Christopher Joseph Doss

The Four-Day School Week: Are the Pros Worth the Cons?

The past two decades have seen an explosion in the adoption of the four-day school week. Against this growing trend, however, there is increasing evidence that, by and large, a four-day school week causes student achievement to suffer.

America May Not Be Ready for the Looming Tsunami of Deepfakes

Images and videos have been falsified since the first photographs were taken. But deepfakes are fundamentally different. Their realism, and the scale and ease with which they can be produced, make them incredibly potent disinformation tools.

'Grow Your Own' Prep Programs Can Improve Diversity of the Teaching Workforce

Black and Hispanic educators are much more likely than white educators to say they plan to leave the profession, threatening to exacerbate an already overwhelming lack of diversity. Local, “grow your own” alternative teacher preparation programs can help to strengthen the diversity of the teaching workforce, as well as enable districts to address broader staffing challenges.

Back to School Means Back to SEL for America's Teachers and Principals

Schools are increasingly adopting programs and practices to build social and emotional learning (SEL) skills. Policymakers can benefit from understanding the educator perspective: how they feel about SEL, what they're doing to promote it, and what resources they need.

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Designing and Implementing Micro-Credentials to Support STEM Teaching: Lessons from Louisiana's Project to Improve Pre-Engineering and Computer Science Education Through Micro-Credentialing

The authors describe the development and implementation of micro-credentials that allow teachers to demonstrate competency in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instructional topics.

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Students Using Lexia® Core5® Reading Show Greater Reading Gains Than Matched Comparison Students

This report evaluates the effects of Lexia® Core5® Reading on the reading achievement of students in grades 3–5 during the 2021–2022 academic year. Students who used the program experienced gains in average reading achievement.

Journal Article

Deepfakes and Scientific Knowledge Dissemination

We field the first study to understand the vulnerabilities of education stakeholders to science deepfakes and the characteristics that moderate vulnerability.

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Vermont Early Care and Education Financing Study: Estimated Costs, Financing Options, and Economic Impacts

Vermont is interested in expanding families' subsidies for early care and education (ECE) programs. This report estimates the costs of a high-quality ECE system with a well-compensated workforce and identifies possible funding sources.

Journal Article

Use of Personalized Learning Platforms in One Pandemic-Era Microschool: A Case Study

The many pandemic-era uses of personalized learning platforms can provide insight into how they might affect students' academic, social, and emotional outcomes. This report discusses one example: the Southern Nevada Urban Micro Academy (SNUMA).

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Assessing the Association Between Airmen Participation in Force Support Squadron Programs and Unit Cohesion: An Evaluation of the UNITE Initiative

The UNITE Initiative aims to promote readiness and resilience in the Air Force through events that focus on unit cohesion. The authors describe the results of their evaluation of UNITE and the program's association with unit cohesion.

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Assessing the Association Between Airmen Participation in Force Support Squadron Programs and Unit Cohesion: Executive Summary

This executive summary encapsulates the findings in Assessing the Association Between Airmen Participation in Force Support Squadron Programs and Unit Cohesion: An Evaluation of the UNITE Initiative (RR-A554-1) 2022.

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Widening the Pathway: Implementation and Impacts of Alternative Teacher Preparation Programs Across Three Contexts

The authors describe implementation of three alternative teacher preparation programs—called Teacher Effectiveness and Certification (TEACh) programs—and their effect on teacher recruitment, teacher retention, and student achievement.

Research Brief

Can Four Equal Five? Assessing the Four-Day School Week

This brief provides information on the implementation and outcomes of a four-day school week using quantitative and qualitative data from a variety of sources, including surveys of parents and students, across six states.

Report

Does Four Equal Five? Implementation and Outcomes of the Four-Day School Week

The authors provide information on the implementation and outcomes of the four-day school week using quantitative and qualitative data from a variety of sources, including surveys of parents and students in 36 districts in three states.

Journal Article

A Pilot Study Investigating STEM Learners' Ability to Decipher AI-generated Video

In this study, state of the art AI algorithms are trained on a specific STEM context (e.g., climate change) using publicly-available data.

Research Brief

Supports for Social and Emotional Learning in Schools: Findings from the American Teacher Panel

Survey results about teachers' social and emotional learning (SEL) practices, beliefs about SEL, emotional well-being, professional development related to SEL, school-level supports for SEL, and district and state SEL standards.

