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In spring 2024, the authors surveyed 190 American School District Panel member districts about what interventions (e.g., tutoring, additional staff, additional instruction time) they were still using during the 2023-2024 school year to assist with students' learning recovery from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic-related setbacks. Districts were also asked about their expected revenues in future school years and what cuts, if any, they plan to make because of the expiration of federal stimulus funds. This series is intended to provide brief analyses of educator survey results of immediate interest to policymakers, practitioners, and researchers.

Public schooling has always been politically fraught, but current disagreements over issues related to race, sexuality, gender, and COVID-19 have reached a tipping point. According to this report from the Center on Reinventing Public Education and RAND, half of school system leaders say that these disagreements are disrupting schooling. Almost one in three district leaders also said their educators had received verbal or written threats about politically controversial topics since fall 2021. The findings come from surveys issued to 300 district and charter network leaders and interviews with superintendents. Their responses shed light on how political polarization has affected classrooms and how districts are responding. This report presents results from the fall 2022 survey of the American School District Panel (ASDP). The ASDP is a research partnership between RAND and CRPE. The panel also collaborates with several other education organizations, including the Council of the Great City Schools and Kitamba, to help improve outcomes for students throughout the United States.

Since its launch in the midst of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the American School District Panel (ASDP) has been used to monitor timely topics in kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12) public education. Over time, ASDP surveys have coalesced around four key challenges that U.S. public school districts face today: school staffing, budgeting, the politicization of schooling, and academic recovery efforts. In this Data Note, authors provide a brief update on these four challenges using data from the fall 2023 ASDP survey. The survey included seven questions on these topics, and the findings of each question are briefly discussed.

Researchers draw on the American Instructional Resources Survey (AIRS) and interviews with 45 English language arts (ELA) and math teachers to examine the prevalence of different types of benchmark assessments and explore educators' perceptions about the extent to which benchmark assessments align with other components of their schools' instructional systems. As school systems emerge from the chaos wrought by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and opportunities for gathering student assessment data resume, education leaders and policymakers have an opportunity to take stock of the state of their assessment systems and reflect on whether assessments--and benchmark assessments specifically--are appropriately aligned with other aspects of schools' instructional systems, such as state standards, summative assessments, and curriculum materials.

The well-being and mental health of kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12) public school teachers has been a topic of national concern during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In 2021 and 2022, teachers were twice as likely to report experiencing frequent job-related stress and difficulty coping with their job-related stress than the general population of working adults. Restoring teacher well-being could improve job performance and job satisfaction and boost retention for teachers of all backgrounds. Recent media reports suggest that many districts and schools across the country are implementing new programs -- or expanding existing offerings -- intended to reduce teacher stress and burnout and promote well-being and retention. This report presents selected findings from the 2023 State of the American Teacher survey related to teacher well-being, the availability of mental health and well-being supports, and teachers' intentions to leave their current teaching jobs. The findings in this report are descriptive and intended to inform federal, state, and local education leaders and policymakers about the state of the teacher workforce. [For "State of the American Teacher Survey. 2023 Technical Documentation and Survey Results. American Educator Panels. Research Report. RR-A1108-7," see ED628911.]

This survey wanted to obtain a national picture of teacher and principal turnover at the end of the 2021-2022 school year and districts' staffing shortages at the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year, researchers surveyed 300 district and charter network leaders in the American School District Panel from October to December 2022. Key findings from the survey include: (1) Teacher turnover increased 4 percentage points above prepandemic levels, reaching 10 percent nationally at the end of the 2021-2022 school year. Principal turnover increased too, reaching 16 percent nationally going into the 2022-2023 school year; (2) Teacher turnover in 2021-2022 was highest (around 12 to 14 percent) in urban districts, high-poverty districts, and districts serving predominately students of color. Meanwhile, principal turnover was highest (around 21 to 23 percent) in high-poverty districts and in rural districts; (2) District leaders generally perceived staffing shortages to be less acute in 2022-2023 than they were in 2021-2022. However, in fall 2022, staffing shortages continued to be most acute for substitute teachers, special education teachers, and bus drivers. High-poverty districts in particular had considerable shortages in several teaching categories; and (3) Ninety percent of districts experienced one or more policy changes either they or their state enacted to boost teacher ranks in response to shortages. Chief among these changes were increased pay and/or benefits and the expansion of grow-your-own teacher preparation programs. [For the technical document, see ED626482.]

