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Teachers and Teaching

Teachers and Teaching
commentary
Elevating Teacher Voices, Along with Their Salaries to Professionalize Teaching in Louisiana
Julia H. Kaufman @juliahkaufman
Sep 18, 2019
The RAND Blog
Salary raises have a direct impact on teachers' day-to-day lives. But efforts like those in Louisiana to elevate teachers' voices, and not just their salaries, are more likely to make a real difference for the teaching profession by creating a clear career ladder. The state's efforts could also be cultivating a teaching force that is providing students with the curricula and instruction they need to achieve at higher levels.
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Social and Emotional Learning
commentary
Back to School Means Back to SEL for America's Teachers and Principals
Laura S. Hamilton @HamiltonLauraS, Christopher Joseph Doss @Chris_J_Doss, Elizabeth D. Steiner
Sep 4, 2019
CASEL Measuring SEL Blog
Schools are increasingly adopting social and emotional learning (SEL) programs and practices to build these skills. Policymakers can benefit from understanding the educator perspective: how they feel about emphasizing SEL, what they are doing to promote SEL, and what resources they need to do that better.
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Principals
commentary
For Teachers, a Good Boss Makes All the Difference
Susan M. Gates, Laura S. Hamilton @HamiltonLauraS
Apr 4, 2019
The 74 Million
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.
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Social and Emotional Learning
commentary
Learning How to Measure Social and Emotional Learning
Brian M. Stecher, Laura S. Hamilton @HamiltonLauraS
Jan 11, 2018
FutureEd
Educators and policymakers are increasingly focusing on non-academic competencies, known as social and emotional learning. To support growth in these areas, teachers need assessments that can help them understand how well students are learning these skills, and what instructional approaches work best.
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Teacher Training
commentary
Why a Lack of STEM Teachers Could Jeopardise the Canada 2067 Vision
Julie Belanger
Nov 17, 2017
Canada 2067
The future of STEM learning depends heavily on a strong STEM teaching workforce. But education systems around the world face significant challenges attracting, training, and keeping STEM teachers.
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Mental Health and Illness
commentary
Why the Mental Ill Health of Academic Researchers Remains a Hidden Problem
Susan Guthrie, Catherine A. Lichten
Aug 28, 2017
Times Higher Education
The mental health and well-being of higher education staff is a significant challenge, probably even more so than the evidence indicates.
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Personalized Learning
commentary
What Emerging Research Says About the Promise of Personalized Learning
John F. Pane @JohnFPane
Aug 16, 2017
Brookings Institution's Brown Center Chalkboard
Personalized learning could lead to improved student outcomes. But those implementing this approach should temper their expectations for how big these benefits will be—and be patient while the benefits emerge. It's also important to consider the challenges of implementation.
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Education Curriculum
commentary
Giving State Educators What They Need to Stand Apart—and Together
Julia H. Kaufman @juliahkaufman, V. Darleen Opfer @VDarleenOpfer
Apr 4, 2017
U.S. News & World Report
States have an opportunity to provide better instructional materials to teachers hungry for more resources aligned with state standards. By focusing on what they agree students should learn, states could work together to build curricula and shore up other key supports.
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Teachers and Teaching
commentary
Cambridgeshire Is at the Heart of England's Teacher Shortage Problem
Miriam Broeks, Julie Belanger
Mar 21, 2017
Education Media Centre
Teacher shortages could be a real threat in Cambridgeshire, unless larger numbers of secondary school teachers are attracted and retained. There are simply too few new teachers replacing those who retire, with this gap being even more pronounced in STEM subjects.
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School Security
commentary
Body Cameras on Teachers Are Not the Answer to Classroom Management
Alex Sutherland
Feb 13, 2017
Schools Week
Teachers at two schools in England are wearing body cameras as part of a pilot program aimed at stopping classroom disruption. How they use the cameras could be counter-productive and may even escalate disruptive situations.
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Charter Schools
commentary
Making American Education Great Will Require More Than Charter Schools
V. Darleen Opfer @VDarleenOpfer
Dec 13, 2016
Dallas Morning News
The nomination of Betsy DeVos for U.S. Secretary of Education has shone a spotlight on charter schools. While charters could become an important part of a great education system, this burst of attention poses a risk that other issues will be ignored.
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Teacher Effectiveness
commentary
Before We Measure Teaching Quality, We Should Know What It Is
Lucy Strang
Nov 29, 2016
Research Fortnight
The lack of an evidence base on teaching quality and its impact in higher education points to a need for more research, made more pressing by the imminent roll-out of the Teaching Excellence Framework, which intends to assess and monitor teaching quality at UK higher education institutions.
