Rebecca (Becki) Herman (she/her) is a senior policy researcher at RAND and a professor of policy analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. She specializes in conducting and evaluating research on school leadership, comprehensive school reform, positive behavioral interventions, and related school, district, and higher education initiatives. She also leads research to support post-baccalaureate professional learning programs. Herman has helped set standards for and conducted critical reviews of research on educational programs, practices, and policies, and she is recognized for producing easily accessible products that resonate with practitioners, policymakers, and the public.
She has delivered congressional testimony, as well as dozens of invited presentations on school leadership, school turnaround, comprehensive school reform, the Every Student Succeeds Act, and evidence-based school improvement. She also has worked with the U.S. Air Force and Department of Defense to support the use of effective practices in personnel development.
Herman trained and served as a teacher early in her career. She earned her Ph.D. in sociology, specializing in education, at Johns Hopkins University.
Selected Publications
Herman, Rebecca, Elaine Lin Wang, Ashley Woo, Susan M. Gates, Tiffany Berglund, Jonathan Schweig, Megan Andrew, and Ivy Todd, Redesigning University Principal Preparation Programs: A Systemic Approach for Change and Sustainability — Report in Brief (Volume 3, Part 2), RAND Corporation (RR-A413-4), 2022
Herman, Rebecca, Elaine Lin Wang, and Susan M. Gates, Collaborating on University Principal Preparation Program Redesign: A Summary of Findings for University Principal Preparation Program Providers (Volume 3, Part 3), RAND Corporation (RR-A413-5), 2022
Herman, Rebecca, Susan M. Gates, Aziza Arifkhanova, Mark Barrett, Andriy Bega, Emilio R. Chavez-Herrerias, Eugeniu Han, Mark A. Harris, Katya Migacheva, Rachel Ross, Jennifer T. Leschitz, and Stephani L. Wrabel, School Leadership Interventions Under the Every Student Succeeds Act: Evidence Review: Updated and Expanded, RAND Corporation (RR-1550-3-WF), 2017
Wrabel, Stephani L., Herman, Rebecca, and Susan M. Gates, RAND school leadership intervention evaluation toolkit, RAND (TL-239), 2018
Roberts, Patrick S., Rebecca Herman, and Samantha Ryan, Improving Instructor Hiring and Development at the Emergency Management Institute, RAND Corporation (RR-A2725-1), 2023
Herman, Rebecca, School Turnaround Cost Analysis Tool, RAND Corporation (TL-A826-1), 2021
Ross, Shirley M., Rebecca Herman, Irina A. Chindea, Samantha E. DiNicola, and Amy Grace Donohue, Optimizing the Contributions of Air Force Civilian STEM Workforce, RAND Corporation (RR-4234-AF), 2020
Marquis, Jefferson P., Jennifer D. P. Moroney, Pauline Moore, Rebecca Herman, Jonathan Welch, and Reid Dickerson, Defense Security Cooperation University Expert Course of Instruction: Content, Design, Implementation, RAND Corporation (RR-A572-1), 2020