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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.

Report

Personalized Learning: Lessons from Implementation

Jul 11, 2017

Personalized learning focuses on meeting students' individual needs while incorporating their interests and preferences. What does this look like in schools that have implemented personalized learning schoolwide?
Research Brief

Kids Benefit from Voluntary Summer Learning Programs

Sep 7, 2016

Fourth graders who attended at least 20 days of summer learning programs benefited in mathematics and language arts achievement. When voluntary summer learning programs are effective, what factors are associated with success?

Explore Academic Achievement

Journal Article

Journal Article

Effects of Mothers' Deaths on Children's Schooling in Matlab Subdistrict, Bangladesh

After controlling for selected socioeconomic variables, the completed levels of schooling of children whose mothers had died is appreciably lower compared to children whose mothers survived.

Aug 22, 2017
Journal Article

Journal Article

Assessing the Benefits of a Rising Tide: Educational Attainment and Increases in Neighborhood Socioeconomic Advantage

The finding neighborhood economic improvement is positively associated with educational attainment for adolescents of all races is consistent across two distinct analytic strategies and two different measures of educational attainment.

Aug 18, 2017
Commentary

What Emerging Research Says About the Promise of Personalized Learning

Personalized learning could lead to improved student outcomes. But those implementing this approach should temper their expectations for how big these benefits will be—and be patient while the benefits emerge. It's also important to consider the challenges of implementation.

Aug 16, 2017
Research Brief

Research Brief

Does School Choice Mean Students Attend Better Schools? The Case of Post–Hurricane Katrina New Orleans

Researchers examined school choice outcomes in New Orleans following 2005's Hurricane Katrina, including exit patterns of students across sectors and school types in New Orleans and the destination schools of mobile students.

Jun 22, 2017
News Release

News Release

'Principal Pipelines' to Develop School Leaders Can Be Affordable Way to Improve Schools

Improving school leadership by better selecting, training and evaluating principals can be an affordable option for school districts to reduce turnover and improve schools.

Jun 20, 2017
Report

'Principal Pipelines' Can Be an Affordable Way to Improve Schools

Improving school leadership by better selecting, training, and evaluating principals can be an affordable way to reduce turnover and improve schools.

Jun 20, 2017
Research Brief

Online Schools in Ohio: Examining Enrollment and Success

Who attends e-schools in Ohio? How do they perform compared with students in brick-and-mortar schools? And what do policymakers and educators need to know going forward?

Jun 8, 2017
Commentary

Going Forward, Looking Back: Lessons from School Improvement Grants

The Every Student Succeeds Act takes effect this fall, returning significant power to states and local districts to set goals and prescribe strategies to lift achievement. As schools finalize their plans under the new law, they can learn from the shortcomings of School Improvement Grants.

May 10, 2017
Multimedia

Informing Investments in High-Quality Preschool

In this congressional briefing, RAND senior economist, Lynn Karoly, presents findings from her research, which compiles the most reliable evidence concerning the short- and long-run effects of high-quality preschool programs for participating children and the associated costs, benefits, and economic returns.

May 5, 2017
Journal Article

Journal Article

Student Enrollment Patterns and Achievement in Ohio's Online Charter Schools

We utilize state data of nearly 1.7 million students in Ohio to study a specific sector of online education: K–12 schools that deliver most, if not all, education online, lack a brick-and-mortar presence, and enroll students full-time.

Mar 28, 2017
Research Brief

Research Brief

The Economic Returns from Investing in Early Childhood Programs in the Granite State

We assessed investments in early childhood programs in New Hampshire, summarizing benefits and economic returns of three early intervention strategies and estimating costs and benefits of statewide investments in programs for at-risk children.

Feb 15, 2017
Report

The Costs and Benefits of Investing in Early Childhood in New Hampshire

Stakeholders in the public and private sectors in New Hampshire have been focused on investments in young children. What do they need to know?

Feb 15, 2017
Journal Article

Journal Article

Examining the Implementation of Technology-Based Blended Algebra I Curriculum at Scale

This article examines the implementation of a widely used blended algebra curriculum and the relationship between implementation and student outcomes.

Dec 28, 2016
Journal Article

Journal Article

Does Student Effort Respond to Incentives? Evidence from a Guaranteed College Admissions Program

This paper studies the effects of guaranteed college admission on student effort and achievement. In 1997, Texas enacted the "Top Ten Percent" law, which guarantees admission to any public college for students in the top ten percent of their high school class.

Dec 8, 2016
Blog

The Challenges of Measuring Effective Teaching

While educators, policymakers, and parents may agree on the need for more effective teachers, they often use different criteria to judge whether schools are doing their job. Parents have varied priorities for what they want in teachers and in schools.

Nov 16, 2016
Journal Article

Journal Article

Schooling, Marriage, and Age at First Birth in Madagascar

The low school attainment, early marriage, and low age at first birth of females are major policy concerns in less developed countries. This study jointly estimated the determinants of educational attainment, marriage age, and age at first birth among females aged 12-25 in Madagascar.

Oct 31, 2016
Commentary

What's Behind Record High School Graduation Rates?

Graduation rates among U.S. high schoolers have risen for the fourth straight year. Which reforms are making a difference? And who, or what, should get credit?

Oct 21, 2016
Report

What Are Teachers' and Principals' Concerns About New State Tests?

Many U.S. states have recently made major changes to their K-12 testing programs. The media have reported growing dissatisfaction with the amount of testing and the use of tests in high-stakes decisions. So what concerns do educators have?

Oct 18, 2016
Journal Article

Journal Article

Family Functioning and Predictors of Runaway Behavior Among At-Risk Youth

Adolescent runaway behavior is associated with a range of negative consequences in young adulthood. Therefore, this study aimed to examine predictors of running away in at-risk youth.

Oct 12, 2016
Journal Article

Premigration School Quality, Time Spent in the United States, and the Math Achievement of Immigrant High School Students

Using a nationally representative sample of 1,189 immigrant youth in American high schools, we examine whether the quality of education in their country of origin is related to post-migration math achievement in the 9th grade.

Sep 22, 2016

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RAND Topic:
Academic Achievement

Research conducted by

RAND Education