Elaine Lin Wang

Policy Researcher

Pittsburgh Office

Education

Ph.D. in learning sciences and policy, University of Pittsburgh; M.A. in curriculum, teaching, and learning, University of Toronto; B.Ed. in secondary English and French education, University of British Columbia; B.A. in English and French, University of British Columbia

Media Resources

This researcher is available for interviews.

To arrange an interview, contact the RAND Office of Media Relations at (310) 451-6913, or email media@rand.org.

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Overview

Elaine Lin Wang (she/her) is a policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. Her research focuses on the measurement of the quality of literacy instruction and learning, and teachers' and principals' sensemaking of policy initiatives and how that influences their practice. She specializes in using qualitative and case study methods to examine relationships between instruction and student learning outcomes, and to understand factors that facilitate or pose challenges for policy or program implementation. Wang is also interested in the impact of school climate on students' academic and socioemotional development. She received her Ph.D. in the learning sciences and policy program, with a minor in research methodology, from the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to pursuing her graduate studies, Wang taught high school English for nine years.

Research Focus

Recent Projects

Understanding and Supporting Coherent Instructional Systems
Characteristics of Coherent Instructional Systems and Their Relationship to Outcomes for Black, Latino, English Learner-Designated and Low-Income Students
Evaluation of the University Principal Preparation Initiative
Response-to-Text Tasks to Assess Students’ Use of Evidence and Organization in Writing: Using Natural Language Processing for Scoring Writing and Providing Feedback At-Scale
Evaluation of National Institute for School Leadership (NISL)'s Advanced Certification System for Highly Effective Principals

Selected Publications

Wang, E.L., Prado-Tuma, A., Doan, S., Henry, D., Lawrence, R., Woo, A., & Kaufman, J.H. , Teachers’ Perceptions of Characteristics of Effective Instructional Resources: Survey and Interview Study of Middle and High School English Language Arts and Mathematics Teachers , RAND Corporation (RR-A134-2), 2021

Polikoff, M., Wang, E.L., Korn, S., Kaufman, J.H., Woo, A., Silver, D., & Opfer, D. , Exploring Coherence in ELA Instructional Systems in the Common Core Era , RAND Corporation (RR-A279-1), 2020

Wang, E.L., Matsumura, L.C., Correnti, R., Litman, D., Zhang, H., Howe, E., Magooda, A., & Quintana, R., "eRevis(ing): Students’ revision of text evidence use in an automated writing evaluation system," Assessing Writing, 44, 2020

Gonzalez, G.C., Cerully, J.L., Wang, E.L., Schweig, J., Todd, I., Johnston, W.R., & Schnittka, J., Social and Emotional Learning, School Climate, and School Safety: A Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluation of Tools for Life® Relationship-Building Solutions in Elementary and Middle Schools, RAND Corporation (RR-4285-NIJ), 2020

Wang, E.L., & Smart, R., Understanding and Using Research on Gun Policy in America: An Interdisciplinary Unit Plan Based on RAND’s Gun Policy in America Website , RAND Corporation (TL-A243), 2020

Wang, E.L., Schwartz, H.L., Mean, M., Stelitano, L., & Master, B.K., Putting Principal Professional Learning and Coaching Into Practice: What Do Principals Do With Their Executive Development Program Learning?RAND Corporation (RR-3082-DOED), 2019

Wang, E., Gates, S., Herman, R., Mean, M., Perera, R., Tsai, T., Whipkey, K., & Andrew, M., Launching a Redesign of University Principal Preparation Programs: Partners Collaborate for Change, RAND Corporation (RR-2612-WF), 2018

Augustine, C.H., Engberg, J., Grimm, G., Lee, E., & Wang, E., Christianson, K., Joseph, A.A., Can Restorative Practices Improve School Climate and Curb Suspensions? An Evaluation of the Impact of Restorative Practices in a Mid-Sized Urban School District, RAND Corporation (RR-2840-DOJ), 2018