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Teacher Effectiveness
blog
The Challenges of Measuring Effective Teaching
Nov 16, 2016
While educators, policymakers, and parents may agree on the need for more effective teachers, they often use different criteria to judge whether schools are doing their job. Parents have varied priorities for what they want in teachers and in schools.
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Academic Achievement
essay
Personalized Learning: The Latest Buzz in Classroom Instruction
Aug 22, 2016
Students in personalized learning classrooms made greater gains in math and reading than their peers in other schools. But there are barriers to fully personalized learning, including rigid state standards and time demands on teachers.
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Teacher Effectiveness
commentary
Inspiring Better Teacher Planning and Instruction or Just Adding Noise?
Julia H. Kaufman @juliahkaufman
Jul 20, 2016
The RAND Blog
Teachers can and should have the freedom to select and develop at least some of their own instructional resources. But whether sites like Amazon Inspire will actually save teachers time and help them find high-quality resources is up for debate.
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Standards-Based Education Reform
commentary
The Opt-Out Reckoning
Jonathan Schweig
May 10, 2016
U.S. News & World Report
Criticism of standardized testing is nearly as old as the testing itself. Will the opt-out movement promote meaningful and enduring changes in the educational system, and will these changes benefit the most at-risk and disadvantaged students?
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Principals
commentary
Improving School Leadership: What Works
Rebecca Herman, Susan M. Gates
Apr 28, 2016
The RAND Blog
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.
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Teachers and Teaching
announcement
Harold and Colene Brown Endow Faculty Chair at Pardee RAND Graduate School
Nov 18, 2015
The Harold and Colene Brown Faculty Chair will enable exceptional RAND researchers and faculty to be in residence at the school each year, allowing them to work on independent research and provide mentorship and guidance to students.
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Education Reform
commentary
Rethinking Student Discipline and Zero Tolerance
Joie D. Acosta, Matthew Chinman, John Engberg, Catherine H. Augustine
Oct 14, 2015
Education Week
Restorative practices are an alternative to zero-tolerance school discipline policies. Rather than mandating prescribed punishments for specific misbehaviors, this more tailored approach aims to empower students.
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Secondary Education
commentary
Exploring New Approaches to Higher Education: The Expansion of Competency-Based Programs
Lindsay Daugherty, Trey Miller, Van L. Davis
Sep 29, 2015
The RAND Blog
Policymakers and educators must determine if the risks of maintaining the status quo outweigh the potential benefits of competency-based programs, especially for those students who are ill-served by the traditional higher education model.
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Education Reform
commentary
Reauthorizing ESEA: Four Recommendations to Improve Teaching Effectiveness
Laura S. Hamilton @HamiltonLauraS, Brian M. Stecher, Grace Evans
Feb 3, 2015
The RAND Blog
Policies aimed at boosting teaching effectiveness are a key component of a strong ESEA reauthorization. Addressing discrepancies in teacher quality helps teachers improve, retains effective teachers, and makes the teaching profession an attractive option for those contemplating careers.
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Principals
commentary
A Principal Role in Education
Susan M. Gates
Nov 26, 2014
The RAND Blog
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.
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Teachers and Teaching
commentary
Helping Teachers Overcome Technology Barriers in Early Childhood Education
Lindsay Daugherty, Rafiq Dossani
Nov 21, 2014
The RAND Blog
When it comes to helping children appreciate the benefits of using technology in a classroom setting, early childhood education providers play a critical role integrating that technology appropriately, intentionally, and productively. But these educators face myriad barriers to fulfilling these roles.
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Teacher Effectiveness
commentary
Flexibility Is Key in Administration's Call for Teacher Equity Plans
Jennifer L. Steele, John Engberg, Brian M. Stecher
Aug 22, 2014
The RAND Blog
Metrics like teacher experience and licensure reveal little about teachers' impact on student learning. The focus should be on disadvantaged students' access to effective teachers.
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Multicultural Education
blog
Pardee RAND Promotes Diversity in Public Policy Through Summer Faculty Workshop
Aug 20, 2014
The Pardee RAND summer faculty workshop aims to help scholars who teach at historically black colleges and universities strengthen their approach to research and bring new analytic thinking, tools, and practices back to their students, inspiring them to pursue graduate education and careers in public policy.