To explore and identify gaps in students' opportunities to take and prepare for advanced math since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, RAND Corporation researchers conducted a nationally representative survey of teachers and principals in spring 2022. The researchers focused on two key ingredients that enable equitable student access to advanced math: access to advanced math courses and early algebra I and exposure to grade-level math content. The survey asked educators about their schools' advanced math offerings, how frequently they skipped standards-aligned math content, and the challenges they faced in providing high-quality standards-aligned math instruction after the disruptions to schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic. Together, educators' responses highlight ways that school-, district-, and state-level education leaders can improve student access to and preparation for advanced mathematics for all student groups. Educators' responses also reinforce the need to provide teachers with additional supports. This brief describes work done in RAND Education and Labor and documented in "Getting Students to (and Through) Advanced Math: Where Course Offerings and Content Are Not Adding Up." [For the full Research Report, "Getting Students to (and Through) Advanced Math: Where Course Offerings and Content Are Not Adding Up. American Educator Panels. Research Report. RR-A827-10," see ED627148.]

In this report, a nationally representative sample of kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) public school principals were asked about their experiences with covering classrooms and hiring staff. In the spring of the 2021-2022 school year, which coincided with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) omicron variant surge, most principals struggled to keep classrooms consistently staffed and many reported that hiring had become more challenging since the previous school year. Principals indicated that a lack of substitute teachers -- not an increase in open teaching positions -- was the main reason for classroom coverage shortages. In addition to day-to-day coverage issues, most principals reported that teacher vacancies were on the rise. Most of these principals believed that vacancies had grown more difficult to fill than in the prior school year, largely because of declining applicant counts. Principals' preferences when hiring teachers lend further insight into potential drivers of hiring challenges. A large majority of principals expressed strong preferences for like-minded teachers whose mindsets aligned with the vision and culture of the schools. Few principals prioritized the diversity of the educator workforce at their schools.

U.S. public school students have lost out on considerable mathematics learning since the beginning of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020. Public schools can take many steps to improve mathematics achievement, but to help students who are most at risk, those steps will need to keep equity front and center by focusing particularly on mathematics learning recovery for students who are Black, Hispanic, or experiencing poverty--students whose performance fell precipitously over the past few years. In this RAND Perspective, authors lay out a research agenda for the American Mathematics Educator Study by synthesizing what they know from mathematics education research regarding key factors that shape equitable, high-quality mathematics teaching and learning. Those factors include math learning opportunities for students, including access to rigorous math courses and interventions, along with resources for teachers, such as high-quality instructional materials, curriculum-aligned professional learning, and support for meeting students' diverse math learning needs. Authors also provide near-term recommendations for mathematics education policy and practice.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused tremendous upheaval in schooling. In addition to its devasting effects on students' academic development, the disruptions to schooling had important consequences for researchers conducting effectiveness studies on educational programs during this era. Given the likelihood of future large-scale disruptions, it is important for researchers to plan resilient studies and think critically about possible adaptations when such turbulence arises. In this article, we utilize qualitative case study analysis to examine how researchers evaluating educational programs in the pandemic period adjusted to turbulent conditions through design pivots to ensure the feasibility of research. We find that researchers struggled to strike a balance between the evaluations that were intended and those that could realistically be accomplished. We identify how the challenges of the pandemic period and design pivots raised potential threats to validity, illuminate some promising practices that arose during the pandemic period, and provide recommendations for future research and evaluation programs focused on studying the effectiveness of educational programs during times of profound disruption.

Although well-being appears to have improved for many public school teachers of kindergarten to grade 12 (K-12) since the beginning of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, in some states, more teachers left their jobs at the end of the 2021-2022 school year than in the two previous school years and at rates higher than prepandemic averages. When teachers leave their jobs, student achievement can suffer, and the cost of replacing teachers can be high. The authors describe the roles that salary and work hours play in teachers' intentions to leave their jobs and how these factors relate to teacher well-being. The research indicates that teacher dissatisfaction with hours worked, salary, and working conditions appears to drive poor well-being and lead teachers to consider leaving their jobs. In addition, recent gains in racial and ethnic diversity in the teacher workforce could be in jeopardy because Black teachers were more likely to consider leaving their jobs than White teachers were; many cited low pay as their top reason. The authors recommend increasing teacher pay, reducing hours worked, and improving working conditions to boost teacher retention.

