John F. Pane is a senior scientist at the RAND Corporation. He studies the implementation and effectiveness of innovations in education, focusing on education technology, personalized/competency-based learning, math, and science. His expertise includes the application of experimental and rigorous quasi-experimental methods. He has led or coled numerous experiments that randomized students, teachers, or schools. Current experiments evaluate the efficacy of a popular digital mathematics curriculum supplement, and the relative efficacy of two ways such software can be used to help students who are behind in mathematics. Prior experiments included a large-scale effectiveness trial of mathematics tutoring software in 147 schools, 51 school districts, and seven states, and an efficacy trial of summer learning programs in five urban school districts. He led the first large-scale evaluation of schoolwide personalized learning. His published methodological collaborations include work on principal stratification, unbiased parameter estimation for experiments with noncompliance or partially-nested designs, and translating standardized effect sizes into more easily interpreted metrics. He codirected the IES postdoctoral training program, Carnegie Mellon and RAND Traineeships in Methodology and Interdisciplinary Research (CMART). From 2015-18 he held RAND’s Distinguished Chair in Education Innovation. He is a frequent participant in the review of scientific research proposals and articles, and sits on advisory boards of several nonprofit education organizations. Major sponsors of his research have included the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Wallace Foundation. He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University.
Selected Publications
Matthew D. Baird and John F. Pane, "Translating Standardized Effects of Education Programs into More Interpretable Metrics," Educational Researcher, 48(4), 2019
John F. Pane, Strategies for Implementing Personalized Learning While Evidence and Resources Are Underdeveloped, RAND Corporation (PE-314), 2018
John F. Pane, Elizabeth D. Steiner, Matthew D. Baird, Laura S. Hamilton, and Joseph D. Pane, Informing Progress: Insights on Personalized Learning Implementation and Effects, RAND Corporation (RR-2042), 2017
John F. Pane, Beth Ann Griffin, Daniel F. McCaffrey, Rita Karam, "Effectiveness of Cognitive Tutor Algebra I at Scale," Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 36(2), 2014
John F. Pane, Daniel F. McCaffrey, Mary Ellen Slaughter, Jennifer L. Steele, and Gina S. Ikemoto, "An Experiment to Evaluate the Efficacy of Cognitive Tutor Geometry," Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 3(3), 2010
Augustine, C. H., McCombs, J. S., Pane, J. F., Schwartz, H. L., Schweig, J., McEachin, A., & Siler-Evans, K., Learning from Summer: Effects of Voluntary Summer Learning Programs on Low-Income Urban Youth, RAND Corporation (RR-1557), 2016
John F. Pane, Daniel F. McCaffrey, Nidhi Kalra, Annie J. Zhou, "Effects of Student Displacement in Louisiana During the First Academic Year After the Hurricanes of 2005," Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 13(2-3), 2008
Julie A. Marsh, John F. Pane, Laura S. Hamilton, Making Sense of Data-Driven Decision Making: Evidence from Recent RAND Research, RAND Corporation (OP-170), 2006