Susan M. Gates

For Teachers, a Good Boss Makes All the Difference

Districts that try to place an effective leader in every school could reap educational benefits in the classroom. Giving a teacher a good boss also could be a powerful element in a broader strategy to recruit and retain highly effective educators.

How States and Districts Can Leverage the Every Student Succeeds Act to Improve School Leadership

The Every Student Succeeds Act provides states and districts with new chances to invest in school leadership. A review of interventions can serve as a starting point to enact relevant solutions and build the evidence base for what works.

Improving School Leadership: What Works

There is evidence that having strong school leaders is instrumental for improving the quality of teaching. But resource constraints and pressure to spend money directly on students have left interventions focused on principals largely overlooked. However, the new Every Student Succeeds Act may be changing the script.

A Principal Role in Education

Principals are second only to teachers as the most important school factor affecting student achievement, but their contributions are often underappreciated. They establish a vision that motivates the entire community, build a school culture that supports student learning, ensure resources are used effectively, and engage with the community.

What Drives the Market for Orphan Drugs?

The 1983 Orphan Drug Act appears to be successful in promoting development of new treatments for relatively rare conditions. But an unintended consequence of its success is the high cost of specialty drugs.

Report

Creating Readiness Metrics for the Army Civilian Workforce: A Way Ahead for Integrating Readiness into Civilian Workforce Planning

The authors develop a definition of and model for measuring civilian workforce readiness to inform Army policies and practices using qualitative methods, with which they identify potential data sources for readiness metrics.

Report

Roles for City Governments in Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: An Initial Exploration

To enhance the understanding of the role of local government in entrepreneurial ecosystems, RAND researchers reviewed available resources and interviewed local officials from six selected cities from February to April 2022.

Report

Education and Child Welfare System Efforts to Improve Educational Outcomes for Youth in Foster Care: Identifying Opportunities to Enhance Cross-System Collaboration

In this report, the authors examine how fragmentation within and misalignment between the education and child welfare systems influence opportunities for the cross-system collaboration needed to support students in foster care.

Report

America's Opioid Ecosystem: How Leveraging System Interactions Can Help Curb Addiction, Overdose, and Other Harms

Patterns and consequences of opioid use are changing dramatically. Researchers provide a nuanced assessment of America's opioid ecosystem, highlighting how leveraging system interactions can reduce addiction, overdose, suffering, and other harms.

Visualization

The Ecosystem Approach to Opioid Policy

RAND researchers created a tool to help federal, state, and local policymakers better understand issues surrounding opioids as an ecosystem—and explore innovative policy ideas.

Report

Department of Defense Acquisition Workforce Analyses: Update Through Fiscal Year 2021

RAND researchers present a descriptive overview of the state of the defense acquisition workforce (AW), describe changes to the AW over time, and identify opportunities for the collection of new data that could support decisionmaking.

Report

Collaborating on University Principal Preparation Program Redesign: A Summary of Findings for University Principal Preparation Program Providers (Volume 3, Part 3)

University-based principal preparation programs (PPPs) prepare the majority of U.S. school principals. This targeted report shares findings from a study of an initiative to support improvements to PPPs, with an emphasis on findings for other PPPs.

Report

District Partnerships with University Principal Preparation Programs: A Summary of Findings for School District Leaders (Volume 3, Part 4)

This report shares findings from the RAND Corporation's five-year study of The Wallace Foundation's University Principal Preparation Initiative, with an emphasis on findings for school district leaders.

Report

State Partnerships with University Principal Preparation Programs: A Summary of Findings for State Policymakers (Volume 3, Part 5)

This report shares findings from the RAND Corporation's five-year study of The Wallace Foundation's University Principal Preparation Initiative, with an emphasis on findings for state policymakers.

Report

Redesigning University Principal Preparation Programs: A Systemic Approach for Change and Sustainability — Full Report (Volume 3, Part 1)

University-based principal preparation programs prepare the majority of U.S. school principals. This report described the methodology of and findings from a five-year study of an initiative designed to support improvements to such programs.

Report

Redesigning University Principal Preparation Programs: A Systemic Approach for Change and Sustainability — Report in Brief (Volume 3, Part 2)

University-based principal preparation programs prepare the majority of our country's school principals. This report shares findings from a five-year study of an initiative designed to support improvements to such programs.

Report

Using State-Level Policy Levers to Promote Principal Quality: Lessons from Seven States Partnering with Principal Preparation Programs and Districts

The authors examine how seven states are using state-level policy levers to improve the quality of school principals.