Many studies have documented a large decline in students' mathematics achievement during and after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The question facing school districts now is how to help students recover. Since fall 2020, RAND researchers have repeatedly surveyed and interviewed district leaders who are members of the American School District Panel (ASDP). A small portion of these data collections have focused on mathematics. In this report, the authors use these survey and interview data to build a national picture of how school districts across the country were approaching mathematics during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. They draw on a framework describing coherent instructional systems to motivate and organize this report. This report is a first look at district leaders' perspectives on some, but not all, of the enabling conditions and components that make up a coherent mathematics instructional system. The findings from these survey items can contribute to the national conversation about how best to help students recover unfinished mathematics learning.

The Wallace Foundation's Partnerships for Social and Emotional Learning Initiative is a six-year initiative that The Wallace Foundation launched in 2017 to explore whether and how children benefit when schools and their out-of-school-time programs partner to improve social and emotional learning (SEL), as well as what it takes to do this work. According to the Collaborative for Academic and Social and Emotional Learning, SEL is "the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions." This case study explores how Lister Elementary School in Tacoma, Washington, established SEL and equity as a nonnegotiable foundation for its work with students, staff, and families. Lister staff received comprehensive support in their SEL and equity work. This included written SEL lessons that incorporated racial equity, a range of training opportunities developed and led by Lister school administrators, regular check-ins and opportunities for input during standing staff meetings, and feedback provided through formal and informal evaluations. Lister established schoolwide consistency with regards to SEL. Students and staff used common terminology to communicate about SEL. The SEL scope and sequence was designed to ensure that the same concepts were reinforced across classrooms and evolved as students progressed through each grade. [For "Strengthening Students' Social and Emotional Skills: Lessons from Six Case Studies of Schools and Their Out-of-School-Time Program Partners. Lessons from the Partnerships for Social and Emotional Learning Initiative. Volume 2, Part 1. Research Report. RR-A379-4," see ED623577.]

The Wallace Foundation's Partnerships for Social and Emotional Learning Initiative is a six-year initiative that The Wallace Foundation launched in 2017 to explore whether and how children benefit when schools and their out-of-school-time programs partner to improve social and emotional learning (SEL), as well as what it takes to do this work. According to the Collaborative for Academic and Social and Emotional Learning, SEL is "the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions." This case study explores how Denver's Cowell Elementary School and its out-of-school-time (OST) partner, Discovery Link, worked together to find time for SEL and to provide consistent SEL instruction during and after school. Explicit SEL instruction became increasingly more frequent over three years, and a large majority of school and OST instructors used the intended SEL rituals. The school and OST program identified protected time for SEL instruction in each of their schedules. The school and OST program created a strong partnership that included staff from both organizations in decisionmaking about the implementation of SEL. School and OST program staff developed common goals and shared terminology about SEL. [For "Strengthening Students' Social and Emotional Skills: Lessons from Six Case Studies of Schools and Their Out-of-School-Time Program Partners. Lessons from the Partnerships for Social and Emotional Learning Initiative. Volume 2, Part 1. Research Report. RR-A379-4," see ED623577.]

The Wallace Foundation's Partnerships for Social and Emotional Learning Initiative (PSELI) is a six-year initiative that The Wallace Foundation launched in 2017 to explore whether and how children benefit when schools and their out-of-school-time programs partner to improve social and emotional learning (SEL), as well as what it takes to do this work. The six communities that participate in PSELI are Boston, Massachusetts; Dallas, Texas; Denver, Colorado; Palm Beach County, Florida; Tacoma, Washington; and Tulsa, Oklahoma. According to the Collaborative for Academic and Social and Emotional Learning, SEL is "the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions." Six case studies spotlight specific approaches to implementing SEL. This cross-cutting report briefly summarizes each case and highlights shared themes among them. Themes include implementing SEL by building adults' SEL skills before building children's SEL skills and sustaining SEL work even as staff turn over by distributing leadership. [For an earlier report on this initiative, "Early Lessons from Schools and Out-of-School Time Programs Implementing Social and Emotional Learning. Lessons from the Partnerships for Social and Emotional Learning Initiative. Volume 1. Research Report. RR-A379-1," see ED609418. For the six case study reports, see ED623578, ED623579, ED623580, ED623581, ED623582, and ED623583.]

