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Education and Literacy

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RAND research on early childhood, K-12, and higher education covers issues such as assessment and accountability, choice-based and standards-based reform, school leadership, teacher effectiveness, technology, and vocational training. RAND also explores life skills, such as media, health, and financial literacy, as well as how time spent outside the classroom impacts student outcomes.

Report

Stress Topped the Reasons Why Public School Teachers Quit, Even Before COVID-19

Feb 22, 2021

Teachers leave the profession because of stress. And COVID-19 exacerbated stress levels by forcing teachers to work more hours and navigate unfamiliar remote instruction. Stress was cited twice as often as insufficient pay. Most former teachers took jobs with less or equal pay, and 3 in 10 without health insurance or retirement benefits.
Commentary

School District Leaders Indicate Online Instruction Will Outlast COVID-19. Here's What to Consider

Jan 27, 2021

Remote K–12 learning at scale is an unprecedented challenge for everyone involved. It can and would improve dramatically if educators, government, and philanthropy treated it as a work in progress, featuring evidence-based development of quality online curricula, continuous improvement, and engagement of teachers.

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Journal Article

Teachers Are Not All Right: The Toll COVID-19 is Taking on the Nation's Teachers

Between working longer hours, learning new technologies, and trying to stay connected to their students, the COVID-19 pandemic has put unprecedented demands on teachers. What might teacher burnout and low morale mean for schools' abilities to support students effectively?

Jan 15, 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
Research Brief

How Can Teachers Make the Most of Professional Learning in the Summer?

This brief summarizes an examination of the potential value of academic summer programs for students that also offer professional learning opportunities for teachers.

Jan 12, 2021
Report

The Promise of Summer as a Time for Teacher Professional Learning: Findings from a National Survey and Implications from the BellXcel Program

This report presents data from the first nationally representative survey of teachers about their summer professional learning opportunities and data from a descriptive study of BellXcel Summer, an academic summer program model for students.

Jan 12, 2021
Report

Arts-based approaches to public engagement with research: Lessons from a rapid review

This report shares findings from a rapid review of the evidence on the use and effectiveness of arts-based approaches for public engagement with research.

Jan 11, 2021
Announcement

Statement by Michael D. Rich on the U.S. Capitol Siege

The audacity of the rioters at the U.S. Capitol and the violence they perpetrated should have no place in the political process, although tragically, and all too often, violence finds its home in the United States.

Jan 7, 2021
Periodical

RAND Review: January-February 2021

The cover story on the ’Internet of Bodies’ highlights the perils of devices that track personal health data and provide medical treatment. Other columns explore vaccine hesitancy, the high price of insulin in the U.S., and social justice in America.

Jan 6, 2021
Report

Georgia II STEM Higher Education Interim Evaluation Report

The authors evaluate the implementation of a San Diego State University partnership with three universities in the country of Georgia, part of a U.S.-Georgia collaboration to improve university education in science, technology, engineering, and math.

Jan 5, 2021
Commentary

Unpacking COVID-19's Long-Term Effects on Students

The COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented set of obstacles for schools and exacerbated existing structural inequalities in public education. It may take years to unpack how the pandemic affected student learning and social and emotional development and to identify any lasting effects on low-income communities and communities of color.

Dec 29, 2020
Commentary

Teleworking During the COVID-19 Pandemic Highlights Educational Inequity

The ability to telework is associated with both reduced risk of COVID-19 infection and with significantly lower risk of job loss during the pandemic. There are large disparities in who is able to telework by race and ethnicity—but even larger ones by educational attainment.

Dec 23, 2020
Journal Article

Virginia Preschool Initiative Plus: Cost Study Final Report

This report includes estimates of the Virginia Preschool Initiative Plus expenditures in the 2016–2017 and 2017–2018 school years as part of a larger evaluation of VPI+ that also examined the impacts of VPI+ on children's kindergarten entry outcomes.

Dec 22, 2020
Blog

The Most Popular RAND Research of 2020

Here are the RAND research projects that resonated most in 2020, a year unlike any in living memory. Topics include remote learning, election disinformation, income inequality, and more.

Dec 21, 2020
Commentary

A Case for Vaccinating Teachers First

Most agree that America's 18 million health care workers should top the list for COVID-19 vaccination. The 3.3 million teachers should come next. Vaccinating teachers could make it possible to open schools permanently and get parents back to work. That would help the economy recover.

Dec 19, 2020
Blog

Americans' Financial Struggles, COVID-19 Vaccinations, Virtual Schools: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on Americans' ongoing financial struggles, how we can learn from the first phase of COVID-19 vaccinations, why virtual schools may be here to stay, and more.

Dec 18, 2020
Blog

RAND Commentary Highlights from 2020

The roughly 400 op-eds and blog posts published by RAND researchers during the year reflected an enormous variety of expertise and perspectives, from remote education to election cybersecurity to the economic harms of racial disparities. Here are 10 highlights that landed in high-profile news outlets.

Dec 18, 2020
Research Brief

Designing and Sustaining Innovative High Schools: Successes, Challenges, and Student Outcomes

In a five-year study, high schools adopted a set of design principles intended to prepare students for college and careers.

Dec 17, 2020
Report

Every Summer Counts: A Longitudinal Analysis of Outcomes from the National Summer Learning Project

This seventh report in a series presents longitudinal findings on the effectiveness of voluntary summer learning programs in five school districts. The authors also offer implications for policy on narrowing the achievement gap between students.

Dec 17, 2020
Report

Building and Sustaining Innovative High Schools: Findings from the Opportunity by Design Study

The Opportunity by Design initiative gave support to small schools of choice to adopt a set of design principles intended to prepare students for college and careers. This final report describes the methods and findings of the five-year study.

Dec 17, 2020
Report

Americans' Financial Difficulties Continue

As the pandemic continues, many U.S. households are struggling to pay their bills. No income group has been spared financial difficulties, but the most-vulnerable households have been hit the hardest. There are severe challenges among lower-income workers and among Black and Hispanic households.

Dec 17, 2020
Report

Establishing A Research-Practice Partnership To Improve Early Care and Education Supports Within Quality Start Los Angeles: Partnership Insights and Lessons Learned

This report describes a developmental evaluation of Quality Start Los Angeles, a quality rating and improvement system, and provides recommendations for research-practice partnerships looking to achieve evidence-based decisionmaking.

Dec 17, 2020

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RAND Topic:
Education and Literacy

Topic Synonyms:
Instruction;
Learning;
Schooling

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