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Education Policy

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Education policy includes laws as well as processes and policies that educational organizations, local districts, states, and nations put in place and follow to achieve academic goals. RAND analyses have informed education policy in the United States, United Kingdom, Qatar, and many other countries.

Q&A
Amplifying Teachers' Voices: Q&A with Ashley Woo
Ashley Woo, an assistant policy researcher at RAND and a Ph.D. candidate at the Pardee RAND Graduate School, aims to bring teachers' perspectives into policymaking. In this interview, she discusses her research on teachers' responses to state restrictions on how they can address topics related to race and gender in the classroom.
Mar 16, 2023
Report
Support for Elementary Social Studies Education Varies Widely Across States
Over the past few decades, U.S. schools have increasingly sidelined students' civic development as one of their priorities. The infrastructure to support grades K–5 social studies instruction—academic standards, accountability requirements, assessment programs—is often missing or inadequate.
Mar 7, 2023

Explore Education Policy

Journal Article
Survey: Principals Say They Need Better-Trained Teachers and More Resources to Address Student Misbehavior
Educators have long struggled to reduce student misbehavior—a challenge that has become more acute since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. We highlight two things principals say they need to reduce misbehavior: better teacher prep and resources.
Jun 20, 2023
Journal Article
Survey: What Purpose Do Suspensions Serve? Principals Don't Seem Quite Sure
Efforts to encourage principals to limit use of excessively punitive disciplinary practices have been underway for more than a decade and yet suspension rates remain high. We sought to learn more about principals' beliefs about school discipline.
Jun 20, 2023
Brochure
The American Educator Panels Pricing Sheet: Taking the Pulse of America's Educators
This pricing guide describes the American Educator Panels and provides costs for the various research options available.
Jun 16, 2023
Multimedia
Teachers’ Responses to Curriculum Restrictions
RAND policy researcher Ashley Woo presents findings from a study that examined teachers' responses to limitations on race- and gender-related topics in the classroom.
Apr 21, 2023
Research Brief
Getting Students to and Through Advanced Math
Students who take precalculus, calculus, and advanced placement math classes get a leg up when it comes to securing college admission and careers in STEM fields. But a large portion of U.S. high school students don't take advanced math. What explains this gap, and what can be done to close it?
Apr 17, 2023
Report
Coherence in English Language Arts and Mathematics Instructional Systems Across the United States
Using survey responses from a nationally representative sample of public school kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12) English language arts and math teachers, RAND researchers examine teachers' perceptions of instructional system coherence.
Mar 30, 2023
Tool
The Improving Instructional System Coherence Toolkit: A Resource for K–12 Districts and Schools
This toolkit, along with an accompanying workbook and slide deck, is intended to help district and school leaders investigate and reflect on the extent to which coherence is present in their instructional systems.
Mar 30, 2023
Commentary
Can Grade Retention Help with COVID-19 Learning Recovery in Schools?
Early grade retention is getting more attention as a potential way to make up for missed learning during the pandemic. But retaining kids without providing the necessary supports or failing to identify the right kids using objective criteria will likely yield ineffective results or even lead to adverse effects.
Mar 28, 2023
Report
Getting Students to (and Through) Advanced Math: Where Course Offerings and Content Are Not Adding Up
High schoolers who take advanced math have advantages in college admissions and in securing STEM careers. This report examines how students' opportunities to prepare for and take advanced math courses in the United States differ by school context.
Mar 21, 2023
Journal Article
The Nuffield Early Language Intervention Scale-Up: Evaluation Report Year 1
This study was a mixed methods process evaluation of the implementation of NELI at scale. The objectives were to assess and understand the scaling process and to provide recommendations for supporting future scale-up of educational interventions.
Mar 10, 2023
Journal Article
The Nuffield Early Language Intervention Scale-Up: Evaluation Report Year 2
The Year 2 Report is a mixed methods process evaluation of the implementation of NELI at scale across schools in England, using surveys, interviews and case studies. It focuses on schools who signed up to deliver NELI in the 2021/22 academic year.
Mar 10, 2023
Journal Article
Teacher Pensions: An Overview
In this special issue of Educational Researcher, we present research on a variety of policy issues surrounding teacher pensions.
Mar 8, 2023
News Release
Teacher Supports, Guidance for Elementary Social Studies Education Vary Widely Across United States
The basic infrastructure to support elementary (grades K–5) social studies instruction—academic standards, accountability requirements, assessment programs—is inadequate in many states. Even where state-level infrastructure to guide teachers' instruction is in place, its comprehensiveness and quality vary greatly.
Mar 7, 2023
Commentary
How Teachers Can Shield Students from Harm as Debates Rage over Race and Gender
By conveying to girls and students of color that they are individually capable of overcoming adversity—and that who they are matters—educators might soften the blow of public laws and policies that send the opposite message.
Feb 22, 2023
Report
What Teachers Think of State Policies Limiting Their Instruction
The restrictions placed on how teachers can address race- or gender-related topics in the classroom may be leading to consequences for teachers' working conditions and for student learning. Teachers report that the limitations make it more difficult to engage students in learning, to support critical thinking skills, and to build empathy.
Jan 24, 2023
Journal Article
Designing Automated Writing Evaluation Systems for Ambitious Instruction and Classroom Integration
In this chapter, we consider the role of AI tools to support ambitious teaching practices on a sustained basis. We anchor our discussion in the use of automated writing evaluation (AWE) systems that provide formative feedback.
Jan 4, 2023
Commentary
Ten Things That Inspired Me in 2022
It would be impossible to capture all the important work that RAND does in a year. But RAND president and CEO Jason Matheny has compiled ten times he was inspired by RAND's efforts to bring insight to some of the biggest policy stories of 2022.
Dec 15, 2022
Report
Florida K–12 Mathematics Teachers' Credentials and Preparation: Findings from the 2022 Learn Together Surveys
The authors present findings on Florida mathematics teachers' credentialing pathways, preparation program content, and program resources' availability and helpfulness to offer a current picture of the mathematics teaching workforce in Florida.
Dec 12, 2022

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Research conducted by

Researcher Spotlight

Lynn Hu

Assistant Policy Researcher, RAND

Lynn (Huanmin) Hu is an assistant policy researcher at RAND and a Ph.D. candidate at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Her research interests include international development, economic development, poverty alleviation, education policy with a focus on early childhood development, and East Asia…
Shelly Culbertson

Director, Infrastructure, Immigration, & Security Operations Program, RAND Homeland Security Research Division

Shelly Culbertson is a senior policy researcher and the director of the Infrastructure, Immigration, & Security Operations Program (IISO), part of the RAND Homeland Security Research Division. IISO supports eight organizations inside the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with strategic…

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