Lindsay Daugherty

How to Build Stackable Credentials

Many states and colleges are investing to build out stackable credential pathways. It will be important to continue to build evidence on whether these programs are achieving their aims of improved economic circumstances for individuals and better addressing workforce needs.

Stacking Certificates and Degrees

Evidence suggests that stackable credentials in college are promising. But we continue to see disparities in rates of stacking across institutions, fields, and race/ethnicity. This suggests that states and colleges have more work to do to ensure strong stackable credential opportunities for all students.

If College Isn't the Pathway to the Middle Class It Once Was—What Is?

Is college still the best path to the middle class? It's complicated. College credentials still do lead many to increased earnings, but the rapid increases in college costs, coupled with a strong labor market, have made the payoff for a college degree no longer a sure thing.

Next Year's Freshman: How Corequisites Might Help Address COVID-19 Learning Loss

As states and colleges look to address learning loss due to COVID-19, it is important that they not turn to traditional models of remediation that prevent students from directly entering college coursework. Instead, they should look to new, effective models of corequisite support.

Emergency COVID-19 Aid Helps College Students with Food and Housing: Four Ways Colleges Can Maintain That Support

COVID-19 has expanded the pool of cash-strapped college students, but many were already struggling before the pandemic. The crisis could draw attention to food and housing insecurity among college students, and give college leaders a chance to consider how to address these needs more systematically over the long term.

Addressing the College Completion Problem

More than half of students who enter college end up dropping out without ever completing a degree or certificate. Time and money are wasted without the benefits of a degree. While colleges are experimenting with novel techniques to boost completion rates, strategic support from the federal government could further these efforts.

The Case for Corequisites: What Are the Ingredients of Success?

More than two-thirds of community college students and 40 percent of four-year college students take at least one developmental education course. States and colleges across the United States are experimenting with innovative approaches to developmental education to improve graduation rates for struggling students.

Ready, Set, College

With the nation investing at least $1 billion a year in developmental education, states and colleges are rethinking their approaches to reform. Are states moving too fast to mandate developmental education policy? It depends on the policy.

Community Colleges Can Be 'First Responders' in Retraining Displaced Workers

Many of the occupations with the most opportunities require two-year degrees or certificates. Community colleges play a key role in training students for these jobs and offer a supportive environment for displaced and dissatisfied workers.

Step Aside, 'Screen Time.' Make Room for 'Screen Purpose.'

Technology is simply another way to communicate, learn, and play. It shouldn't automatically be regarded as a threat. Whether technology helps or harms children largely depends on how it is used.

Exploring New Approaches to Higher Education: The Expansion of Competency-Based Programs

Policymakers and educators must determine if the risks of maintaining the status quo outweigh the potential benefits of competency-based programs, especially for those students who are ill-served by the traditional higher education model.

Helping Teachers Overcome Technology Barriers in Early Childhood Education

When it comes to helping children appreciate the benefits of using technology in a classroom setting, early childhood education providers play a critical role integrating that technology appropriately, intentionally, and productively. But these educators face myriad barriers to fulfilling these roles.

Access to Technology Is Key to Early Childhood Education

For children from all income classes to benefit from the proper use of technology in early childhood education, providers, families, and children themselves must have access to an adequate technology infrastructure, including devices, connectivity, and software.

The Role of Technology in the Lives of Children

On a typical day, children ages 3-5 spend an average of four hours with technology, and technology use is increasing among children of all ages. Debates about the role of technology in early childhood education are ongoing, with some providers, parents, and others yet to be convinced of its potential benefits.

RAND Convenes Experts to Examine Role of Technology in Early Childhood Education

The forum focused on several key issues underlying successful integration of technology into early childhood settings, including the goals that should be established for technology use, the infrastructure that is needed to support effective technology use, and the role of teachers and parents in facilitating technology use.