The Wallace Foundation's Partnerships for Social and Emotional Learning Initiative is a six-year initiative that The Wallace Foundation launched in 2017 to explore whether and how children benefit when schools and their out-of-school-time programs partner to improve social and emotional learning (SEL), as well as what it takes to do this work. SEL is "the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions." This case study explores how the Russell Elementary School and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Dorchester (BGCD) partnered in Boston to provide SEL enrichment off campus as part of the school day. The Russell and BGCD built a brand-new partnership centered on an innovative yet complex model of delivering SEL-infused enrichment to students off campus during the school day. The partnership weathered start-up hurdles and then a complete disruption of the model due to the pandemic but came out on the other side with a reinforced commitment to SEL. The Russell and BGCD both used the MindUp curriculum, which established how teachers and SEL instructors would teach SEL in terms of the specific language and practices used, providing a consistent SEL learning experience for students. [For "Strengthening Students' Social and Emotional Skills: Lessons from Six Case Studies of Schools and Their Out-of-School-Time Program Partners. Lessons from the Partnerships for Social and Emotional Learning Initiative. Volume 2, Part 1. Research Report. RR-A379-4," see ED623577.]

This technical report provides detailed information about the sample, survey instruments, and resultant data for the 2022 American Instructional Resources Surveys (AIRS) that were administered to principals and teachers in spring 2022 via the RAND Corporation's American Educator Panels (AEP). The 2022 AIRS focused on the usage of, perceptions of, and supports for instructional materials used in English language arts, mathematics, and science kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12) classrooms and social studies kindergarten through grade 5 (K-5) classrooms across the United States. The results are intended to inform policy and education practice related to the use of instructional resources. [For "American Instructional Resources Surveys: 2021 Technical Documentation and Survey Results. Research Report. RR-A134-10," see ED619861.]

In a time when simply carrying out the essential functions of their jobs is a herculean task, educators have been faced with the additional challenge of addressing contentious, politicized topics in their schools and classrooms. Drawing from nationally representative samples of teachers and principals who completed the 2022 State of the American Teacher and the State of the American Principal surveys and teacher interviews, the authors focus their analysis on two especially politically salient issues: (1) how to implement COVID-19 safety measures with the return to in-person schooling; and (2) the role and emphasis that discussions about race, racism, or bias may or should have in schools. They investigate how these two highly politicized topics might contribute to elevated job-related stress by examining potential contributing factors, such as the extent to which educators must manage conflicting beliefs and opinions, the adequacy of support they receive, and the hostility and aggression that they experience from others in response to related policies. The authors also explore differences by educator- and school-level characteristics. Although politicized topics are more contested in some school settings and locales than in others, survey results suggest that educators' beliefs about how schools should manage politicized issues vary within all kinds of school communities. The authors explore the consequences of politicization for educators' instructional practices, well-being, perceptions of their school and district climate, and intentions to leave their jobs. They provide implications and recommendations on how to support educators in navigating politicized issues in their schools and classrooms in a way that fosters productive discourse between communities and schools. [For the "State of the American Teacher and State of the American Principal Surveys: 2022 Technical Documentation and Survey Results. Research Report. RR-A1108-3," see ED621137.]