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Supports for Social and Emotional Learning in American Schools and Classrooms: Findings from the American Teacher Panel

Researchers present survey results about teachers' social and emotional learning (SEL) practices, beliefs about SEL, emotional well-being, professional development related to SEL, school-level supports for SEL, and district and state SEL standards.

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High School Teachers' Perceptions and Use of Personalized Learning: Findings from the American Teacher Panel

This report presents findings from RAND's 2018 American Teacher Panel about high school teachers' use of instructional practices consistent with personalized learning and access to necessary supports.

Research Brief

How Can Assistant Principals Be Trained as Instructional Leaders? Insights from the PLUS Program

This research brief summarizes study findings of a school leadership program and offers three recommendations for school districts and school leadership training programs to consider as they strive to improve instructional leadership effectiveness.

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Pathways to Instructional Leadership: Implementation and Outcomes from a Job-Embedded School Leader Training Program

The authors describe the initial implementation and impacts on staff and student outcomes of the Pathway to Leadership in Urban Schools program, which focused on newly hired school assistant principals, in one large urban district over four years.

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Perceptions of School Leadership: Implications for Principal Effectiveness

This American Educator Panels Data Note examines both teachers' and principals' perceptions of principals' leadership practices.

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School Improvement Plans: Is There Room for Improvement?

School Improvement Plans (SIPs) have been a central feature of American school reform for over two decades. This Data Note explores teacher and principal awareness of and attitudes toward SIP effectiveness and areas where views diverge.

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School Reform Efforts: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow? Educator Perspectives on the Rapid Life Cycle of School Reforms

This American Educator Panels Data Note highlights discrepancies in principals' and teachers' perceptions of the continuity of school reforms in their schools.

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Are Educators Setting Goals for Social-Emotional Learning? Evidence from Nationally Representative Surveys

This American Educator Panels Data Note details the extent to which a nationally representative sample of teachers and school leaders report setting goals for the social-emotional growth of their students.

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How Much Influence Do Teachers Have in Their Schools? It Depends on Whom You Ask

This American Educator Panels Data Note highlights discrepancies between principals' and teachers' perceptions of teacher influence in schools.

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Learn Together Surveys: 2019 Technical Documentation and Survey Results

This report provides additional information about the sample, survey instrument, and resultant data for the 2019 Learn Together Surveys that were administered to principals and teachers via the RAND Corporation's American Educator Panels.

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Student Growth Percentiles 101: Using Relative Ranks in Student Test Scores to Help Measure Teaching Effectiveness

The author defines student growth percentiles (SGPs) and discusses how they are used to rank student test-score growth compared with peers and to produce a score for a teacher.

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Teacher Perspectives on Social and Emotional Learning in Massachusetts: Findings from the American Teacher Panel

This report presents American Teacher Panel survey results on teachers' perspectives about social and emotional learning. The researchers analyze results from teachers in Massachusetts and how they compare with those of their national peers.

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AEP Data Note Technical Appendix 2

This technical appendix provides additional information about the sample, data, and estimation strategy that were used for a series of AEP Data Notes published by the RAND Corporation in 2019.

Research Brief

Support for Social and Emotional Learning Is Widespread: Principals and Teachers Give Insight into How They Value, Address, and Measure It, and Which Supports They Need

This research brief presents an overview of the results of the American Educator Panels survey questions on social and emotional learning in schools.

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Teacher and Principal Perspectives on Social and Emotional Learning in America's Schools: Findings from the American Educator Panels

This report presents findings from surveys of nationally representative samples of teachers and principals who responded to questions addressing their beliefs about social and emotional learning in schools and the practices they implemented.

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Preparing School Leaders for Success: Evaluation of New Leaders' Aspiring Principals Program, 2012–2017

This report analyzes whether schools and students led by graduates of New Leaders‘ Aspiring Principals program outperformed comparison schools and students in the same district.

Research Brief

How Educators and Employers Can Align Efforts to Fill Middle-Skills STEM Jobs

This Research Brief explores the alignment of oil and gas industry--related college courses with employer needs in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, as well as ways in which employers and educators can collaborate to improve these courses.

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Supporting Middle-Skills STEM Workforce Development: Analysis of Workplace Skills in Demand and Education Institutions' Curricular Offerings in the Oil and Gas Sector

In this report, researchers examine the alignment of college STEM education with the needs of employers in the tri-state region of Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, as well as STEM areas in which college students need more support.

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AEP Data Note Technical Appendix

This technical appendix provides additional information about the sample, data, and estimation strategy that were used for a series of AEP Data Notes published by the RAND Corporation in 2018 and 2019.