Preserving Access and Quality in an Era of Rising University Tuition Fees

Many countries have long traditions of full or partial government funding for higher education, but as they struggle with fiscal pressures, they seek ways to shift costs to users. Implementing greater cost sharing without coherent policies to mitigate its impact on students and institutions threatens to worsen both student access and institutional quality.

Research Brief

Do Low-Income Students Benefit from Stacking Credentials? Descriptive Evidence from Colorado and Ohio

The authors describe findings from a study on how frequently low-income individuals are stacking credentials, whether stacking increases wage-earning opportunities, and which fields provide the best returns from stacking.

Research Brief

States Can Take Steps to Address Potential Barriers to Equity in Stackable Credential Pipelines

The authors examine barriers to stacking credentials for low-income individuals -- limited chances for stacking in some fields and institutions, insufficient information, and challenges moving between programs -- and consider solutions from stakeholders.

Report

Stackable Credential Pipelines and Equity for Low-Income Individuals: Evidence from Colorado and Ohio

The authors examine whether low-income individuals are stacking credentials and benefiting economically, explore systemic barriers to stackable credential opportunities for low-income individuals, and consider solutions to strengthen these pipelines.

Research Brief

How Community Colleges Can Support Student Mental Health Needs

This report is a descriptive study of eight community colleges at the forefront of implementing multilevel approaches to support student mental health, as well as key facilitators for and barriers to their success.

Report

Supporting the Mental Health Needs of Community College Students

This report is a descriptive study of eight community colleges at the forefront of implementing multilevel approaches to support student mental health and key facilitators for and barriers to their success.

Journal Article

Community Colleges Can Increase Credential Stacking by Introducing New Programs Within Established Technical Pathways

This study analyzes the introduction of new certificate or associate degree program options at Ohio community colleges during school years 2004–2005 to 2016–2017.

Commentary

The Value of Education and Training After High School: How Postsecondary Credentials Impact Earnings

The author reviews the evidence on earnings gains associated with various types of postsecondary credentials, including college credit–bearing degrees, noncredit training and certificates, apprenticeships, and occupational credentials.

Journal Article

Assessing the Effect of Corequisite English Instruction Using a Randomized Controlled Trial

This is the first study to provide experimental evidence of the impact of corequisite remediation, an approach to accelerating students into college-level English.

Research Brief

Building Ohio's Workforce Through Stackable Credentials

Stackable credentials allow individuals with short-term credentials to build on them with additional credentials throughout their careers. This brief summarizes a report in which researchers examined earnings gains from stacking credentials in Ohio.

Report

Stackable Credential Pipelines in Ohio: Evidence on Programs and Earnings Outcomes

Stackable credentials allow individuals with short-term credentials to build on them with additional credentials throughout their careers. The authors of this report examined educational programs in Ohio and earnings gains from stacking credentials.

Journal Article

Patterns and Predictors of Postsecondary Re-Enrollment in the Acquisition of Stackable Credentials

This paper uses 15 years of education and employment data from Ohio to examine the predicators of student re-enrollment in postsecondary education after the completion of certificates in Ohio Technical Centers, community colleges, and universities.

Commentary

The Credentials Students Earn Beyond a High School Diploma

The author describes common types of postsecondary education credentials and presents data on how frequently individuals earn these credentials and the demographic characteristics of these individuals.

Journal Article

Heterogeneity in the Effects of College Course Placement

To better understand which types of students might be most likely to benefit from being placed into college-level math coursework, this study examines heterogeneity in the causal effects of placement into college-level courses using administrative data from Texas.

Research Brief

How Does Corequisite Remediation Change Student Experiences? Results from a Randomized Study in Five Texas Community Colleges

Corequisite remediation for non–college-ready students provides early opportunities to earn credit, more-intensive instruction, greater rigor, greater alignment, and increased opportunities to learn from peers.

