The hallmark of a successful education system is increasing or maintaining high student achievement. RAND research measures the effects of various types of school reforms on student achievement, with recent studies focusing on charter schools, No Child Left Behind, reform-oriented teaching, and classroom sizes.
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Research suggests that, among school-related factors, teachers matter most when it comes to a student's academic performance. Nonschool factors do influence student achievement, but effective teaching has the potential to help level the playing field.
News Releases (10)
While the number of charter schools continues to grow, debate continues about whether charter schools provide a better education experience than traditional public schools. Proponents contend that charter schools expand educational choices for students, improve student achievement and provide much-needed competition to public schools.
Chicago's multi-grade charter high schools (those serving students in grades 7-12, 6-12 or K-12) appear to improve their students' chances of graduating and attending college, as compared with the city's traditional public high schools.
While California has basic tracking system architecture in place to allow the state's educators to closely follow the progress of students from kindergarten to post-secondary education, officials must overcome political and financial barriers.
After five years of effort, states have implemented most of the test-based accountability requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001, and now must focus their efforts on improving poor-performing schools that have been identified.
California's sizeable achievement gaps in English-language arts and mathematics in second and third grades have early roots, with the same groups of children that lag in academic performance in elementary school trailing in measures of school readiness when they enter kindergarten.
Students in underperforming schools generally made statistically significant gains in math and reading after participating in supplemental educational services such as tutoring and remediation, according to a study conducted by the RAND Corporation for the U.S. Department of Education.
February 6, 2007 News Release: RAND Study Finds Mexican Teacher Incentive Program Had Negligible Effect on Student Achievement.
February 1, 2007 news release: Study Finds Academic Gains Not Superior Among Philadelphia Students Enrolled in Privately Run Public Schools
November 29, 2006 News Release: RAND Study Says Many Louisiana Students Displaced by Hurricanes May Suffer Academically.
November 9, 2006 News Release: RAND Study Finds Most Schools Fail to Fully Adopt Reform Models Designed to Boost Student Achievement.
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