Past research suggests that it is common for teachers to draw on multiple instructional materials even when their school or district recommends, requires, or provides them with a specific curriculum. While teachers likely draw on a variety of resources to address changing and diverse student needs, studies show that teacher-selected materials can be less rigorous and cognitively demanding than materials that would be considered to meet grade-level standards. Although prior research on use of instructional resources, such as the American Instructional Resources Survey (AIRS), documents which materials teachers use, relatively little is known about the extent to which districts, schools, and teachers are specifically adopting and using "new" materials in a given school year, what those materials are, and who purchases those materials. There also is little information on how school systems' efforts to address missed learning because of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic might be related to changes in the instructional materials that schools and districts purchase and that teachers use in their classroom. This report draws on nationally representative survey data from 3,719 English language arts (ELA) teachers and 2,680 mathematics teachers to answer the following research questions: (1) What proportion of educators reported using new ELA or mathematics instructional materials, what are those materials, and how often do educators use them? (2) What proportion of teachers' new ELA or mathematics instructional materials were purchased by the school or district during the 2021-2022 school year? How much money do teachers spend out of pocket on new instructional materials? (3) What proportion of teachers reported not using ELA or mathematics materials newly purchased by their school or district and why? (4) What are teachers' needs for better or more ELA or mathematics curriculum materials? and (5) Is the availability of federal relief funds associated with use of new instructional materials by teachers and lower teacher out-of-pocket spending on instructional materials?

This is the second of three annual reports evaluating the implementation and effects of two Delaware weighted funding programs for disadvantaged K-12 schools during the 2019-2020 to 2021-2022 school years: Opportunity Funding and the Student Success Block Grant (SSBG). The authors also examined best practices and coronavirus pandemic adaptations for Opportunity Funding and the SSBG in 2020-2021, as reported by local education agency (LEA) leaders. In fiscal year (FY) 2021, the two programs allocated a total of $32.9 million for K-3 special education, mental health and/or reading specialists in high-need schools, and flexible funding based on the count of high-need students. Opportunity Funding and SSBG made up 1.0 percent of LEAs' overall spending in FY 2020 and 1.3 percent in FY 2021. The two programs are slated to make up 2.4 percent of spending once Opportunity Funding has grown to $60 million in 2025, assuming that other sources of funds remain stable. LEAs spent an average of $202 per pupil of Opportunity Funding or SSBG in FY 2021, while LEAs spent an average total of $15,497 per pupil. [For the "Early Implementation" report, see ED626324. For the "Third and Final Year" report, see ED626326. For "Flexible Opportunity Funding Investments in Delaware: Lessons from District Leaders," see ED626328.]

Community colleges play a key role in driving talent development in the United States, producing workers with the kinds of training that employers need while enhancing economic mobility for students. There has been a push among policymakers at the federal and state levels to hold community colleges accountable for the employment outcomes of their students, with funding and legislation that endorses models that strengthen college partnerships with employers. In this report, the authors systemically examine the type of career services and college-employer partnership practices in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields across three states -- California, Ohio, and Texas -- and a sample of community colleges that operate within them. In addition, the authors investigate the challenges that these colleges face in facilitating student employment and the ways in which state policies may have influenced practice. They reviewed state policies and collected interview data from 134 participants, including state and system leaders, college leaders, program heads and faculty, career service leaders and staff, and employers.

The COVID-19 pandemic presented new challenges for educators who teach students with disabilities (SWD). Research on the experiences of SWD during the pandemic is limited, but what is known suggests that SWD access to services and supports declined during the pandemic and that steeper learning losses are likely. Pandemic interruptions may be particularly problematic for secondary SWD because they missed out on critical preparation experiences while approaching the transition to college and career. Given these disruptions, it is critical that educators have the support and training they need to accelerate learning for SWD moving forward. This report presents national survey findings from secondary school principals and educators from the spring of the 2020-2021 school year, exploring educators' access to and use of supports for teaching SWD. The analysis focuses on the roles that teachers play and the service delivery models that they use for teaching SWD.

High schools play a crucial role in helping students plan for and transition to postsecondary education and career pathways. During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, supporting all students in their transition to life after high school remains important for postsecondary success. In this Data Note, the authors compare nationally representative survey response data from the 2020 and 2021 Learn Together Surveys (LTS) to examine differences in how high school teachers and principals provided supports to students for successful postsecondary transitions before and during the first year of the pandemic. Drawing on responses from 2,126 9th- to 12th-grade teachers and 702 high school principals to the 2021 LTS and responses from 2,279 9th- to 12th-grade teachers and 640 high school principals to the 2020 LTS, the authors compare educators' responses across various school-level characteristics, including student free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, enrollment of nonwhite students, and school locale. The authors found equity gaps in which groups of students reportedly received sufficient supports for postsecondary transitions and recommend strategies for improving students' equitable access to and engagement with such supports.