Report

Student Experiences in English Corequisite Remediation Versus a Standalone Developmental Education Course: Findings from an Experimental Study in Texas Community Colleges

In this report, researchers use data from a randomized control trial at five community colleges in Texas to examine contrasts in student experiences between corequisite remediation and standalone developmental education courses.

Tool

Making Improvements to Stackable Credential Pipelines: A Toolkit on Using Data to Drive Improvement in Ohio Postsecondary Institutions

Stackable credential programs are designed to make it easier for students to earn multiple postsecondary credentials within a field. This toolkit provides steps for identifying issues in and making improvements to stackable credential pipelines.

Report

Stacking Educational Credentials in Ohio: Pathways Through Postsecondary Education in Health Care, Manufacturing and Engineering Technology, and Information Technology

RAND researchers examine students who earned postsecondary certificates in Ohio and went on to earn additional educational credentials. The researchers describe which types of credentials were earned and how students progressed through institutions.

Report

Connecting College Students to Alternative Sources of Support: The Single Stop Community College Initiative and Postsecondary Outcomes

This report examines a program designed to improve the well-being of low-income communities by connecting individuals to public benefits and other institutional and community resources to address nonacademic barriers to college completion.

Report

A Team-Based Leadership Intervention in New York City Schools: An Evaluation of the Targeted Intensive School Support Program

This report describes findings from an evaluation of the implementation and effects of the Targeted Intensive School Support program. This program was implemented in New York City Department of Education schools by the NYC Leadership Academy.

Report

Supporting College Enrollees Who Test at the Lowest Levels of Readiness: Lessons from Texas Community Colleges

Beginning in fall 2015, Texas policymakers recommended that colleges offer targeted supports to students who tested at the lowest levels on the state's placement exam. This report describes the reforms and their implementation by community colleges.

Tool

Tools for Improving Corequisite Models: A Guide for College Practitioners

This toolkit acts as a guide to improvement strategies for teams of practitioners at colleges, providing them with the knowledge and tools they need to carry out rapid cycles of data-driven improvement to address issues they face on the ground.

Report

An Assessment of Gaps in Business Acumen and Knowledge of Industry Within the Defense Acquisition Workforce: A Report Prepared for the U.S. Department of Defense in Compliance with Section 843(c) of the Fiscal Year 2018 National Defense Authorization Act

RAND researchers assessed gaps in business acumen and knowledge of industry present within the defense acquisition workforce. They identified apparent knowledge gaps, possible reasons for their existence, and potential approaches to closing them.

Draft

Practitioner Perspectives on Implementing Developmental Education Reforms: A Convening of Six Community Colleges in Texas

Provides a description of the various convening sessions and the perspectives of practitioners regarding promising practices and lessons learned regarding key developmental education reforms.

Report

A One-Stop Approach to Supporting the Nonacademic Needs of Community College Students: An Evaluation of Single Stop's Impact in North Carolina

This report examines the impact of using Single Stop (a program that connects college students to governmental, community, and institutional resources) on postsecondary outcomes for students at four community colleges in North Carolina.

Report

Designing and Implementing Corequisite Models of Developmental Education: Findings from Texas Community Colleges

This report describes the implementation of integrated reading and writing corequisites -- a reform to developmental education that accelerates students into college-level courses, while providing academic support -- in Texas community colleges.

Tool

Logic Models for Selecting, Designing, and Implementing Evidence-Based Leadership Interventions: Companion Guide to School Leadership Interventions Under the Every Student Succeeds Act

This guide describes six types of school leadership interventions, summarizes common components of evidence-based interventions, and unpacks the relationships between the intervention activities and student outcomes.

Report

Dual Credit Education in Texas: Interim Report

Examines the accessibility, diversity, quality, and efficiency of dual credit education programs in Texas, and proposes areas of dual credit education to investigate in the second phase of the study.

Report

Are Current Military Education Benefits Efficient and Effective for the Services?

This research takes a mixed-methods approach to examine the effects of military education benefit programs on recruiting and retention-related outcomes, and to assess how the two largest education benefits may work together.