Report

Taking Stock of Principal Pipelines: What Public School Districts Report Doing and What They Want to Do to Improve School Leadership

The authors share new findings about the about the presence and potential importance of principal pipeline activities for preparing, hiring, supporting, and evaluating school leaders across the United States as reported by district administrators.

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

Principal Pipelines: A Feasible, Affordable, and Effective Way for Districts to Improve Schools

This report describes the implementation of The Wallace Foundation's Principal Pipeline Initiative and its effects on student achievement, other school outcomes, and principal retention.

Report

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.

Report

Analyses of the Department of Defense Acquisition Workforce: Update to Methods and Results Through FY 2017

To aid the Department of Defense in managing its acquisition workforce, this volume provides analysis of the workforce and describes data-based tools to support further analysis.

Report

Launching a Redesign of University Principal Preparation Programs: Partners Collaborate for Change: Executive Summary

The University Principal Preparation Initiative (UPPI) supports the redesign of principal preparation programs according to evidence-based principles and practices. This executive summary provides insight into the first year of UPPI implementation.

Report

Launching a Redesign of University Principal Preparation Programs: Partners Collaborate for Change

The University Principal Preparation Initiative (UPPI) supports the redesign of principal preparation programs according to evidence-based principles and practices. This report provides insight into the first year of UPPI implementation.

Tool

RAND School Leadership Intervention Evaluation Toolkit

This toolkit is a companion to School Leadership Interventions Under the Every Student Succeeds Act: An Evidence Review. The authors provide guidance and tools for designing and conducting evaluations of school leadership interventions.

Research Brief

Principal Pipelines: What Are They and What Do They Cost?

RAND Corporation analysts estimated school district costs for putting in place and operating principal pipelines based on data collected from six urban districts that participated in The Wallace Foundation's Principal Pipeline Initiative.

Report

School Leadership Interventions Under the Every Student Succeeds Act: Evidence Review: Updated and Expanded

This updated report presents a synthesis of the evidence base on school leadership interventions and describes the opportunities for supporting such interventions under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Report

What It Takes to Operate and Maintain Principal Pipelines: Costs and Other Resources

This report presents an approach for understanding the district resources and expenditures required to prepare, hire, evaluate, develop, and support school leaders and provides estimates of those resources and expenditures.

Report

Retention and Promotion of High-Quality Civil Service Workers in the Department of Defense Acquisition Workforce

This report uses administrative data from Defense Manpower Data Center files to address questions about factors that affect personnel retention and career advancement in the civilian acquisition workforce.

Report

Options for Department of Defense Total Workforce Supply and Demand Analysis: Potential Approaches and Available Data Sources

This report reviews approaches used in the private sector and government organizations to determine workforce supply and demand and describes data sources available to Department of Defense managers to support analysis from a total force perspective.

Report

Preparing Principals to Raise Student Achievement: Implementation and Effects of the New Leaders Program in Ten Districts

This report describes New Leaders, a nonprofit dedicated to preparing principals to lead schools to greater achievement, the implementation of its program, and the program's effect on student achievement.

Report

Preparing Principals to Raise Student Achievement: Implementation and Effects of the New Leaders Program in Ten Districts — Appendix

This document presents technical appendixes to supplement the main evaluation report Preparing Principals to Raise Student Achievement: Implementation and Effects of the New Leaders Program in Ten Districts (RR-507-NL).

Research Brief

Principal Preparation Matters: How Leadership Affects Student Achievement

Summarizing a larger report, this briefing presents evidence of the effect that New Leaders, a nonprofit dedicated to preparing principals to lead schools to greater achievement, has on student achievement.

Infographic

Laying the Foundation for Successful School Leadership

States and school districts can play an important role in helping principals be more successful and guide their schools more effectively by undertaking actions in four key areas.

Research Brief

Healing Medical Product Innovation

Identifies promising policy options to spur the creation of new medical technologies that will reduce total U.S. health care spending or will provide health benefits that justify any increase in spending.

Report

Redirecting Innovation in U.S. Health Care: Options to Decrease Spending and Increase Value

This report identifies promising policy options to spur the creation of new medical technologies that will reduce total U.S. health care spending or will provide health benefits that justify any increase in spending.

Report

Laying the Foundation for Successful School Leadership

RAND researchers provide guidance on four areas particularly influential in supporting effectiveness of school principals -- placement in the school, evaluation, autonomy, and resources -- and highlight how to create conditions to foster principal success.

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

Supporting Employers in the Reserve Operational Forces Era: Are Changes Needed to Reservists' Employment Rights Legislation, Policies, or Programs?

This report describes an analysis of current employment rights protections for Reserve Component members and related support programs and makes recommendations stemming from that analysis.

