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Academic 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 studies focusing on charter schools, the Every Student Succeeds Act, reform-oriented teaching, and classroom sizes.

Research Brief
Benefits and Drawbacks of the Four-Day School Week
A four-day school week is becoming more common, especially in states with large rural areas. Champions of the shorter week contend that it saves money, improves student attendance, and helps recruit and retain teachers to rural districts. But what does the evidence say?
Oct 7, 2021
Report
Has COVID-19 Led to Divergent and Inequitable Pathways in Education?
Remote schooling is associated with fewer instructional opportunities and potentially poorer student outcomes compared with in-person schooling. Nevertheless, many schools will continue to offer a remote option after the pandemic has passed.
May 27, 2021

Explore Academic Achievement

Report
How Do Teachers Spend Professional Learning Time, and Does It Connect to Classroom Practice? Findings from the 2022 American Instructional Resources Survey
The authors examine how teachers use professional learning time, such as collaborative learning, workshops or trainings, and coaching, and the extent to which professional learning improves teaching and student learning.
Jun 21, 2023
Journal Article
The Effect of Natural Disasters on Human Capital in the United States
Natural disasters affect a region's human capital as well as its physical capital, reducing both student achievement and educational attainment. These effects are persistent, and when monetized are of a similar magnitude as the property damage.
Jun 13, 2023
Commentary
Social Studies Achievement Has Plummeted Nationally. Four Reasons This Trend Will Not Be Reversed Without Systemic Action
The U.S. Department of Education recently released results from the latest national social studies assessments. U.S. history scores continued a previous pattern of decline and civics scores declined for the first time ever. Reversing these trends will require concerted effort and increased investments at all levels of the U.S. education system.
May 22, 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
Blog
Dementia and National Security, Finland Joins NATO, the Four-Day School Week: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on the risk that dementia could pose to national security, Finland's NATO membership, the downside of a four-day school week, and more.
Apr 7, 2023
Commentary
The Four-Day School Week: Are the Pros Worth the Cons?
The past two decades have seen an explosion in the adoption of the four-day school week. Against this growing trend, however, there is increasing evidence that, by and large, a four-day school week causes student achievement to suffer.
Apr 6, 2023
Report
Supporting Students in Foster Care
State and federal policymakers have passed legislation designed to promote collaboration between the education and child welfare systems with the goal of improving educational stability for youth in foster care and, in turn, their educational outcomes. But there are barriers to cross-system collaboration.
Apr 4, 2023
Blog
Violence in Schools, Neurodiversity and National Security, Drug Cartels: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on preventing school violence, dealing with drug cartels, the benefits of a neurodivergent national security workforce, and more.
Mar 31, 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
Report
Supporting Equitable Math Instruction in California: Findings from the 2022 Learn Together Survey and the 2022 American Instructional Resources Survey
In 2023, California will implement a new statewide math framework that will drive curriculum decisions for years to come. Researchers leveraged data collected from California math teachers to paint a picture of math instruction throughout the state.
Mar 21, 2023
Report
Evaluation of Delaware's Opportunity Funding and Student Success Block Grant Programs: Third and Final Year
The authors evaluated two Delaware programs for local education agencies with students experiencing poverty and multilingual learners during the 2019–2020 to 2021–2022 school years: Opportunity Funding and the Student Success Block Grant program.
Feb 7, 2023
Report
Flexible Opportunity Funding Investments in Delaware: Lessons from District Leaders
The authors drew on surveys of Delaware local education agencies that received Opportunity Funding and describe the investments they made to improve the academic achievement of multilingual learners and students experiencing poverty.
Feb 7, 2023
Tool
How the Effects of Racial Bias Compound
Researchers illustrate the ways in which small effects of racial bias can compound over lifetimes. Users of this tool can adjust the amount of racial bias to see its effects on educational achievement, income growth, and wealth accumulation.
Jul 27, 2022
Report
The Impact and Implementation of the Chicago Collaborative Teacher Professional Development Program
The authors evaluated the Leading Educators Chicago Collaborative, a teacher professional development program aligned to Common Core State Standards, examining the program's implementation and its impact on student achievement.
Jul 6, 2022
Report
One Year into the Pandemic, What Secondary Math Teachers Said About Challenges to Standards-Aligned Instruction and Skipping Content
The authors use 2020 and 2021 Learn Together Survey data to examine challenges to standards-aligned instruction during COVID-19 reported by secondary math teachers and how frequently and why these teachers skipped standards-aligned math content.
May 11, 2022
Commentary
How to Make Sure Your Summer Learning Program Is Effective
In the best of times, it is no small feat to put together a quality summer learning program. Given that districts are focusing not only on academic recovery from COVID learning loss, but on retaining teachers, supporting students' and teachers' mental health, and addressing increases in misbehavior, they need immediate, digestible guidance for summer programming.
Mar 30, 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

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RAND Topic:
Academic Achievement

Research conducted by

RAND Education and Labor

Researcher Spotlight

Ashley Woo

Assistant Policy Researcher, RAND, and Ph.D. Candidate, Pardee RAND Graduate School

Ashley Woo (she/her) is an assistant policy researcher at RAND and a Ph.D. student at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Her research interests include educational equity, supporting the learnings experiences of students from historically minoritized groups, educator recruitment and retention, the…
Julia H. Kaufman

Associate Research Department Director, Behavioral and Policy Sciences Department

Julia Kaufman (she/her/hers) is associate research department director for the Behavioral and Policy Sciences Department and a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. She also codirects the RAND American Educator Panels. Her research focuses on how states and school systems can support…

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