Report

2016 Assessment of the Civilian Acquisition Workforce Personnel Demonstration Project: Executive Summary

This executive summary presents the key findings of the fiscal year (FY) 2016 assessment of the Civilian Acquisition Workforce Personnel Demonstration Project mandated in the National Defense Authorization Act of FY 2011.

Report

2016 Assessment of the Civilian Acquisition Workforce Personnel Demonstration Project

This report accomplishes the fiscal year (FY) 2016 assessment of the Civilian Acquisition Workforce Personnel Demonstration Project mandated in the National Defense Authorization Act of FY 2011.

Draft

Improving Estimation of Labor Market Disequilibrium Through Inclusion of Shortage Indicators

Develops a new methodology to improve the estimation of a disequilibrium model that incorporates a survey-based shortage indicator into the model and estimation strategy.

Journal Article

Examining the Implementation of Technology-Based Blended Algebra I Curriculum at Scale

This article examines the implementation of a widely used blended algebra curriculum and the relationship between implementation and student outcomes.

Journal Article

Does Student Effort Respond to Incentives? Evidence from a Guaranteed College Admissions Program

This paper studies the effects of guaranteed college admission on student effort and achievement. In 1997, Texas enacted the "Top Ten Percent" law, which guarantees admission to any public college for students in the top ten percent of their high school class.

Tool

Officer Accession Planning: A Manual for Estimating Air Force Officer Degree Requirements

This tool describes and provides implementation guidance for the process RAND Project AIR FORCE created to develop evidence-based degree requirements for officer accessions.

Draft

The Impact of the New Haven Promise Program on College Enrollment, Choice, and Persistence

Estimates the impact of being eligible for the New Haven Promise program for the first three high school graduate cohorts using regression discontinuity and difference-in-differences approaches.

Research Brief

Employment Assistance for Reserve Component Members

RAND researchers reviewed previous research, conducted informational discussions with employment program managers, and identified ways to improve efforts to provide federal job placement and related employment services for reserve component members.

Report

Review of the Provision of Job Placement Assistance and Related Employment Services to Members of the Reserve Components

This study identifies the current U.S. employment programs and resources available to reserve component members, assesses the gaps and overlaps in those programs and resources, and recommends improvements to services.

Journal Article

Innovative Pathways Through Developmental Education and Postsecondary Success: An Examination of Developmental Math Interventions Across Texas

This study assessed alternative course delivery for developmental education (DE) math and student outcomes in community colleges in Texas.

Report

Identifying Key Workplace Stressors Affecting Twentieth Air Force: Analyses Conducted from December 2012 Through February 2013

A series of focus groups with 20th Air Force personnel and their spouses helped assess such issues as job stress and satisfaction and problem behaviors and solicit suggestions for addressing them.

Report

Competency-Based Education Programs in Texas: An Innovative Approach to Higher Education

This report describes competency-based education in Texas by documenting six institutions that currently offer these programs and recent efforts of the state to support them.

Journal Article

Regional and Gender Differences and Trends in the Anesthesiologist Workforce

A study of workforce trends in anesthesiology by region and gender in the United States.

Report

An Assessment of Fiscal Year 2013 Beyond Yellow Ribbon Programs

RAND researchers conducted a formal review of 13 programs that received Beyond Yellow Ribbon appropriations in fiscal year 2013, helping to identify programs with strong records of success and develop a nationwide set of promising practices.

Research Brief

Planning for Higher Education Programs: Effectively Using Data and Modeling to Understand Workforce Needs

Workforce data sources provide valuable information, though no source should be used on its own. The information should be used to manage new and ongoing degree programs and for periodic strategic planning.

Report

Training Cyber Warriors: What Can Be Learned from Defense Language Training?

This report seeks to help those planning future cyber training by highlighting what can be learned from another U.S. military specialty with some similarities to cyber: defense language.