This Data Note describes findings from a nationally representative sample of secondary school principals about their well-being and job-related stressors one year into the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Understanding principals' views on these topics at a national level can help education leaders and policymakers identify ways to support principal wellness, reduce job-related stress, and improve job satisfaction, performance, and retention. The authors use nationally representative survey data of "secondary principals," defined as principals who serve in schools that include any grade from 6th grade to 12th grade, from the 2021 Learn Together Surveys (LTS) to examine the state of principal well-being. The 2021 LTS was administered in March and April 2021 to 1,686 secondary principals, one year after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This Data Note highlights principals' responses to the open-ended survey, discusses key findings, and concludes with implications and policy recommendations.

In this report, RAND researchers investigate one specific issue that may contaminate utilization of COVID-19--era school-aggregate scores and result in faulty comparisons with historical and other proximal aggregate scores: changes in school composition over time. To investigate this issue, they examine data from NWEA's Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Growth assessments, interim assessments used by states and districts during the 2020-2021 school year. This report has four main sections. First, it provides background information on the assessment context. A detail is provided on the problems caused by changes in test-taking populations, particularly for school-level analyses, and provides examples of state policies for score reporting. Second, it details the research questions and describes the sample and methods. Third, it presents the results of the investigations. The report concludes with a discussion of the implications of findings for decision-making during the COVID-19 crisis. This report is the second of three that examine the impacts of COVID-19-related assessment disruptions on school and district processes. The first report, "Adapting Course Placement Processes in Response to COVID-19 Disruptions: Guidance for Schools and Districts. Research Report. RR-A1037-1" (ED612136), compares three strategies to estimate missing test scores and help with course placement decisions.

Media accounts have described kindergarten through 12th grade teaching staff shortages in 2021-2022 that were severe enough to temporarily close schools for in-person instruction in some areas. Although much has been written about the negative impacts of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on teachers, less is known about the extent to which the pandemic is taking a toll on other types of educators, including superintendents. To obtain a national picture of the various types of staffing challenges that districts are facing in the 2021-2022 school year, RAND researchers surveyed 359 district and charter network leaders in the American School District Panel (ASDP) between October 25, 2021, and December 10, 2021. The representative survey results confirm that media attention to the severe staffing crunch in schools this school year is well placed, and maybe all the more so if current and future variants of COVID19 infect even more school staff and students. Beyond the serious staffing concerns for this school year are concerns in future years about a fiscal cliff and a potential increase in superintendent turnover. [For the companion report "District Leaders' Concerns about Mental Health and Political Polarization in Schools: Selected Findings from the Fourth American School District Panel Survey. Data Note: Insights from the American Educator Panels. Research Report. RR-A956-8," see ED617354.]

Policymakers had hoped that the 2021-2022 school year would be a chance to recover from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic--related disruptions to schooling. Instead, media reports of staff shortages, heated or even violent school board meetings, increased student misbehavior, low student and teacher attendance, and enrollment declines suggest increased -- rather than decreased -- problems during this third pandemic school year. To learn about the prevalence of these challenges nationwide, RAND researchers surveyed 359 district and charter network leaders in the American School District Panel between October 25, 2021, and December 10, 2021. Survey results suggest that districts are confronting serious challenges in the 2021-2022 school year that might be getting in the way of student learning. Although some challenges, such as student and staff mental health, are nearly universal across districts, other challenges are more localized. Historically marginalized districts are confronting extra challenges this school year, such as getting students back in school and low teacher attendance, while a higher percentage of historically advantaged districts are encountering political polarization about COVID-19. [For the companion report "Flux in the Educator Labor Market: Acute Staff Shortages and Projected Superintendent Departures. Selected Findings from the Fourth American School District Panel Survey. Data Note: Insights from the American Educator Panels. Research Report. RR-A956-9," see ED617372.]