Report

Supporting Employers in the Reserve Operational Forces Era: Appendixes

This report describes an analysis of current employment rights protections for Reserve Component members and related support programs and makes recommendations stemming from that analysis.

Research Brief

Supporting Employers of Reserve Component Members

This brief details research finding that laws addressing employer obligations in the event of an employee's military duty–related absence are clear but that employer knowledge of obligations and where to go for help in fulfilling them is incomplete.

Report

Addressing Challenges in Evaluating School Principal Improvement Efforts

This report describes challenges that states, districts, and other entities can expect to encounter as they evaluate efforts targeting school leadership as a way to improve student outcomes and offers suggestions for dealing with those challenges.

Research Brief

Evaluating Efforts to Improve School Leadership: Challenges and Recommendations

Efforts to improve school leadership may improve student outcomes. Evaluators and policymakers should allow time for improvements to show, use multiple evaluation measures, and interpret findings carefully before applying them to others.

Journal Article

Do Small-Group Health Insurance Regulations Influence Small Business Size?

State small-group health insurance reforms, implemented in the 1990s, aimed at controlling the variability of health insurance premiums and to improve access to health insurance. These reforms only affected firms within a specific size range, and as a result, they may have affected the size of small firms around the legislative threshold and may also have affected the propensity of small firms to offer health insurance.

Research Brief

Challenges and Opportunities Facing Principals in the First Year at a School

Presents a summary of research on first-year principals' experiences, actions, working conditions, and outcomes; the research is intended to inform efforts to promote school improvement and principal retention.

Report

First-Year Principals in Urban School Districts: How Actions and Working Conditions Relate to Outcomes

Presents research on first-year principals' experiences, actions, working conditions, and outcomes; the research is intended to inform efforts to promote school improvement and principal retention.

Report

Challenges to Value-Enhancing Innovation in Health Care Delivery: Commonalities and Contrasts with Innovation in Drugs and Devices

Discusses obstacles to steering innovation in health care toward activities that are worth their social costs and away from other innovative activities and considers drugs, devices, and delivery, with particular attention to delivery.

Research Brief

Does Employer-Based Health Insurance Discourage Entrepreneurship and New Business Creation?

This research brief raises concerns that the bundling of health insurance and employment may discourage business creation.

Report

From Marginal Adjustments to Meaningful Change: Rethinking Weapon System Acquisition

The authors present detailed proposals to improve defense acquisition through initiatives focused on competition, novel systems, risk management, organizational factors, prototyping, and the acquisition workforce.

Draft

Is Employer-Based Health Insurance A Barrier To Entrepreneurship?

Examines whether the focus on employer-provided health insurance in the United States may restrict business creation.

Draft

Preliminary Findings from the New Leaders for New Schools Evaluation

Presents preliminary findings on the impact of attending a school led by a K-8 school led by a New Leader.

Journal Article

Health Savings Accounts for Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs: Shopping, Take-Up and Implementation Challenges

The Health Savings Account marketplace may have expanded access to health insurance for the smallest firms but not for small firms more generally, who face challenges in implementing them.

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

Meeting Family and Military Needs Through Military Child Care

This article summarizes results from a child care survey of military families conducted by the RAND Corporation in 2004 and draws policy implications for the military child care system.

Report

Shining a Spotlight on the Defense Acquisition Workforce -- Again

Examines concerns about the size, quality, and effectiveness of the defense acquisition workforce and highlights areas where better evidence is needed to understand the linkage between workforce attributes and acquisition outcomes.

Research Brief

Does the Military Child Care System Serve Its Purpose?

This research brief summarizes research suggesting that the U.S. Department of Defense may wish to consider expanding its child care benefits to cover more military families and a broader set of child care needs.

Report

Options for Improving the Military Child Care System

In support of recruitment, readiness, and retention goals, this paper suggests that the U.S. Department of Defense may wish to expand its child care benefits to cover more military families and a broader set of child care needs.

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.

Research Brief

State Insurance Mandates and Consumer-Directed Health Plans: Are They Helping Small Business Provide Health Insurance to Employees?

This research brief describes the effects of state health-insurance mandates and consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs) on the access to and affordability of health insurance for small businesses.

Research Brief

Is Special Regulatory Treatment for Small Businesses Working as Intended?

This research brief summarizes a compilation of studies on several kinds of regulation of small firms and their intended and actual effects, as well as how to ensure that such regulations have the effects intended.

Research Brief

Do Benefits of Sarbanes-Oxley Justify the Costs? Empirical Evidence in the Case of Small Firms

This research brief summarizes the impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) on small firms based on a review of studies of relative compliance costs, stock-price reactions, and exit patterns from the public market.

