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Student Achievement

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The hallmark of a successful education system is increasing or maintaining high student achievement. RAND research measures the effects of various types of school reforms on student achievement, with recent studies focusing on charter schools, No Child Left Behind, reform-oriented teaching, and classroom sizes.

Research Brief

The Promise of Community Schools

Jan 28, 2020

The New York City Community Schools Initiative is based on a holistic strategy of education reform. Academics, health and wellness, youth development, and family engagement are integrated into each school. This approach had positive effects on most of the examined student outcomes.
Essay

The COVID Slide: How to Help Students Recover Learning Losses

Jul 9, 2020

Research shows that summer breaks contribute to income-based achievement and opportunity gaps for youth. How can we use what we know about summer learning to help kids in the age of COVID-19?

Explore Academic Achievement

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
Journal Article

Examining Design and Statistical Power for Planning Cluster Randomized Trials Aimed at Improving Student Science Achievement and Science Teacher Outcomes

In this study, we consider strategies to maximize the efficiency of the study design when both student and teacher effects are of primary interest.

Nov 25, 2020
Multimedia

COVID-19 and the Digital Divide: Inequities in Online Learning

RAND senior policy researcher Julia Kaufman explains how the digital divide impacted teaching and learning when schools closed last spring in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Oct 16, 2020
Report

The Digital Divide and COVID-19

Findings from a survey of U.S. teachers reveal how limited home internet access has been a barrier to providing instruction amid pandemic-related school closures. The problem is particularly acute among high-poverty schools.

Sep 24, 2020
Report

Variation in Improvement Among Schools in the Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching

RAND researchers investigate factors that might be associated with positive student outcomes for schools that improved during the six years of the Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching initiative.

Sep 21, 2020
Research Brief

The Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching: A Comparison of School Outcomes

RAND researchers study the Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching initiative and find associations between school improvement and staff perceptions of school leaders' behaviors, staff cohesion, and factors outside schools' control.

Sep 21, 2020
Journal Article

Educational Attainment and Perceived Need for Urgent Care

This article presents analyses of perceived need for urgent care among seniors.

Aug 27, 2020
Commentary

Engaging Learning Spaces Are Important, Even During a Pandemic

While considering new uses for and formations of school space, planners might also consider whether these spaces will be conducive to learning. Research links the physical condition of learning spaces to improved student physical health and academic performance.

Aug 18, 2020
Report

Evaluation of Families Forward Learning Center: Participant Perspectives and Student Outcomes

In this report, the authors examine how participants in the Families Forward Learning Center (FFLC)'s two-generation learning program perceive its benefits and compare FFLC children's educational outcomes through third grade with their peers'.

Aug 3, 2020
Research Brief

A Two-Generation Learning Program Educates and Empowers Parents and Children: An Assessment of Families Forward Learning Center in Pasadena, California

This brief summarizes how participants in the Families Forward Learning Center (FFLC)'s two-generation learning program perceive its benefits, and also compares FFLC children's educational outcomes through third grade with their peers' results.

Aug 3, 2020
Journal Article

School's Out: The Role of Summers in Understanding Achievement Disparities

We use a novel data set with more than 200 million test scores for students across the United States to explore whether the "fanning out" of achievement from Grades 1 to 8 occurs while students are in school or during the intervening summers.

Jul 28, 2020
Journal Article

Not Where You Start, but How Much You Grow: An Addendum to the Coleman Report

The Coleman Report (1966) first suggested that schools play a relatively small part in shaping students' achievement. The results in this paper suggest a need to update this conventional wisdom.

Jul 28, 2020
Report

Taking Stock of Principal Pipelines

To what extent do U.S. school districts view school principals as a key lever for school improvement? Superintendents and senior officials from a national sample of school districts shared their views on principal pipelines and the priority their districts place on them.

Jun 23, 2020
Journal Article

Priming the Leadership Pipeline: School Performance and Climate Under an Urban School Leadership Residency Program

This study examines school climate and student achievement trends under an ambitious school leadership residency program in an urban school district.

Jun 16, 2020
Report

Data Access and Use Among Middle and High School Principals

School principals make countless decisions that could benefit from access to data in electronic data management systems. During the 2018–2019 school year, what kinds of student data did principals have access to through these systems? Were the data disaggregated by student race, ethnicity, and income?

Jun 11, 2020
Report

Evidence on the Validity, Reliability, and Usability of the Measuring and Improving Student-Centered Learning (MISCL) Toolkit: Key Takeaways and Lessons on Developing Tools for School Improvement

This report summarizes a study on the validity, reliability, and usability of the Measuring and Improving Student-Centered Learning Toolkit, which was developed to help high schools measure the extent of student-centered learning in classrooms.

Jun 8, 2020
Research Brief

Ensuring That the Measuring and Improving Student-Centered Learning Toolkit Is Easy to Use and Produces Accurate, Meaningful Results

This research brief summarizes the validity, reliability, and usability of the Measuring and Improving Student-Centered Learning Toolkit, which was developed to help high schools assess the extent of student-centered learning in their schools.

Jun 8, 2020
Journal Article

The Nuffield Early Language Intervention: Evaluation Report

An evaluation of the Nuffield Early Language Intervention observed 1,156 students across 193 schools through a randomised control trial. The study found the intervention added three months progress in language skills compared to non-participants.

May 5, 2020
Report

A Team-Based Leadership Intervention in New York City Schools: An Evaluation of the Targeted Intensive School Support Program

This report describes findings from an evaluation of the implementation and effects of the Targeted Intensive School Support program. This program was implemented in New York City Department of Education schools by the NYC Leadership Academy.

Apr 24, 2020

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RAND Topic:
Academic Achievement

Research conducted by

RAND Education and Labor