School officials regularly use school-aggregate test scores to monitor school performance and make policy decisions. After the U.S. Department of Education offered assessment waivers to all 50 states in 2019-2020, many educators and policymakers advocated for assessment programs to be restarted in the 2020-2021 school year to evaluate the state of teaching and learning and to inform policies for recovery from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. However, the use of school-aggregate test scores for these purposes relies on the assumption that differences in aggregate scores can be accurately interpreted as representing real and meaningful differences in school progress and performance. There are serious concerns about the accuracy of such interpretations even under routine schooling conditions, but the pandemic may exacerbate these issues and further compromise the comparability of these test scores. In this report, RAND researchers investigate one specific issue that may contaminate utilization of COVID-19--era school-aggregate scores and result in faulty comparisons with historical and other proximal aggregate scores: changes in school composition over time. To investigate this issue, they examine data from NWEA's Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Growth assessments, interim assessments used by states and districts during the 2020-2021 school year. [For the corresponding record, see ED617518.]

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic upended math instruction--but not equitably. Although little is known about the quality of math instruction in different school settings during the 2020-2021 school year, evidence from national survey data collected throughout the pandemic suggests that students' "opportunity to learn" (OTL)--defined here as time on instruction and content coverage--differed dramatically depending on whether students were learning in person or through an alternative mode of instruction. This Date Note presents findings from the 2020 and 2021 Learn Together Surveys to highlight the challenges to standards-aligned instruction that secondary (grades 6 to 12) math teachers might have perceived one year into the pandemic, how frequently they skipped standards-aligned math content, and their reasons for doing so. These findings add to the growing body of evidence showing that students in fully remote and hybrid school settings had fewer opportunities to engage with grade-level math than students learning in person. Specifically, secondary math teachers who provided remote or hybrid instruction reported skipping standards-aligned content more frequently and were less likely to report being able to devote as much time as they would have liked to math instruction compared with their in-person counterparts. These findings are particularly significant for students who attended schools that were less likely to offer in-person instruction during the 2020-2021 school year.

Since March 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has placed unprecedented stresses on the public education system in the United States. At every level, from the U.S. Department of Education down through local districts and individual schools, the pandemic has presented formidable challenges. Many of these challenges have been operational in nature but there have also been substantial instructional challenges during the pandemic. Early insight into the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on public schooling identified the challenges that schools faced in the pivot to online learning in spring 2020. Large proportions of teachers reported through the RAND American Teacher Panel (ATP) that they had not received adequate guidance from their school systems to serve particular populations of students, such as students with disabilities (SWDs), homeless students, and English learners (ELs). These pandemic-era instructional challenges compound existing barriers to quality instruction. This report examines issues of instructional system coherence during the 2020-2021 school year. Specifically, the report investigates teachers' perceptions of: (1) guidance they received about ELA instruction; (2) guidance around addressing the needs of traditionally underserved students; (3) coherence of their ELA instructional system; and (4) presence of contextual conditions identified through literature as supporting coherence.

An American School District Panel (ASDP) survey administered in fall 2021 revealed district leaders' widespread concerns about teacher, substitute, and bus driver shortages; political polarization interfering with schooling; students' mental health, behavior, and attendance; and declining student enrollment. In this report, we revisit these concerns to assess whether the widespread problems that district leaders identified back in fall 2021 have persisted throughout the remainder of the 2021-2022 school year. This report also provides an update on the main ways that school districts are seeking to redress the negative effects of unfinished instruction because of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This is the second of two reports with results from the spring 2022 survey of the ASDP. [For the companion report, "State of the Superintendent -- High Job Satisfaction and a Projected Normal Turnover Rate. Selected Findings from the Fifth American School District Panel Survey," see ED621831.]

Numerous accounts suggest that public school superintendents are burned out and frustrated by the accumulated stress of steering schools through the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and political polarization, and that they are increasingly at risk of mass attrition. However, despite high stress levels and similarly dire predictions for teachers and principals, there has been a noticeable lack of heightened turnover among teachers and principals thus far throughout the pandemic. These contradictory signals beg the questions: Are superintendents satisfied with their jobs right now, and will they leave at higher-than-normal rates? This analysis suggests that, as of spring 2022, superintendents have positive feelings about their jobs despite the many challenges schools have faced both before and throughout the pandemic, and they do not plan to depart the profession at heightened rates. This is the first of two reports with results from the spring 2022 survey of the American School District Panel (ASDP). [For the companion report, "Districts Continue to Struggle with Staffing, Political Polarization, and Unfinished Instruction: Selected Findings from the Fifth American School District Panel Survey," see ED621840.]

