This report describes the American School District Panel (ASDP) sample design, methods used to recruit districts to join the panel, recruitment results through the first several rounds of enrolling districts into the panel, and methods employed to weight ASDP data to the national population of kindergarten through grade 12 public school districts in the United States.

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RAND American School District Panel

Creation and Technical Description

by David Grant, Stephanie J. Walsh, Claude Messan Setodji, Heather L. Schwartz, Melissa Kay Diliberti, Lisa Wagner

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Research Question

  1. Which recruitment strategies were successful, and which were less so?

The American School District Panel (ASDP) was created as the third member of the RAND American Educator Panels, joining the American Teacher Panel and the American School Leader Panel. This report describes the ASDP sample design, methods used to recruit districts to join the panel during the 2020–2021 school year, recruitment results through the first several rounds of enrolling districts into the panel, and methods employed to weight ASDP data to the national population of kindergarten through grade 12 public school districts in the United States. An important part of the recruitment strategy was the use of trusted partners to support district enrollment.

Key Findings

  • The trusted partner strategy had value: Enrollment of districts with state-based trusted partners far outpaced enrollment among other districts.
  • The contact rate of follow-up phone calls was low, which was unsurprising given that many districts were operating remotely during this time due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. This strategy was also resource intensive. Phone calls were not used for recruitment efforts beyond the initial fall 2020 enrollment period.

Table of Contents

  • Chapter One

    RAND American School District Panel: Sample Design and Recruitment Strategy

  • Chapter Two

    Results: Sample Size and Enrollment Summaries

Research conducted by

The research described in this report was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and conducted by RAND Education and Labor.

This report is part of the RAND Corporation Research report series. RAND reports present research findings and objective analysis that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors. All RAND reports undergo rigorous peer review to ensure high standards for research quality and objectivity.

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