17, which is documenting their experiences and outcomes as they age. She is director of the National Study on Alternate Assessments, a 4-year study describing the development, use, and effectiveness in measuring student program outcomes of states’ alternate assessments of students with significant cognitive disabilities. She also has been a senior researcher on the Special Education Elementary Longitudinal Study (SEELS), a 6-year study following a cohort of students in special education ages 6 to 12 and was involved in two other longitudinal studies as manager of participant recruitment and sampling.

In the mid-1990s, Dr. Cameto co-directed the National Science Foundation’s Study of Persons with Disabilities Majoring in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology (SMET). This study was the first of its kind to examine the issues related to the pursuit of a postsecondary degree by individuals with disabilities, including high school preparation, interest in and choice of majors, and use of and barriers to services. She has been a lead analyst on projects focusing on literacy, parenting, and child and family health issues.

Dr. Cameto came to SRI to work on the first NLTS, after a policy internship at the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs. For NLTS, she authored reports on the use of adult services, transition planning provided to students receiving secondary special education, and factors associated with students going on to postsecondary education. Before joining SRI, Dr. Cameto worked in community-based programs providing independent-living skills training and in community colleges as an instructor in career and vocational education.

Dr. Cameto holds a master’s degree in early childhood development and education from the University of San Francisco and a Ph.D. in special education from the University of California, Berkeley.