Elementary education comprises the period from when a student enters school, generally around the age of 5 or 6, until the student moves on to middle or secondary school, around the age of 12 or 13. RAND research in the area includes school reform, the role and effectiveness of teachers and school administration, and the increasing use of private-sector school management.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
The availability of junk food does not significantly increase BMI or obesity among a group of fifth-graders even though they are likely to buy junk food.
REPORT
The earliest years of a child's life are critical to physical, socio-emotional, behavioral, and cognitive development. High quality early education can improve readiness and success in school, particularly for disadvantaged children, but access to such programs is uneven.
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.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
In 2002, Qatar began implementing a standards-based K–12 reform that established new publicly-funded, privately-operated 'Independent schools.' The reform built on four principles: autonomy, accountability, variety, and choice. Early data reveal more student-centered classroom practices and higher student achievement in the new schools. But as all Ministry schools convert to independent status, many challenges remain to achieving the…
PROJECT
The California Preschool Study sought to understand achievement gaps among the state's children, whether existing preschool education programs is adequate, and what efficiencies could be achieved through public funding of early childhood education.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
This study capitalizes on a natural experiment that occurred in California between 2000 and 2002.
REPORT
Evaluates the impact of elementary school policies on child health behaviors and obesity in the United States.
PERIODICAL
Features focus on stabilization missions, grade retention, health financing, and RAND's president; other items discuss the European Union, sodium, health insurance, retail medical clinics, energy efficiency, disaster recovery, and alcohol pricing.
REPORT
The New York City Department of Education's test-based promotion and retention policy, which identifies and provides support for struggling students, has demonstrated positive effects for student achievement in fifth grade that continue into seventh grade.
RESEARCH BRIEF
RAND researchers conducted a three-year study of New York City's promotion policy, using interviews, case studies, student surveys, and demographic and test score data to determine its effects on the outcomes of 5th-grade students held to the policy.
REPORT
In 2003–2004, the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) implemented a new promotion policy for 3rd-grade students, which was later extended to 5th, 7th, and 8th graders. NYCDOE asked RAND to conduct an independent longitudinal evaluation to provide evidence of the program's impact on 5th graders. This report, one in a series documenting the results of the study, identifies and reviews the literature on grade retention.
REPORT
In 2003–2004, the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) implemented a new promotion policy for 3rd-grade students, which was later extended to 5th, 7th, and 8th graders. This report, one in a series, identifies lessons learned about policy design and implementation through interviews with top-level administrators who oversee promotion and retention policies in states and districts with K–8 policies and programs that…
RESEARCH BRIEF
Describes RAND's evaluation of the progress made in the first years of Qatar's K-12 education reform.
REPORT
Reform-minded leaders of Qatar, who have embarked on a sweeping reform of their nation's education system, asked RANReform-minded leaders of Qatar, who have embarked on a sweeping reform of their nation's education system, asked RAND to evaluate the education finance system that has been adopted and to offer suggestions for improvements.D to evaluate their education finance system and offer suggestions for improvements. The authors analyze…
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Qatar-a small, natural-resource-rich country in the Persian Gulf-has embarked on an ambitious, comprehensive effort to upgrade its educational institutions.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Childhood overweight has increased rapidly over the last two decades. Energy-dense foods are cheaper per calorie, which could be a partial explanation for why the highest rates of obesity are observed among groups of limited economic means.
REPORT
Examines the effectiveness of mathematics teaching reform in British primary schools.
NEWS RELEASE
Amid cutbacks in school arts education funding, public and private organizations in six urban regions have collaborated to expand access to arts learning for children in and outside of public school.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Finds that 26% of children who have access to soft drinks at school consume them. Those who consume more soft drinks at school, such as low-income and black non-Hispanic children, are more likely to consume more soft drinks overall.
REPORT
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.
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