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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
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
Essay
The Economic Returns of Foreign Language Learning
If just 10 percent more students in the United Kingdom mastered Arabic, Mandarin, French, or Spanish, the economic returns could be measured in billions of British pounds. Removing the language barrier reduces trade costs.
Jul 7, 2022

Explore Secondary Education

Report
Andover's Teaching and Departmental Reviews: Findings and Recommendations
This report offers recommendations for how Phillips Academy Andover, an independent boarding school in Massachusetts, can update its processes for departmental review and teacher review to develop a more coherent instructional system.
Jan 31, 2023
Report
Learn Together Surveys: 2022 Technical Documentation and Survey Results
This report provides information about the sample, survey instrument, and resultant data for the 2022 Learn Together Surveys that were administered to K-12 principals and teachers in March 2022 via the RAND Corporation's American Educator Panels.
Nov 3, 2022
Report
How Do Teachers Approach Civic and Citizenship Education?
Survey results suggest that, in U.S. public schools, civic and citizenship education is often siloed into specific subject areas, such as social science. Only a quarter of educators said that these topics are integrated into all subjects or are part of the whole school experience.
Sep 29, 2022
Report
National Guard Youth ChalleNGe: Program Progress in 2020–2021
The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe program serves young people experiencing difficulty in traditional high school. This report documents program trends in 2020–2021 and presents analyses on the Job ChalleNGe program.
Aug 22, 2022
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
Multimedia
A Snapshot of Anti-Bias Education in U.S. K–12 Schools
In this webinar, RAND 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. Discussants from organizations that support high-quality teaching and learning reflect on the findings and their implications for helping all students in public schools succeed.
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
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
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
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
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
Investment in Languages Education Could Return Double for UK Economy
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.
Feb 21, 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
How Social and Emotional Learning Works in Innovative Schools
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.
Dec 14, 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

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RAND Topic:
Secondary Education

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