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Educational Program Evaluation

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RAND rigorously evaluates all kinds of educational programs by performing cost-benefit analyses, measuring effects on student learning, and providing recommendations to help improve program design and implementation. Our portfolio of educational program evaluations includes studies of early childhood education, summer and after-school programs, educator pay-for-performance, programs intended to reduce educational disparities, and choice- and standards-based reforms.

Report

What Is the Cost of High-Quality Publicly Funded Pre-K?

May 6, 2021

Researchers use cost data collection and cost modeling to estimate the cost of a high-quality publicly funded pre-kindergarten program. They outline the challenges in understanding full program costs and the implications for policymakers.
Report

How to Support Social and Emotional Learning in School and Out of School

Oct 20, 2020

Do children benefit when schools and out-of-school time programs partner to improve and align social and emotional learning (SEL)? Lessons from six communities that made such efforts can help school districts and out-of-school time providers implement their own SEL programs.

Explore Educational Program Evaluation

Journal Article

Building a Validity Argument for an Automated Writing Evaluation System (eRevise) as a Formative Assessment

We present a validity argument for an AWE system—termed eRevise —that targets elementary students' text-based argumentative writing skills, specifically their ability to use text evidence.

May 4, 2022
Report

Learning Creates Australia: Evaluation of the Learner's Journey Social Lab

In this report, the authors evaluate 'The Learner's Journey', a social lab designed by Learning Creates Australia to explore ways to assess and accredit learning that better reflect the diverse knowledge sets, skills and dispositions of students.

Mar 30, 2022
Journal Article

Peer Assisted Learning Strategies - UK: Evaluation Report

Peer Assisted Learning Strategies UK (PALS-UK) is a whole-class, structured peer tutoring intervention aiming to improve pupils' reading comprehension, oral reading fluency, and overall reading attainment.

Mar 15, 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
Journal Article

Validity Evidence Supporting Use of Anchoring Vignettes to Measure Teaching Practice

This paper addresses two potential drawbacks of survey self-report measures: variation in teachers' interpretation of response scales and their interpretation of survey questions.

Feb 8, 2022
Report

Evaluation of Delaware's Opportunity Funding and Student Success Block Grant Programs: Second Year

This is the second of three annual reports evaluating the implementation and effects of two Delaware funding programs for disadvantaged K–12 schools in the 2019–2020 to 2021–2022 school years: Opportunity Funding and the Student Success Block Grant.

Jan 27, 2022
Report

Changes in School Composition During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for School-Average Interim Test Score Use

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has exacerbated concerns about using school-aggregate test scores to monitor school performance. In this report, researchers investigate how changes to school composition may contaminate aggregate scores.

Jan 19, 2022
Journal Article

Developing School Leaders: Findings From a Randomized Control Trial Study of the Executive Development Program and Paired Coaching

This article presents the results of two randomized control trials evaluating the impacts of the National Center on Education and the Economy's Executive Development Program and coaching on schoolwide practices and performance.

Jan 12, 2022
Report

The Big Lift Evaluation: Research Findings Five Years In

The authors examine participation rates, kindergarten readiness, and third-grade outcomes of children eligible to participate in The Big Lift™, a preschool–third-grade initiative to designed to boost reading proficiency.

Nov 9, 2021
Journal Article

Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants: Evaluation Report

This evaluation is the first randomised controlled trial studying the efficacy of a whole school intervention aimed at improving how schools deploy teaching assistants in everyday classrooms.

Sep 29, 2021
Tool

School Turnaround Cost Analysis Tool

Some popular approaches to supporting low-performing schools include helping schools collect and use data to guide their planning. This tool helps education leaders assess potential costs of some of the more popular and research-supported approaches.

Sep 9, 2021
Journal Article

Assessing the Effect of Corequisite English Instruction Using a Randomized Controlled Trial

This is the first study to provide experimental evidence of the impact of corequisite remediation, an approach to accelerating students into college-level English.

Aug 12, 2021
Research Brief

Building Ohio's Workforce Through Stackable Credentials

Ohio has been a leader in scaling stackable credential programs since passing initial legislation on stackable credentials nearly 15 years ago. Over this time, Ohio saw strong growth in short-term credential programs. And most individuals who stacked credentials earned a degree.

Jun 8, 2021
Report

Stackable Credential Pipelines in Ohio: Evidence on Programs and Earnings Outcomes

Stackable credentials allow individuals with short-term credentials to build on them with additional credentials throughout their careers. The authors of this report examined educational programs in Ohio and earnings gains from stacking credentials.

Jun 8, 2021
Commentary

Building an Evidence Base for High School Improvement Will Require Concerted Effort Among Policymakers, School Systems, Researchers, and Funders

The ultimate goal of every education intervention is to help enable students to achieve their fullest potential. Relatively few interventions suited for high schools are supported by evidence of positive effects. Research that is able to provide sound evidence about effectiveness is more important than ever.

May 12, 2021
Research Brief

High-Quality Publicly Funded Pre-Kindergarten Programs: How Much Do They Cost?

There is strong evidence that children who attend high-quality pre-kindergarten programs learn skills that benefit them in school and life. In this brief, RAND researchers estimate the cost of such programs and outline implications.

May 6, 2021
Commentary

The Importance of Gathering Evidence of Edtech Impact

Given the increased reliance on technology to support learning, now may be a good time for educational technology companies to start thinking more seriously about the data they collect and how they use it.

Apr 27, 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
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

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RAND Topic:
Educational Program Evaluation

Research conducted by

RAND Education and Labor