This evaluation brief describes how a district in receivership (state takeover) invested in PBIS to (a) enhance their systems to support staff, (b) implement evidence-based practices to support students, (c) use data to guide their implementation, and (d) ensure equitable supports for all students, including students with disabilities, to…

This demonstration brief provides teaching and learning stories from districts and schools implementing PBIS with an integrated systems focus and is organized across the following areas: (a) the context of the school/district, (b) the changes made in the systems, (c) the impact of the changes made in the systems, and (d) next steps to improve the…

Recent studies of charter school effectiveness have questioned whether charter school networks can produce a lasting impact on students' long-term outcomes. Our study is the first to examine this issue at the network of Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) schools, which primarily serve disadvantaged students of color and constitute the nation's…

Background: Adolescents and young adults (AYA) with chronic conditions should acquire self-management skills as part of their healthcare transition (HCT) from pediatric to adult-focused care. HCT/self-management skills have the potential to help mitigate health disparities among minority AYA with chronic conditions. This study investigated school…

Although all states have legislation pertaining to youth sports concussion, most of these laws focus on return-to-play procedures; only a few address return-to-learn (RTL) accommodations for students who have experienced a concussion. To address this gap in the legislation, some states and nongovernmental organizations have developed RTL…

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are potentially traumatic events occurring in the household or community that hold painful or distressing outcomes for children immediately and in their future (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2019). School counselors work with children and young adolescents suffering from negative mental health…

With the recent mandates involving students with disabilities, there has been ongoing debate regarding the effectiveness of inclusive programs in today's public schools. Recent research has demonstrated that teacher collaboration is an essential component to the success of inclusive education programs (Hernandez, 2013). There is an abundance of…

Recent work has shown that Boston charter schools raise standardized test scores more than their traditional school counterparts. Critics of charter schools argue that charter schools create those achievement gains by focusing exclusively on test preparation, at the expense of deeper learning. In this paper, I test that critique by estimating the…

Anecdotal evidence points to the importance of school principals, but the limited existing research has neither provided consistent results nor indicated any set of essential characteristics of effective principals. This paper exploits extensive student-level panel data across six states to investigate both variations in principal performance and…

This technical report provides information about the sample, survey instrument, and resultant data for the American Instructional Resources Surveys (AIRS) that were administered to principals and teachers in spring 2019 via RAND's American Educator Panels. The AIRS focused on instructional resources used and supported in English language arts,…

Data-based instructional programs have proliferated in American schools despite limited evidence of their effectiveness in improving educator practice and raising student achievement. We report results from a two-year school-randomized evaluation of the Achievement Network (ANet), a program providing schools with standards-aligned interim…

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) released proposed Science and Technology/Engineering standards in 2013 outlining the concepts that should be taught at each grade level. Previously, standards were in grade spans and each district determined the method of implementation. There are two different methods used…

In this report, the authors present the results of a long-term tracking study that follows 1,177 students who applied to enter 1 of 13 oversubscribed Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) middle schools through a 5th or 6th grade admissions lottery in 2008 or 2009. Those students are now old enough to have attended college for at least two years. This…

Academic achievement in the nation's lowest performing schools is troubling. Despite improvements in students' overall academic achievement over the past few decades, proficiency gaps in reading and mathematics remain across income, racial, and ethnic groups. One promising strategy for reducing achievement gaps is to expand the school day, often…

Purpose: In U.S. public schools, principals must implement reforms that require instructional leadership across subjects, though little is known about subject-specific supervision. Methods: Through interviews with 26 K-8 principals, we examine instructional leadership for science. Findings: Our findings showed that science supervision occurred…