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.
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.
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.
The RAND Gulf States Policy Institute was established after Hurricane Katrina to inform policies for long-term recovery and economic development in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. This two-page flyer highlights some of its research.
A survey of Air Force officers suggests that it would not be feasible to require a high level of proficiency in a second language upon commissioning. Alternatives, such as incentivizing steps toward attaining proficiency, are suggested.
The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) recently adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). This paper summarizes work by researchers at the RAND Corporation and others that can guide DoDEA in strategic implementation of the CCSS.
Aims to broaden understanding of the role of restaurants in the current food environment.
Improving school leadership may improve student outcomes. Evaluation is critical for effective use of resources, but poses challenges to states and districts. Evaluators and policymakers should allow time for improvements to show, use multiple evaluation measures, and interpret findings carefully.
This fact sheet examines teachers' impact on students and how effective teachers can be identified.
This fact sheet describes common methods of measuring teaching effectiveness.
This fact sheet examines what students' scores on achievement tests do and don't reveal about how well teachers are meeting expectations.
This fact sheet describes value-added modeling and its limitations in measuring teaching effectiveness.
This fact sheet describes student growth percentiles and their limitations in measuring teaching effectiveness.
The Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act funds programs that curb crime among juvenile probationers and young at-risk offenders. This report summarizes, for fiscal year 2010-2011, state- and county-determined outcome measures from each program.
This document describes recent RAND work related to K-12 education, including teacher pay for performance, measuring teacher effectiveness, school leadership, school systems and reform, and out-of-school time.
Presents an assessment of the Defense Language Institute English Language Center (DLIELC), which trains foreign nationals in English prior to their attending U.S. military education and training courses.
An examination of what must be done to ensure sustainability of the Qatar National Research Fund, its achievements in its first five years, and recommendations for actions to respond to the new responsibilities mandated in Decree-Law (24) of 2008.
The design and implementation of the Qatar National Research Fund — the first research — funding organization of its kind in the Middle East—and descriptions of its first two programs, along with some early results and lessons learned.
Military family support programs have proliferated, but there has been little evaluation of whether the programs are meeting their key objectives. An examination of the curriculum, themes, and outcomes of Operation Purple found some positive effects from participation and helps lay the groundwork for future studies.
Examines the costs of implementing Carnegie Learning's Cognitive Tutor Algebra I curriculum and comparison algebra I curricula (published by Prentice Hall, Glencoe, and McDougal Littell).
Most California school districts with new flexibility about how to spend $4.5 billion in education funds opted to move most of the money into their general funds to balance budgets and avoid teacher layoffs.
RAND® is a registered trademark. Copyright © 1994-2013 RAND Corporation.