Languages

French; Mandarin

Commentary

The Overlooked Support Teachers Are Missing: A Coherent Curriculum
America is still too far off from the classrooms envisioned by standards advocates, and it will take sustained effort from educational leaders to reach these ambitious goals. States and districts could prioritize efforts to support teachers to understand and implement standards both during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mar 3, 2021 Education Week
Choosing Classroom Materials Is Complicated. Here's What Principals and District Leaders Can Do to Support Teachers
What do teachers want when it comes to instructional materials, particularly during the pandemic? Knowing the answer to this question can help district and school leaders select online materials that teachers are more likely to use and guide curriculum developers to create resources with these features in mind.
Feb 12, 2021 The 74
What Do Teachers Want to See in Automated Writing Evaluation Systems?
Automated writing evaluation systems offer a promising approach to relieving the burden of giving formative feedback to students on their writing. What do teachers want to see in these systems so that the technology can be integrated into their teaching?
Jul 28, 2020 eSchool News

Publications

Report
School Leaders' Role in Selecting and Supporting Teachers' Use of Instructional Materials: An Interview Study
The authors examine what school leaders regard as the key dimensions of quality instructional materials and describe the role that school leaders play in guiding the selection and use of instructional materials.
Jul 19, 2021
Research Brief
Supporting Principals to Lead on the Selection and Use of Instructional Materials in Classrooms
This brief discusses findings from several RAND reports on principals' roles with respect to instructional materials. Recommendations describe how stakeholders can prepare and support principals to lead in selecting and using instructional materials.
Jul 19, 2021
Report
Transforming Global Education Through Evidence: An Evaluation System for the BHP Foundation's Education Equity Global Signature Program—Executive Summary
This report is a summary of research for the evaluation of the BHP Foundation's Education Equity Global Signature Program.
Apr 15, 2021
Report
Transforming Global Education Through Evidence: An Evaluation System for the BHP Foundation's Education Equity Global Signature Program
In this report, researchers develop a framework to evaluate the BHP Foundation's Education Equity Global Signature Program, explain methods for assessing progress over five years, and present preliminary results after a year of evaluation.
Apr 15, 2021
Journal Article
Annotation and Classification of Evidence and Reasoning Revisions in Argumentative Writing
In this study, we take a step towards advancing automated revision analysis capabilities.
Feb 3, 2021
Report
Teachers' Perceptions of What Makes Instructional Materials Engaging, Appropriately Challenging, and Usable: A Survey and Interview Study
In this report, the authors examine how middle and high school English language arts and mathematics teachers use and perceive their instructional materials in terms of how engaging, challenging, and usable they are.
Jan 14, 2021
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.
Nov 17, 2020
Report
Exploring Coherence in English Language Arts Instructional Systems in the Common Core Era
Coherence among instructional components is key to changing teachers' practices in standards-based reforms. This report uses survey data to explore the coherence of school-level instructional systems in Louisiana, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.
Nov 4, 2020
Report
Effects of the Executive Development Program and Aligned Coaching for School Principals in Three U.S. States: Investing in Innovation Study Final Report
In this report, part of a series on professional development for school principals, the authors analyze the effects of a professional development program and paired coaching for middle school principals in three states.
Jul 1, 2020
Tool
Understanding and Using Research on Gun Policy in America: An Interdisciplinary Unit Plan Based on RAND's Gun Policy in America Website, Suggested Grades 10–12
As part of the Gun Policy in America initiative, RAND researchers developed a unit plan centered on the evidence-based resources on the project website. The unit, designed for grades 10-12, helps students understand existing gun policy research.
Jun 11, 2020
Research Brief
Four Lessons Learned from Implementing a Social and Emotional Learning Program to Enhance School Safety
This brief describes the implementation of Tools for Life®, a social and emotional learning program, in elementary and middle schools in Jackson, Mississippi, and evaluates the program's effects on school climate and safety.
Mar 17, 2020
Journal Article
eRevise: Using Natural Language Processing to Provide Formative Feedback on Text Evidence Usage in Student Writing