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Immigrants and Emigrants
commentary
With Child Migrants Set to Become Students, Educators Must Prepare
Gabriella C. Gonzalez @GabCGonzalez, Robert Bozick
Jul 14, 2014
The RAND Blog
Between 70,000 and 90,000 unaccompanied children are expected to cross the U.S.-Mexico border by year's end. Lost in an intensifying debate over U.S. immigration policy is the possibility that this wave will spill from shelters to schools. To best respond to this reality, policymakers and educators should consider what research says about educating migrant children.
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Summer Learning
blog
Ask Me Anything: Catherine Augustine on Summer Learning
Jul 3, 2014
With summer now underway, RAND's Catherine Augustine hosted an
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Postsecondary Education
commentary
Four Issues That RUSA's Plans for Research Universities Ought To Address
Rafiq Dossani
Mar 18, 2014
EduTech Magazine
The Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan, or National Higher Education Mission, is the key implementing initiative of the Indian government's 12th Five Year Plan for higher education. It promotes three policy priorities in higher education — equity, expansion, and excellence.
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Teacher Effectiveness
blog
RAND's Teacher Bonus Research Recognized by U.S. Dept. of Education
Sep 24, 2013
The U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences recognized a RAND report on the effects of teacher bonuses in New York City public schools last week. IES added the report, A Big Apple for Educators, to its What Works Clearinghouse.
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Early Childhood Education
commentary
High-Quality Early Childhood Programs Require High-Quality Teachers
Brian M. Stecher
Mar 18, 2013
The RAND Blog
High-quality early childhood interventions can improve academic achievement, reduce crime and delinquency, and enhance future labor market success. But the operative word is "high-quality." And for early childhood programs to be high-quality, they must have qualified instructors.
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Value-Added Modeling in Education
commentary
A Better Method for Estimating Teacher Performance
Terrance Dean Savitsky
Feb 19, 2013
The RAND Blog
Structured observation protocols for assessing how teachers provide lessons to their students offer the opportunity to provide teachers with valuable feedback on how their practices could be improved, writes Terrance Dean Savitsky.
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Teacher Effectiveness
commentary
Grading Teachers
V. Darleen Opfer @VDarleenOpfer
Jan 16, 2013
IFC's Handshake
Research is starting to demonstrate that teaching, like all professions, is something that can be learned, continuously improved upon, and subject to the conditions under which it occurs, writes V. Darleen Opfer.
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Value-Added Modeling in Education
commentary
States Tackle Education's Holy Grail: Measuring a Teacher's Effectiveness
Kata Mihaly
Jan 11, 2013
The RAND Blog
An accurate combined measure of teacher effectiveness would be the gold standard to capture and communicate information about the quality of educators. While the challenges to building such a measure are significant, research can help guide the way.
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Teacher Effectiveness
blog
How Should We Measure Teacher Effectiveness?
Oct 3, 2012
A new RAND Education website provides objective, nonpartisan insights that can help inform the discussion on how to measure teacher effectiveness.
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Public Sector Governance
commentary
Consider the Evidence
V. Darleen Opfer @VDarleenOpfer
Sep 11, 2012
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Teachers Union strike erupted over classic issues: an extended day, a new evaluation system and hiring and firing. Yet, somewhat classically, neither the union nor Chicago Public Schools has put forth research evidence to support their stance, writes Darleen Opfer.
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Educational Program Evaluation
blog
Lessons from the Science of Learning for 21st-Century Schools
V. Darleen Opfer @VDarleenOpfer
Sep 7, 2012
To succeed in the 21st century, students need to be able to communicate, collaborate, and problem-solve with people beyond national boundaries. Director of RAND Education Darleen Opfer describes how teachers can teach 21st-century skills, using nine lessons from the science of learning.
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commentary
The Debate over Teacher Merit Pay: A Freakonomics Quorum
Julie A. Marsh
Sep 20, 2011
Freakonomics
Motivation alone does not improve schools. Even if incentives inspire staff to improve practices or work together, educators may not have the capacity or resources to bring about improvement, writes Julie Marsh.
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Public Sector Governance
commentary
Are Public-Service Subsidies Good for the Public?
Jennifer L. Steele, Richard J. Murnane, John B. Willett
Jul 14, 2010
Education Week
In the federal legislation signed this spring to reform student lending, one feature has been largely overlooked by the press: The new law increases the incentive for college graduates to choose public-service careers, such as teaching, write Jennifer L. Steele, Richard J. Murnane, and John B. Willett.
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commentary
Test Schemes Look More Like Lotto Than Lessons
Brian M. Stecher
Sep 27, 2000
Los Angeles Times
Incentives may be effective if they target the right outcomes and encourage the right behaviors, but this set of tests and rewards has shortcomings on both fronts.
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