Building and Sustaining Innovative High Schools: Findings from the Opportunity by Design Study

Building and Sustaining Innovative High Schools: Findings from the Opportunity by Design Study. RAND Corporation. Elizabeth D. Steiner et al. December 17, 2020

The Carnegie Corporation of New York’s (CCNY) Opportunity by Design (ObD) initiative provided support for 16 small schools of choice in seven large, urban districts across the United States to adopt a set of design principles intended to ensure students are prepared for college and careers. CCNY engaged the RAND Corporation in 2014 to conduct a comprehensive study of the ObD initiative. This final report summarizes implementation and outcomes findings from this five-year study and is intended to provide lessons and implementation guidance for the field.

The authors estimate the effects of the ObD initiative on student academic, behavioral, and college-readiness outcomes and describe implementation of innovative instructional practices (personalization of learning, mastery-based instruction, and positive youth development) in the final year of the initiative. Enablers of implementation included alignment of school and district grading policies in some districts and autonomy from district curriculum and professional development (PD) requirements. Barriers to implementation in ObD schools included limited district support for selecting or developing curriculum and PD materials and inflexible district policies.

The study compared ObD teachers’ instructional practices to those of high school teachers nationally. ObD teachers reported more extensive use of instructional practices related to mastery-based learning, personalization, and positive youth development.This research did not find much evidence that ObD’s principles-based design process and supports led to more effective schools, but limitations of the study design and available data may not have adequately captured ObD’s effects. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

[PDF format, 78 pages].

Preparing Children and Youth for Civic Life in the Era of Truth Decay: Insights from the American Teacher Panel

Preparing Children and Youth for Civic Life in the Era of Truth Decay: Insights from the American Teacher Panel. RAND Corporation. Laura S. Hamilton, Julia H. Kaufman, Lynn Hu. December 7, 2020.

Public schools that serve students in kindergarten through grade 12 are responsible for not only promoting students’ readiness for college and careers but also educating students to engage civically and contribute to their communities and country as adults. Civic education refers broadly to the process through which schools and other institutions help students develop knowledge, skills, and dispositions that will prepare them for civic life. Researchers conducted a nationally representative survey of elementary (kindergarten through 5th grade) and secondary (6th through 12th grade) teachers offering social studies in U.S. public schools. Results from this survey demonstrate how social studies teachers in U.S. public schools promote students’ civic learning, teachers’ beliefs about the importance of civic-related topics and skills, and which conditions they perceive as supporting or hindering civic education. This report, which is part of the Truth Decay initiative, extends analyses presented in other reports in the series. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

[PDF format, 166 pages].

Media Use and Literacy in Schools: Civic Development in the Era of Truth Decay

Media Use and Literacy in Schools: Civic Development in the Era of Truth Decay. RAND Corporation. Laura S. Hamilton, Julia H. Kaufman, Lynn Hu. June 29, 2020.

Public schools that serve kindergarteners through 12th graders can play a key role in combating Truth Decay by supporting students’ civic development and engagement. Media literacy instruction is one way that schools can do this. Assessments of American students’ media literacy capabilities have shown that large majorities lack the knowledge and skills needed to interpret media accurately. This Data Note examines public-school social studies teachers’ reports regarding how they and their schools promote media literacy and the appropriate use of media by students. It also summarizes teachers’ perceptions of challenges associated with media literacy and use. This Data Note is intended to provide a broad, nationally representative view of how social studies teachers and schools reported addressing (or planning to address) media literacy and media use in fall 2019. These data can help policymakers and education leaders understand how the nation’s schools are addressing these topics, the extent to which these practices vary across different types of schools, and the supports that teachers might need in order to provide effective instruction in this area. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

[PDF format, 8 pages].

Teachers’ Civics Instructional Materials: Civic Development in the Era of Truth Decay

Teachers’ Civics Instructional Materials: Civic Development in the Era of Truth Decay. RAND Corporation. Julia H. Kaufman, Laura S. Hamilton, Lynn Hu. July 13, 2020.

Public schools that serve kindergarteners through 12th graders can play a key role in combating Truth Decay by supporting students’ civic development and engagement. Teachers’ instructional materials provide one window into civic education in schools. Research in mathematics and English language arts (ELA) for students in kindergarten through 12th grade suggests that teachers use and modify instructional materials in diverse ways and they often create their own materials. Researchers have also documented how teachers’ use of instructional materials in mathematics and ELA is connected to the instructional practices in which teachers report engaging their students, and multiple studies have connected the use of particular math and ELA curricula with increases in student achievement. However, little is known about the use of educational content for such subjects as social studies—particularly regarding the content that teachers rely on to provide instruction in civics-related topics, which has implications for students’ civic development. As part of RAND’s Truth Decay initiative, this Data Note unpacks ways in which social studies teachers across the United States reported using instructional materials in their classrooms to teach civics. These data are intended to inform policymakers, researchers, and educators on potential ways to support civics teaching and learning. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

[PDF format, 8 pages].