Draft

Consumer-Directed Health Plans And Health Savings Accounts: Have They Worked For Small Businesses?

Examines whether consumer-directed health plans and health savings accounts have worked for small businesses.

Report

In the Name of Entrepreneurship? The Logic and Effects of Special Regulatory Treatment for Small Business

What are the differential effects of regulation and policy on small businesses? What is the impact of special regulatory treatment for small businesses? This book offers analysis of key public policy issues with implications for small businesses.

Draft

State Health Insurance Mandates, Consumer Directed Health Plans and Health Savings Accounts: Are They a Panacea for Small Businesses?

Examines the effect of two types of policy initiatives that could have substantial benefits for small business: state health insurance mandates and key components of several others plans that tend to shift costs to the consumer.

Research Brief

Need for High-Quality Child Care Affects Military Readiness and Retention

This research brief presents focus group and survey results that point to several options for improving the Department of Defense's approach to addressing the child-care needs of military families.

Draft

Do Small Group Health Insurance Regulations Influence Small Business Growth?

Examine the effect of small-group insurance reforms on the size of smallbusinesses.

Report

Examining Child Care Need Among Military Families

Describes and analyzes the results of a 2004 military family survey of child care need and child care choices, defining outcomes of potential interest to DoD and their effect on readiness and retention.

Report

Providing Child Care to Military Families: The Role of the Demand Formula in Defining Need and Informing Policy

Assesses the formula used by the Department of Defense to determine child-care demand and the factors affecting the child-care needs of military families.

Report

Civilian Workforce Planning in the Department of Defense: Different Levels, Different Roles

Explores workforce planning and requirements determination at Department of Defense (DoD) installations, and identifies potential planning-process roles for the Office of the Secretary of Defense and data sources for DoD-wide workforce planning.

Draft

The Impact of Regulation and Litigation on Small Business and Entrepreneurship: An Overview

Surveys existing research and the general state of knowledge about the impact of regulation and legislation on small business, focusing on the areas of corporate securities, environmental protection, employment, and health insurance.

Report

The Effects of A-76 Cost Comparisons on DoD Civilian Education and Training

The authors found that A-76 cost comparisons appear to generate cost savings, but at the cost of degraded employee morale and customer service.

Draft

Criteria Used to Define a Small Business in Determining Thresholds for the Application of Federal Statutes

This paper reviews federal workplace, environmental, economic regulations. It describes the purpose of and requirements associated with the regulations, any penalties associated with regulatory violations and how requirements or penalties differ for small v. large firms.

Report

High-Performance Government: Structure, Leadership, Incentives

In this book, RAND experts in public policy and management suggest practical ways to implement the recommendations and define a research agenda for the future.

Report

Career Paths of School Administrators in Illinois: Insights from an Analysis of State Data

A further exploration of school administrators and the issue of their shortage and their importance to student learning outcomes, this report adds to the current understanding of school administrators' careers.

Report

Career Paths of School Administrators in North Carolina: Insights from an Analysis of State Data

A further exploration of school administrators and the issue of their shortage and their importance to student learning outcomes, this report adds to the current understanding of school administrators' careers.

Report

Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) and Organizational Restructuring in the DoD: Implications for Education and Training Infrastructure

Looks at how Department of Defense (DoD) education, training, and development institutions are affected by the consolidation of DoD facilities and changes in governance structure.

Report

Intern Programs as a Human Resources Management Tool for the Department of Defense

Findings and policy recommendations on internships in support of DoD's goal of determining ways to recruit the civilian workforce to replace the retiring workers and respond to workforce changes likely to accompany the impending military transformation.

Research Brief

Base Realignment and Closure: An Opportunity to Reassess DoD's Civilian Education and Training Infrastructure

Education, training, and professional development (ET&D) institutions can experience complementary change when military bases and other infrastructure are reconfigured through the base realignment and closure (BRAC) process.

Research Brief

The Careers of Public School Administrators: Policy Implications from an Analysis of State-Level Data

Who is leading our nation's schools?

Commercial Book

In Pursuit of Prestige: Strategy and Competition in U.S. Higher Education

This volume examines higher education as an industry. The authors focus on how institutions serve four identifiable markets that generate revenue (student enrollment, research funding, public fiscal support, and private giving).

Report

Who is Leading our Schools? An Overview of School Administrators and Their Careers

Presents what is known about attracting and retaining school administrators, including the factors that influence people's decisions to pursue an administrative career, and concludes that there is no national shortage of qualified people for school administrative positions.