Report

Using Workforce Information for Degree Program Planning in Texas

This report describes current practices in using workforce information for degree program planning, analyzes options for using workforce information, recommends promising practices, describes new data tools, and applies these tools.

Journal Article

Percent Plans, Automatic Admissions, and College Outcomes

Access to selective universities is highly coveted because of the perception that attending one provides opportunities otherwise difficult to obtain.

Research Brief

New Haven Promise: An Early Look at College Preparation, Access, and Enrollment of New Haven Public School Students (2010–2013)

This brief highlights findings of a study of early progress of New Haven Promise, a place-based scholarship program focusing on college preparation, access, and enrollment.

Research Brief

Transforming an Urban Public School District: Tracking the Progress of the New Haven Public Schools' Educational Reforms and the New Haven Promise Scholarship Program

This brief summarizes a study of baseline conditions and early progress of two educational efforts in Connecticut: New Haven School Change, a sweeping K-12 educational reform, and New Haven Promise, a scholarship program.

Report

Transforming an Urban School System: Progress of New Haven School Change and New Haven Promise Education Reforms (2010–2013)

This report documents a study of baseline conditions and early progress of two educational efforts in Connecticut: New Haven School Change, a sweeping districtwide K-12 educational reform, and New Haven Promise, a scholarship program.

Report

Transforming an Urban School System: Progress of New Haven School Change and New Haven Promise Education Reforms (2010–2013) — Technical Appendixes

This volume contains supporting appendixes for a study of baseline conditions and early progress of two educational efforts in Connecticut: New Haven School Change, a districtwide K-12 educational reform, and New Haven Promise, a scholarship program.

Report

Families, Powered On: Improving Family Engagement in Early Childhood Education Through Technology

The authors describe barriers that hinder family engagement in early childhood education and ways technology might help -- empowering families to become better educators at home, and strengthening connection and communication between school and home.

Report

Getting Early Childhood Educators Up and Running: Creating Strong Technology Curators, Facilitators, Guides, and Users

The authors describe efforts that might be helpful in creating confident, knowledgeable providers of early childhood education who can help ensure appropriate, intentional, and productive use of technology among young children.

Report

How Much and What Kind? Identifying an Adequate Technology Infrastructure for Early Childhood Education

The authors examine how stakeholders might collaborate to (1) define what constitutes an adequate technology architecture for the purposes of addressing the digital divide in early childhood education and (2) help ensure that it is realized.

Report

Moving Beyond Screen Time: Redefining Developmentally Appropriate Technology Use in Early Childhood Education

The authors challenge the traditional emphasis on screen time as a measure of "developmentally appropriate" technology use by young children and discuss how to move toward a more comprehensive definition.

Report

Air Force-Wide Needs for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Academic Degrees

RAND researchers asked Air Force senior functional authorities which STEM degrees are and will be needed to maintain vital technical skills. The results suggest areas the Air Force should review for emerging demand.

Report

Getting on the Same Page: Identifying Goals for Technology Use in Early Childhood Education

Technology use among young children is on the rise, but technology's role in early childhood education (ECE) is still in debate. The authors offer ways to move past that debate and identify several potential core goals to guide technology use in ECE.

Report

Assessing the Potential to Expand Community College Baccalaureate Programs in Texas

Considers potential benefits and drawbacks of expanding community college baccalaureate degree programs in Texas, including current unmet workforce-development needs in nursing and several applied sciences occupations.

Report

Assessing the Potential to Expand Community College Baccalaureate Programs in Texas: Executive Summary

Summarizes a report on the potential benefits and drawbacks of expanding community college baccalaureate degree programs in Texas, including current unmet workforce-development needs in nursing and several applied sciences occupations.

Report

The Anesthesiologist Workforce in 2013: A Final Briefing to the American Society of Anesthesiologists

To understand how population and health care changes affect the anesthesiologist workforce, researchers conducted a national survey of American Society of Anesthesiologists members in 2013. This report documents their findings.