Optimizing Assessment for All: Developing 21st Century Skills-Embedded Curriculum Tasks

Optimizing Assessment for All: Developing 21st Century Skills-Embedded Curriculum Tasks. Brookings Institution. Esther Care, Helyn Kim, and Aynur Gul Sahin. June 10, 2020

To be successful in today’s world, students need to have a broad set of knowledge, skills, habits, and traits that go beyond what has traditionally been taught in the classroom, such as rote memorization-based skills. These broad sets of competencies—such as critical thinking, collaboration, problem-solving, technology and information skills, and communication, among others—are often referred to as 21st century skills (21CS).
Despite broad agreement that schools should adopt an agenda for teaching 21CS, there is still a great deal of debate about 21CS—from which skills are most important to how such skills should be taught and assessed. Given a lack of clear consensus on the most effective ways of teaching and assessing these skills, educators are challenged in adapting the learning and teaching paradigm of 21CS to the classroom. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

[PDF format, 36 pages].

Digital Instructional Materials: What Are Teachers Using and What Barriers Exist?

Digital Instructional Materials: What Are Teachers Using and What Barriers Exist? RAND Corporation. Katie Tosh et al. April 16, 2020.

This Data Note adds new insights from English language arts (ELA), math, and science teachers on their use of digital materials. Drawing on data from the spring 2019 American Instructional Resources Survey, researchers share the digital materials that ELA, math, and science teachers across the United States reported using regularly for instruction during the 2018–2019 school year. In addition to identifying the most commonly used digital instructional materials, researchers examine how teachers’ use of these materials compares with their use of comprehensive curriculum materials, as well as teacher-reported barriers to digital material use. Finally, researchers explore several hypotheses regarding factors that might influence digital material use. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

[PDF format, 12 pages].

Dos Métodos: Two Classroom Language Models in Head Start

Dos Métodos: Two Classroom Language Models in Head Start. Urban Institute. Carola Oliva-Olson. October 21, 2019

Dual language learners make up an increasing share of preschool students, but they often perform worse than monolingual students on assessments measuring school achievement. This study compares Head Start classrooms implementing either the dual language model or the English with home language support model. The author examines how the models affect gains in English or Spanish oral proficiency over a school year and how classroom organization and quality affect potential proficiency gains. Students in dual language classrooms showed significantly greater average gains from pretest to posttest in English oral proficiency and Spanish oral proficiency than did students in classrooms using the English with home language support model. The difference was even more pronounced among classrooms with low organization. Findings highlight the need for professional development on language model use to ensure consistency in delivery. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

[PDF format, 39 pages].

Supporting Students with High-Incidence Disabilities in U.S. Schools: National Findings from the American Educator Panels

Supporting Students with High-Incidence Disabilities in U.S. Schools: National Findings from the American Educator Panels.  RAND Corporation. Laura Stelitano, Rachel Perera, William R. Johnston. June 27, 2019.

The extent to which students with high-incidence disabilities (SWDs) are afforded effective and specialized instruction depends, in large part, upon the support their teachers receive. Certain teacher supports are essential for effectively serving SWDs, including a supportive school culture, collaboration and planning time, resources and training, and access to data and tools for using data. In this report, we explore the extent to which these supports are available to general and special educators, based on the results of the Measurement, Learning, and Improvement Survey to the RAND American Teacher Panel, a survey administered to a nationally representative sample of teachers. While research has established the importance of these supports, little is known about teachers’ access to them on the nationwide level and about how school-level factors (such as grade levels served, percentage of minority students, and poverty level) influence the prevalence of teacher supports. Overall, teachers’ access to support for serving SWDs varied by type of support, teacher role, and school level. General educators and teachers at the high school level were significantly less likely to report having sufficient access to support. Planning and release time were among the supports least often deemed sufficient by both general and special educators. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

[PDF format, 24 pages].

Time for Change? Educators’ Perceptions of Discipline Reform in Their Schools

Time for Change? Educators’ Perceptions of Discipline Reform in Their Schools. RAND Corporation.  Rachel Perera, Courtney Armstrong. June 13, 2019.

Beginning in the late 1980s, policymakers concerned about violence in schools began to enact “zero-tolerance” policies in districts and states across the country. These policies mandated the use of exclusionary discipline for a range of behaviors, including such less serious offenses as classroom disruption and dress code violations. The efficacy of exclusionary discipline has been challenged, given persistent concerns that schools’ safety and discipline policies and practices do not create a safe and supportive learning environment for all students; empirical evidence demonstrating persistent disparities in school discipline; and the negative consequences of harsh discipline practices on a number of student, teacher, and school outcomes. Over the last few years, the state policy landscape has begun to dramatically shift away from exclusionary discipline in response to both local and federal pressure. This American Educator Panels Data Note provides insight into teachers’ and principals’ perceptions of the need for discipline reform in their schools. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

[PDF format, 6 pages].

Artificial Intelligence Applications to Support Teachers and Teaching: A Review of Promising Applications, Challenges, and Risks

Artificial Intelligence Applications to Support Teachers and Teaching: A Review of Promising Applications, Challenges, and Risks. Rand Corporation. Robert F. Murphy. January 24, 2019

Recent applications of artificial intelligence (AI) have been successful in performing complex tasks in health care, financial markets, manufacturing, and transportation logistics, but the influence of AI applications in the education sphere has been limited. However, that may be changing. In this paper, the author discusses several ways that AI applications can be used to support the work of K–12 teachers and the practice of teaching by augmenting teacher capacity rather than replacing teachers. Three promising applications are intelligent tutoring systems, automated essay scoring, and early warning systems. The author also discusses some of the key technical challenges that need to be addressed in order to realize the full potential of AI applications for educational purposes. The paper should be of interest to education journalists, publishers, product developers, researchers, and district and school administrators. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

[PDF format, 20 pages].