RESEARCHER SPOTLIGHTS

This issue of the Education newsletter features the people who conduct RAND research and describes their expertise. To contact any of these experts, please e-mail ocr@rand.org or call (703) 413-1100, ext. 5395.

Susan J. Bodilly
Director, RAND Education

Bodilly's primary research interests are K-12 school reform, resource allocation and its impact on reforms, formative evaluation, and implementation analysis. She has evaluated an array of K-12 improvement initiatives, played a leading role in the RAND evaluation of the New American Schools Initiative, and recently led projects assessing the state of the out-of-school-time field and the efforts of communities to revitalize arts education. She is currently leading an examination of five cities' efforts to improve their out-of-school-time policies and supports. Publications by Susan Bodilly

Charles A. Goldman
Associate Director for International Development, RAND Education

Goldman is a senior economist who specializes in the analysis of elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education in a number of countries. He is responsible for the development of RAND's international education project portfolio outside of the Middle East. This portfolio includes current work in Mexico, South Korea, China, India, and both Western and Eastern Europe. He leads several projects helping the government of Qatar expand high-quality options for schooling at all levels. Publications by Charles Goldman

Hanine Salem
Associate Director for Middle East Development, RAND Education

Salem's work at RAND largely focused on public reform, evaluation of the implementation of education policies, and examination of topics related to human capital formation and skills attainment in the Arab World. She led or co-led several large projects to develop strategic plans at major public entities in order to support ambitious sector-wide reforms. She has also conducted analyses of organizational restructuring and developed working prototypes for a top executive public office. Publications by Hanine Salem

Brian M. Stecher
Associate Director, RAND Education

Stecher is a senior social scientist whose research emphasis is applied educational measurement, including the implementation, quality, and impact of state assessment and accountability systems; the cost, quality, and feasibility of performance-based assessments; and the development and validation of licensing and certification examinations. Stecher is currently directing a multistate study of the accountability provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act, and he recently completed a four-year evaluation of the California Class Size Reduction initiative. Publications by Brian Stecher

Catherine H. Augustine
Behavioral Scientist

Augustine's research focuses on education leadership and reform. She is directing an evaluation of cohesive leadership systems that yield improved school leadership and thus better teaching and learning. Augustine has also studied human resource development for the Department of Defense, school district governance, leadership in arts education, and challenges facing middle schools. She co-led the creation and establishment of a new K-12 school system for Qatar. Publications by Catherine Augustine

Megan K. Beckett
Behavioral Scientist

Beckett's research focuses on out-of-school time programs. She recently chaired a national panel on how to structure out-of-school-time to improve academic achievement for What Works Clearinghouse, a US Department of Education resource for educators. Beckett has also studied parent-adolescent communication, adolescents and romantic relationships, and public reporting of health care performance systems in the United States. Publications by Megan Beckett

Titus Galama
Management Scientist

Galama's research focuses on the current and future condition of science and technology (S&T), innovation and education in the United States and the perceived U.S. decline in S&T as a result of globalization, the significant rise of other innovation-oriented nations, and perceived disinvestment at home. Galama also led a RAND study on the key success factors of the world's top 20 universities and the implications for a European Commission proposal for a European Institute of Technology. Publications by Titus Galama

Laura S. Hamilton
Senior Behavioral Scientist

Hamilton's research focuses on educational assessment, accountability, instructional practices, and school reform. She has directed several large studies, including an investigation of the implementation of standards-based accountability in response to No Child Left Behind. She is currently working with the National Center on Performance Incentives to investigate teachers' responses to pay-for-performance programs and is appraising a new principal evaluation system in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. Publications by Laura Hamilton

Lynn A. Karoly
Senior Economist

Karoly's research focuses on child and family well-being, human capital investments, social welfare policy, and labor market behavior. She recently completed a multifaceted study of preschool education in California, documented in a series of reports and a RAND monograph: Preschool Adequacy and Efficiency in California. In related work, she has examined the benefits and costs of a high-quality universal preschool program in California, as well as the economic returns to other types of early childhood programs. Publications by Lynn Karoly

J. R. Lockwood
Senior Statistician

Lockwood's education research has focused on longitudinal modeling of student achievement, value-added models for estimating teacher effects, and experimental and quasi-experimental methods in educational evaluation. He has led two projects to develop enhanced statistical models for estimating teacher effects and is working on designing and analyzing two randomized experiments on teacher pay for performance. Publications by J. R. Lockwood

Julie A. Marsh
Policy Researcher

Marsh specializes in research on policy implementation, school- and district-level educational reform, accountability, and school-community collaboration. She is currently leading an evaluation of New York City's Schoolwide Performance Bonus Program and has led and participated in numerous studies of educational reforms, including studies of reading coaches, promotion and retention polices, the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act, and privately managed public schools (Edison Schools). Publications by Julie Marsh

Jennifer Sloan McCombs
Policy Analyst

McCombs's research has focused on policies aimed at improving outcomes for at-risk students, including improving out-of-school-time systems, adolescent literacy, teacher education and professional development, high-poverty schools, instructional practices, and accountability measures. She is co-leader of a project evaluating the implementation and impact of New York City's 5th-grade promotion policy. Publications by Jennifer Sloan McCombs

John F. Pane
Senior Scientist

Pane studies the implementation and effectiveness of educational innovations, with a focus on education technology and math and science initiatives. He is principal investigator of two random-assignment experiments testing technology-based mathematics curricula in schools. Pane has led evaluations of a Math and Science Partnership and a one-to-one laptop initiative and has investigated data-driven decisionmaking practices in education and the effects of the 2005 hurricanes on students in Louisiana. Publications by John Pane

Cathleen Stasz
Senior Behavioral Scientist

Stasz studies education policy and practice at all levels, but with a particular emphasis on how new skill demands in the workplace affect education. Much of her recent work has been carried out in an international context and has focused primarily on the United Kingdom and Qatar and on international comparisons of education systems. From 1989 to 1999, Stasz was RAND's site director for the National Center for Research in Vocational Education. Publications by Cathleen Stasz

Georges Vernez
Senior Social Scientist

Vernez's research has focused on access to education, immigrant education, and, more recently, the implementation of No Child Left Behind. Vernez is a recognized national expert on immigration, primarily in the area of distributional effects of immigration and the assimilation of immigrants. From 1989 to 1993, he directed RAND Education. Publications by Georges Vernez

Gail L. Zellman
Senior Research Psychologist

Zellman's research interests include measurement of child care quality, assessment of child care quality improvement strategies, parent engagement, and organizational change in the face of reform. Zellman was principal investigator of a longitudinal evaluation of the child care Quality Rating System developed by Qualistar, a Colorado-based child care agency. That work has led to efforts to establish a research consortium to promote better early child care and education quality rating improvement systems. It has also led to her involvement in the development of a child care quality improvement system for the state of California. Publications by Gail Zellman

RAND CONGRESSIONAL RESOURCES STAFF

Lindsey Kozberg
Vice President, Office of External Affairs

Shirley Ruhe
Director, Office of Congressional Relations

Carmen Ferro
Education Legislative Analyst

RAND Office of Congressional Relations
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