Report

Effects of Military Service on Earnings and Education Revisited: Variation by Service Duration, Occupation, and Civilian Unemployment

This report examines how military service affects earnings, especially how these effects differ by the number of years of service and military occupational specialties and how external factors and policies affect these impacts.

Commentary

Using Early Childhood Education to Bridge the Digital Divide

Many low-income children lack the same access to technology as their more-advantaged peers. This Perspective explores the role of early childhood education in ensuring that low-income children can access technology and learn how to use it.

Report

Implementation of the DoD Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan: A Framework for Change Through Accountability

Provides a framework that the Department of Defense can use to organize the strategic initiatives outlined in its 2012 Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan.

Research Brief

Does an Algebra Course with Tutoring Software Improve Student Learning?

Examines whether the Cognitive Tutor Algebra I (CTAI) algebra curriculum, which includes tutoring software, is effective in improving the math test scores of middle and high school students, relative to traditional algebra instruction.

Report

Analyses of the Department of Defense Acquisition Workforce: Update to Methods and Results through FY 2011

RAND has been providing ongoing analysis of the defense acquisition workforce; this volume documents the methods and data and provides a user's manual for a model for projecting the future workforce supply.

Report

Building the Links Between Funding and Quality in Higher Education: India's Challenge

Reviews India's and other countries' higher education systems and suggests seven policy actions that the Indian national government and other stakeholders can take to improve higher education by linking funding to quality.

Research Brief

Linking Funding and Quality to Improve Higher Education in India

RAND researchers developed a course of action to help India implement policies and reforms that link higher education quality to funding to increase accountability, encourage greater innovation, and contribute to national goals.

Report

An Assessment of the Civilian Acquisition Workforce Personnel Demonstration Project

This is a legislatively mandated assessment of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Civilian Acquisition Workforce Personnel Demonstration Project (AcqDemo).

Report

Analysis of Costs in an Algebra I Curriculum Effectiveness Study

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).

Research Brief

Is There a Shortage of Anesthesia Providers in the United States?

Analysis of labor market trends suggests that the United States is experiencing a shortage of anesthesiology providers.

Report

An Analysis of the Labor Markets for Anesthesiology

Anesthesiologists and Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists provide most anesthesiology services in the United States. Following survey, demand-based, and econometric analyses, the authors conclude that a national shortage of both is highly likely.

Dissertation

Child Care Choices of Hispanic Families: Why Aren't Families Using Center Care?

Explores why Hispanic children are enrolled in preschools and early childhood centers in lesser proportions than children of other races and ethnicities.

Report

The Prospects for Increasing the Reuse of Digital Training Content

Critically examines current efforts to reuse digital training content as a strategy to reduce the cost of its development, and provides recommendations regarding how the reuse option might be further encouraged.

Report

The Department of the Navy's Civilian Acquisition Workforce: An Analysis of Recent Trends

Summarizes defense acquisition workforce analyses that RAND has undertaken for the Department of the Navy.

Journal Article

Disparities in Detection and Treatment History Among Mothers with Major Depression in Los Angeles

The authors sought to determine disparities in detection and treatment histories among a group of racial and ethnically diverse mothers with major depression.

Journal Article

A Qualitative Study of Early Childhood Educators' Beliefs About Key Preschool Classroom Experiences

The aim of the study was to uncover early childhood educators' beliefs about how to best work with children getting ready for kindergarten.

Report

The Defense Acquisition Workforce: An Analysis of Personnel Trends Relevant to Policy, 1993–2006

Summarizes defense acquisition workforce analyses that RAND has undertaken in support of human capital strategic planning.

Draft

Defining Corporate Culture: How Social Scientists Define Culture, Values and Tradeoffs among Them

This literature review was conducted in an effort to develop a clear and concise definition of the frequently used and sometimes obscure concept of ''culture'' in various social science literatures.