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Secondary education encompasses the years between elementary school and college, with curricula ranging from language arts, social studies, and mathematics to vocational and physical education. RAND conducts research on secondary education throughout the world, exploring such topics as the role of sports and physical education, programs that improve reading, the effects of school choice on academic achievement, and school-based drug prevention and education programs, among others.

Report

How Social and Emotional Learning Works in Innovative Schools

Dec 14, 2021

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is critical for preparing students for college and career success. Opportunity by Design high schools provide a unique perspective on what implementation of integrated, schoolwide SEL can look like when it is a core design feature from school inception.
Report

Investment in Languages Education Could Return Double for UK Economy

Feb 21, 2022

Languages play a significant role in international trade, and not sharing a common language acts as a non-tariff trade barrier. Benefit-to-cost ratios for increasing Arabic, Mandarin, French, or Spanish education in the UK are estimated to be at least 2:1, meaning that spending £1 could return £2.

Explore Secondary Education

Report

One Year into the Pandemic, What Secondary Math Teachers Said About Challenges to Standards-Aligned Instruction and Skipping Content

The authors use 2020 and 2021 Learn Together Survey data to examine challenges to standards-aligned instruction during COVID-19 reported by secondary math teachers and how frequently and why these teachers skipped standards-aligned math content.

May 11, 2022
Report

A Snapshot of Anti-Bias Education in U.S. K–12 Schools: Findings from the 2021 American Instructional Resources Surveys

In this webinar, RAND Corporation researchers share data from a national teacher survey administered in spring 2021 concerning the extent to which public school teachers report addressing anti-bias education in their K–12 classrooms.

Apr 18, 2022
Multimedia

The Pandemic’s Effect on College and Career Readiness Supports

RAND policy researcher Christine Mulhern describes findings from her recent study that examined how college and career readiness supports changed during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Apr 14, 2022
Blog

The West's Response to Russia, the State of the Union, Outer Space: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on how to prevent Russia's war on Ukraine from becoming a war with NATO, insights from RAND on the State of the Union, the future of outer space, and more.

Mar 4, 2022
Report

Educating Students with Disabilities: Lessons from the Pandemic

A survey of U.S. educators sheds light on the obstacles that teachers and principals faced—even before the pandemic—that make supporting students with disabilities especially challenging in the COVID-19 era.

Mar 3, 2022
Report

Developing Outcome Measures for the National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program

The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe is a residential program for youth experiencing difficulties in traditional high school. This capstone report describes some of RAND's research and analyses on the ChalleNGe program from late 2017 through mid-2020.

Mar 2, 2022
Research Brief

Talking business: How increasing languages education in the UK could benefit the economy

Findings show that investing in languages education in UK secondary schools will return more than the investment cost. The benefit-to-cost ratio is about 2:1, meaning that every £1 spent on extra language provision could return £2 for the economy.

Mar 2, 2022
Blog

Responding to Russia, Sex Trafficking, Anti-Bias Education: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on the false choice between responding to Russia or deterring China, how substance use and sex trafficking are connected, providing anti-bias education in U.S. schools, and more.

Feb 25, 2022
News Release

Investment in Languages Education Could Return Double for UK Economy

Investing in languages education in the UK will return more than the investment cost, even under conservative assumptions, according to a new study from RAND Europe and the University of Cambridge, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Feb 22, 2022
Report

Anti-Bias Education in U.S. Public Schools

Teaching students explicitly about issues of identity, diversity, equity, and bias can lead to positive outcomes. Nearly three in four K–12 teachers reported that they provide such anti-bias instruction, but more than half said that their school's or district's curriculum materials did not adequately address anti-bias topics.

Feb 22, 2022
Report

How Were Principals Doing One Year into the Pandemic?

Four out of five secondary school principals reported experiencing frequent job-related stress during the 2020–2021 school year. As the pandemic persists, what could help reduce the burden on school leaders?

Jan 26, 2022
Report

Changes in College and Career Readiness Supports During the First Year of COVID-19

Emerging evidence suggests that high school students' postsecondary aspirations and their engagement with school counselors have changed during the pandemic. What were some of the perceived barriers to supports for postsecondary transitions?

Jan 12, 2022
Report

Widening the Pathway: Implementation and Impacts of Alternative Teacher Preparation Programs Across Three Contexts

The authors describe implementation of three alternative teacher preparation programs—called Teacher Effectiveness and Certification (TEACh) programs—and their effect on teacher recruitment, teacher retention, and student achievement.

Dec 16, 2021
Report

Are Educators Considering Student Voice?

Asking students to voice their perceptions can provide valuable insights that adults in a school do not have access to, while also generating more student engagement in learning.

Nov 17, 2021
Report

How Do Teachers Identify Supports for Struggling Students?

A survey of 6th- to 12th-grade teachers found that to determine academic needs they rely most often on information gathered from personal interactions with students and from students' performance. And more than half of them look to school and district colleagues first to learn about available interventions.

Nov 2, 2021
Report

Learn Together Surveys: 2021 Technical Documentation and Survey Results

This report provides information about the sample, survey instrument, and results data for the 2021 Learn Together Surveys that were administered to secondary principals and teachers in March 2021 via the RAND Corporation's American Educator Panels.

Nov 2, 2021
Research Brief

Benefits and Drawbacks of the Four-Day School Week

A four-day school week is becoming more common, especially in states with large rural areas. Champions of the shorter week contend that it saves money, improves student attendance, and helps recruit and retain teachers to rural districts. But what does the evidence say?

Oct 7, 2021
Report

Does Four Equal Five? Implementation and Outcomes of the Four-Day School Week

The authors provide information on the implementation and outcomes of the four-day school week using quantitative and qualitative data from a variety of sources, including surveys of parents and students in 36 districts in three states.

Oct 7, 2021

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RAND Topic:
Secondary Education

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