Report

Strategic Assessment and Development of Interorganizational Influence in the Absence of Hierarchical Authority

Presents, for organizations that seek to influence others without the benefit of hierarchical authority, a three-stage framework that will help them capitalize on the power-and-influence options available to them.

Report

A Strategic Governance Review for Multi-organizational Systems of Education, Training, and Professional Development

Outlines an approach for describing and evaluating external governance in a multi-organizational system of education, training, and professional development.

Report

Challenges in Defense Working Capital Fund Pricing: Analysis of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service

Examining the pricing structure of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service and its impact on customer demand, workload, and equity in pricing

Report

The Labor Market for Attorneys in the State of California: Past, Present, and Future

What are the future workforce needs for lawyers in California? This report seeks to identify supply-demand mismatches in the legal marketplace and assesses the need for new policy initiatives.

Research Brief

Are Schools Facing a Shortage of Qualified Administrators?

This research brief describes work documented in Who Is Leading Our Schools? An Overview of School Administrators and Their Careers (MR-1679-EDU).

Report

Examining the Cost of Military Child Care

This book presents estimates of the cost of providing care in DoD-operated Child Development Centers(CDCs), Family Child Care (FCC) homes, and centers operated by outside providers under contract to the DoD.

Research Brief

Improving the Quality of DoD's Civilian Workforce: Guidance for the Office of the Chancellor for Education and Professional Development

Among the recommendations is that the Chancellor's office focus on becoming the DoD educational information center in the near term while seeking, over the medium term, to develop a role in the program approval process.

Periodical

RAND Review: Vol. 26, No. 2, Summer 2002

Surveys RAND research conducted since Sept. 11, 2001, that examines the dimensions of the terrorist threat and potential responses to it, and issues such as global priorities, oversees deployments, homeland security, and state and local initiatives.

Research Brief

What Are the Costs of Operating the Military's Child Care System?

This research brief describes work documented in Examining the Cost of Military Child Care (MR-1415-OSD).

Report

Improving the Defense Finance and Accounting Service's Interactions With Its Customers

Today, DFAS provides a variety of finance and accounting services to military customers. This report examines DFAS's interactions with customers to determine how those interactions might be improved.

Report

Ensuring the Quality and Productivity of Education and Professional Development Activities: A Review of Approaches and Lessons for DoD

This book examines the approaches used to evaluate academic quality and productivity in a variety of postsecondary education and training contexts, including corporations, state governments, and universities.

Report

Strategic and Performance Planning for the Office of the Chancellor for Education and Professional Development in the Department of Defense

Examines several approaches to strategic planning for the DoD Office of the Chancellor for Education and Professional Development.

Research Brief

Civilian Education and Training in the Department of Defense: How Can We Gauge Its Value?

DoD's education and training efforts are highly decentralized and suggests that defense policymakers can gauge the caliber of those efforts by choosing one of four assessment approaches.

Research Brief

Improving the DoD's Defense Finance and Accounting Service

DFAS's performance could be improved through changes in DFAS's pricing system and in the nature of many of its transactions with customers.

Draft

In Pursuit of Prestige: Strategy and Competition in U.S. Higher Education, Technical Papers

This volume is a companion to In Pursuit of Prestige: Strategy and Competition in U.S. Higher Education, published by Transaction Press, 2001.

Report

Personnel Savings in Competitively Sourced DoD Activities: Are They Real? Will They Last?

In recent years, the Department of Defense (DoD) has placed increasing faith in competitive sourcing to make its operations more efficient and effective.

Research Brief

Does Competitive Sourcing Pay Off? The DoD Experience

In recent years, the Department of Defense (DoD) has placed increasing faith in private-sector business practices as tools to save money and make its operations more efficient and effective.

Report

Defense Working Capital Fund Pricing Policies: Insights from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service

Examining DFAS data on expenditures and workload to explore possibilities for improved operations, the authors argue that current linear pricing of Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) services is inappropriate.

Report

Comparing the Costs of DoD Military and Civil Service Personnel

In an era of heightened concern within DoD over operating costs, there is renewed interest in civilianization — the transfer of functions performed by military personnel to civil service personnel.

Research Brief

Can Civilianization Save on Costs?

While conventional wisdom argues that civil service workers are cheaper than their military counterparts, little analysis has been done to determine whether this is really so.

Report

Outsourcing of DoD Commercial Activities: Impacts on Civil Service Employees

Develop recommendations for improving the productivity of the civil service workforce (making it more competitive in outsourcing cost-comparison studies) and making the cost-comparison process fairer to government employees.

Draft

Understanding Productivity in Higher Education

... to present an overview of the literature on productivity in higher education and in the service sector more generally, and to provide a framework for thinking about productivity improvement for state higher education systems.