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.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
This study examines an anonymous urban district that, faced with declining enrollment, chose to make student achievement a major criterion in determining which schools would be closed. The district targeted low-performing schools in its closure plan, and sought to move their students to higher-performing schools.
COMMENTARY
Though for-profit institutions had been criticized in the Senate report as offering credits that were hard to transfer elsewhere, it was the colleges' willingness to accept military transcripts that appealed to veterans who wanted to complete their degrees as fast as possible, writes Jennifer Steele.
NEWS RELEASE
If prevention researchers build programs with developmentally relevant content, and provide this content in an engaging, confidential, and non-judgmental way, it can help middle school-aged children avoid alcohol.
REPORT
The Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act funds programs that have been proven effective in curbing crime among juvenile probationers and young at-risk offenders. This report summarizes, for fiscal year 2009–2010, Corrections Standards Authority–mandated outcome measures from each of the programs, as well as county-determined supplemental outcomes.
REPORT
The ImpactFinder provides an overview of research impact and a basis for more detailed examination of the 'why and how' of research translation. The tool is implemented as a web questionnaire and collects information across a range of social, cultural and economic impacts. It was developed to meet the need of the UK's new framework for research funding but potentially has wider application.
REPORT
In 2006, the Communities Foundation of Texas allocated $10 million to the Dallas Police Department to establish the W. W. Caruth Jr. Police Institute. An evaluation of the institute's first course considered participants' opinions of the course's impact on their approach to their jobs, their relationships with supervisors and subordinates, and their sense of solidarity with their coworkers.
PERIODICAL
Stories discuss world demographic trends, Afghan peace prospects, U.S. health care spending, California prisoner reentry, Latin American inequalities, global health, veterans' mental health, highway investments, teacher bonuses, and charter schools.
REPORT
Japanese translation of Support for Students Exposed to Trauma, including a series of teacher- or school counselor–led lessons aimed at reducing distress for middle school students who have been exposed to a traumatic life event. The program includes skill-building techniques geared toward changing maladaptive thoughts and promoting positive behaviors.
COMMENTARY
The results from Montgomery County demonstrate that an integrative housing policy can be an effective form of school policy for disadvantaged children, writes Heather Schwartz.
MULTIMEDIA
Laura Hamilton discusses what has been learned in the ten years since the No Child Left Behind Act was signed into law in January 2002, including recommendations for addressing key limitations as Congress considers reauthorization.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
This article examines what constitutes, contributes to, and is associated with high-quality coaches and coaching. Authors find that coaches generally held many of the qualifications recommended by state and national experts and principals and teachers rated their coaches highly on many indicators of quality. However, several common concerns about recruiting, retaining, and supporting high-quality coaches emerged.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Child care studies that have examined links between teachers' qualifications and children's outcomes often ignore teachers' and children's transitions between classrooms at a center throughout the day and only take into account head teacher qualifications.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Nearly 40% of a nationally representative cohort of children started kindergarten with a BMI in the top quartile of the growth charts. This proportion increased significantly between 1st and 3rd grades but there was no further increase during middle school.
RESEARCH BRIEF
Develops and tests an approach to program-level assessment of interactive multimedia instruction (IMI) courses that identifies strengths and deficiencies in technical, production quality, and pedagogical aspects of IMI courseware.
REPORT
Hurricane Katrina set the stage for a transformation of public education in New Orleans, replacing the city's existing school system with a decentralized choice-based system of both charter and district-run schools. Using principal, teacher, and parent surveys administered three years after Katrina, this study examined schools' governance and operations, educational contexts, educator quality and mobility, and parental choice and…
RESEARCH BRIEF
RAND researchers found many similarities between charter and traditional schools in New Orleans but greater satisfaction among charter school parents with their children's schools, as well as more perceived choices.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
The study relies on a survey of Ohio schools to ascertain information on vacancies for 2004-2005. The survey also collected information on principal perceptions of the impact of various school conditions and difficulty in hiring.
COMMENTARY
Motivation alone does not improve schools. Even if incentives inspire staff to improve practices or work together, educators may not have the capacity or resources to bring about improvement, writes Julie Marsh.
REPORT
Brochure for a week-long, intensive course designed for staff and advisors of African First Ladies to develop strategies to manage an effective First Lady's Office and to improve executive decisionmaking through a policy-analysis framework.
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