This paper presents the design and first classroom evaluation of eRevise, an Automated Writing Evaluation system for improving students' ability to use text evidence - a dimension of writing that is important for college and career readiness.
Feb 26, 2020
Journal Article
Automated Scoring of Students' Use of Text Evidence in Writing
The authors describe an approach to using automated essay-scoring technologies to provide information about students' skills at marshaling text evidence in the upper elementary grades.
Feb 26, 2020
Journal Article
eRevis(ing): Students' Revision of Text Evidence Use in an Automated Writing Evaluation System
We investigate students' implementation of the feedback messages they received in an automated writing evaluation system (eRevise) that aims to improve students' use of text evidence in their writing.
Feb 26, 2020
Report
Social and Emotional Learning, School Climate, and School Safety: A Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluation of Tools for Life® in Elementary and Middle Schools
This report describes the implementation of Tools for Life®, a social and emotional learning program, in elementary and middle schools in Jackson, Mississippi, and evaluates the program's effects on school climate and safety.
Jan 9, 2020
Report
Putting Professional Learning to Work: What Principals Do with Their Executive Development Program Learning
This report presents findings from part of RAND's evaluation of the National Institute for School Leadership's Executive Development Program (EDP) for sitting school principals, focusing on how principals applied their EDP learning and coaching.
Oct 7, 2019
Journal Article
Text-Based Writing in Elementary Classrooms: Teachers' Conceptions and Practice
In the present study, we investigate how teachers conceptualize text-based writing and how these conceptions influence the writing tasks they assign.
Feb 12, 2019
Journal Article
The Use of Responsive Circles in Schools: An Exploratory Study
The purpose of the study was to examine how educators use responsive circles. We aimed to fill a gap in the literature by offering details about their implementation based on enacted responsive circles in a large urban school setting.
Feb 8, 2019
Report
Can Restorative Practices Improve School Climate and Curb Suspensions? An Evaluation of the Impact of Restorative Practices in a Mid-Sized Urban School District
This study of Pittsburgh Public Schools' implementation of restorative practices represents one of the first randomized controlled trials of the effects of restorative practices on classroom and school climates and suspension rates.
Dec 27, 2018
Research Brief
Restorative Practices Help Reduce Student Suspensions
A study of Pittsburgh Public Schools' implementation of restorative practices represents one of the first randomized controlled trials of the effects of restorative practices on classroom and school climates and suspension rates.
Dec 27, 2018
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.
Oct 30, 2018
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.
Oct 30, 2018
Journal Article
Student Writing Accepted as High-Quality Responses to Analytic Text-Based Writing Tasks
This study investigated teachers' assessment of their students' writing in response to analytic text-based writing tasks.
Feb 8, 2018
Journal Article
Assessing Students' Use of Evidence and Organization in Response-to-Text Writing: Using Natural Language Processing for Rubric-Based Automated Scoring
This paper presents an investigation of score prediction based on natural language processing for two targeted constructs within analytic text-based writing.
Dec 5, 2017
Journal Article
Written Feedback to Support Students' Higher Level Thinking About Texts in Writing
Writing tasks designed to elicit higher level thinking are best regarded as writing-to-learn opportunities that can support reading comprehension while meeting the new expectations of analytic writing.
Dec 1, 2017
Report
U.S. Teachers' Support of Their State Standards and Assessments: Findings from the American Teacher Panel
Presents data from the American Teacher Panel to examine teachers' support for their state standards and assessments.
Oct 4, 2017
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.
Aug 29, 2017
Report
Use of Open Educational Resources in an Era of Common Standards: A Case Study on the Use of EngageNY
The purpose of this report is to better understand the uses of EngageNY in order to shed light on the channels through which open educational resources could better support teachers and the implementation of state standards.
Mar 27, 2017
Journal Article
Text-based Writing Assignments for College Readiness
The authors describe the features of text-based writing assignments that increase students' reading comprehension and analytic writing skills and put students on the path to college readiness.
Mar 13, 2017
Journal Article
Making a CASE: Improving Use of Text Evidence in Students' Writing
The authors present four criteria to focus on, using the acronym CASE, when helping students develop the skill of using text evidence to support claims in their writing.
Mar 13, 2017