RAND's research on pre-K, K-12, and higher education covers issues such as assessment and accountability, choice-based and standards-based school reform, vocational training, and the value of arts education and policy in sustaining communities and promoting a well-rounded community.
Many factors contribute to a student's academic performance, but research suggests that, among school-related factors, teachers matter most. What's less clear is how to measure an individual teacher's effectiveness. A new RAND Education website features fact sheets, blog posts, research briefs, and more on this important issue.
Announcement
To celebrate our first 60 years, we created 60 Ways RAND Has Made a Difference, an online book to illustrate our most notable contributions. On our 65th birthday, we provide five of the most recent ways in which we at RAND are proud to have made a difference.
Report
This report summarizes four studies intended to help the Kurdistan Regional Government expand access to good education and health care, increase private-sector development, and design a data-collection system to support high-priority policies.
Report
This report summarizes four studies intended to help the Kurdistan Regional Government expand access to good education and health care, increase private-sector development, and design a data-collection system to support high-priority policies.
Journal Article
Using a nationally representative sample of high school students, the authors examine the relationship between career and technical education (CTE) coursework and mathematics achievement in high school.
Past Event
Numerous RAND Education researchers will present at the American Educational Research Association 2013 Annual Meeting, in San Francisco, CA April 27 through May 1, 2013. The theme of this year's meeting is “Education and Poverty: Theory, Research, Policy and Praxis.”
Commentary
If this issue were to be decided on the basis of public health benefits, the outcome would be clear: Condoms indisputably prevent both unintended pregnancies and the spread of sexually transmitted infections, writes Chloe Bird.
Commentary
If we want testing to exert beneficial effects on teaching and learning, we need to advocate for higher-quality tests and for evaluation and accountability systems that use multiple measures and do not rely exclusively on test scores, write Laura Hamilton and Gabriella C. Gonzalez.
Commentary
In India, perhaps if the funds that are needed are put in with the help of philanthropists like Shiv Nadar, Azim Premji or Rajendra Pawar, it may be possible to build world class universities, writes Rafiq Dossani.
Commentary
Federal and state initiatives to advance preschool program quality will further ensure that these investments in early learning programs will achieve their full promise and promote healthy child development — physically, socially, emotionally, and academically, writes Lynn Karoly.
Blog
Since their inception in 1992, charter schools have been a lightning rod for controversy in the education policy world. Research highlights the importance of moving beyond test scores and broadening the scope of measures that evaluate success in order to fully assess the performance of charter schools.
Journal Article
The career focus at magnet high schools seems to help students move through the indecision of adolescence and build a career identity. However, career magnet schools had a higher dropout rate than comprehensive high schools, and many of the programs were of poor quality.
Report
This report reviews the Excellence in Innovation for Australia Impact Assessment Trial in order to assess how well the universities identified and demonstrated impact, as well as how the process could be improved.
Commentary
High-quality early childhood interventions can improve academic achievement, reduce crime and delinquency, and enhance future labor market success, but the operative word is "high quality," says Brian Stecher.
Report
This report examines how changes to the military-civilian faculty composition at the United States Air Force Academy might affect cadets' officership and academic development, cost, staffing challenges, and officer career development.
Past Event
RAND Education experts will present on technology curricula, measuring teacher effectiveness, and classroom observations at the SREE Spring 2013 Conference in Washington, D.C., March 7-9.
Journal Article
This article examines the impacts of summer instruction and test-based grade retention in New York City.
Journal Article
The goal of this study is to examine whether three recently implemented pay-for-performance programs had similar effects on teachers' motivation and reported practices.
Blog
The World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) recognizes six innovative projects from around the world that are having a transformative impact on education.
Commentary
High-end collectors and cultural-heritage abusers alike would benefit from a boost in cultural intelligence, or “CQ,” to grasp the interrelation of art, culture, economic development, and human rights, writes Erik Nemeth.
Blog
Joe Dougherty summarizes key points from a media conference call with RAND experts on early childhood development and education. They discuss the importance of early childhood development in laying the foundation for success later in life, as well as the potential for high-quality programs to yield a return on investment for society at large.
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