Principal and teacher well-being is a matter of immediate concern for principals and teachers themselves and for the students they teach. Stress on the job can negatively affect educators' physical health, and poor teacher wellness and mental health are linked with lower-quality student learning environments and with poorer academic and nonacademic student outcomes. Furthermore, previous research suggests that principals and teachers of color are more likely than their White peers to experience poor well-being and are more likely to leave their jobs. Understanding the relationships among teacher and principal well-being, perceived working conditions, and teachers' and principals' intentions to leave their current position is critical for pandemic recovery and for the long-term health of the principal and teacher workforce. In this report, researchers present selected findings from the 2022 State of the American Teacher (SoT) and State of the American Principal (SoP) surveys. These findings are related to teacher and principal well-being, working conditions, and intentions to leave their jobs. The authors focus specifically on the well-being and working conditions of educators of color. [For technical information about the surveys and analysis in this report, see "State of the American Teacher and State of the American Principal Surveys: 2022 Technical Documentation and Survey Results" (ED621137).]

This technical report provides information about the sample, content, and administration of the 2022 State of the American Teacher (SoT) and State of the American Principal (SoP) surveys. The SoT survey was completed by 2,360 American Teacher Panel members, and the SoP survey was completed by 1,540 American School Leader Panel members. The American Life Panel (ALP) companion survey was administered to 500 ALP members in January and February 2022. The report also describes the teacher interview protocols and qualitative methods used for interviews with SoT respondents. The SoT and SoP surveys addressed teachers' and principals' well-being (e.g., job-related stress, depression, burnout), school climate (e.g., physical safety; teacher/principal voice; staff diversity, equity, and inclusion), teachers' and principals' working conditions this school year (e.g., instructional mode; hours worked; coronavirus disease 2019 [COVID-19] mitigation policies; beliefs about the teaching of race, racism, and bias), and teachers' and principals' careers as educators (e.g., preparation, retention, decisions to exit). Teachers were also asked about policies that they believed would be effective for recruiting, hiring, and retaining educators of color. Principals were also asked a series of questions related to their preparation to address political topics in their schools.

This report is the first of three annual reports evaluating the implementation and effects of two newly expanded Delaware weighted education funding programs, the Opportunity Fund and the Student Success Block Grant (SSBG). The Opportunity Fund provides two streams of financial support--a flexible fund for local education agencies (LEAs) to fund staff, curricula, or services that serve low-income (LI) and English learner (EL) students and a second fund for either mental health supports or reading supports for high-need schools. The SSBG also provides two streams--one offering funding to LEAs based on the number of K-3 basic special education enrollees and a second that covers the hiring of reading interventionists at high-need elementary schools. The authors examine Opportunity Fund and SSBG programs implementation and emerging best practices according to LEA leaders in 2019-2020. Specifically, they examine how LEAs planned to use the funds and how they were actually used; expenditures under the funding mechanisms; and LEA leaders' reported barriers to implementing their plans and best practices for serving EL, LI, and special education students. The report will be of interest to Delaware state-level policymakers in the executive and legislative branches, including Delaware Department of Education and legislative staff, as well as other stakeholders in the public and private sectors interested in the potential for strategic investments in the early elementary grades to improve student outcomes. The findings should be of interest to policymakers in other parts of the United States who are considering or making similar investments. [For the "Second Year" report, see ED626325. For the "Third and Final Year" report, see ED626326. For "Flexible Opportunity Funding Investments in Delaware: Lessons from District Leaders," see ED626328.]

The 2020-2021 school year has been like no other. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, most kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12) schools across the United States have reduced in-person learning for students to a few days per week or have been physically closed for most of the school year. In this Data Note, researchers use surveys of teachers and principals to provide a picture of students' learning experiences in K-12 schools that have adopted a variety of operational models (e.g., fully in-person, hybrid, fully remote) during the 2020-2021 school year. The findings consistently indicate that remote schooling was associated with fewer instructional opportunities and potentially poorer student outcomes compared with in-person schooling. These outcomes include less teacher-reported curriculum coverage, more teacher-reported student absenteeism, and lower principal-reported achievement in mathematics and English language arts (ELA). Nevertheless, teachers and principals who have been in remote settings this school year appear to be far more comfortable with the idea of providing remote instruction in some form, even after the pandemic recedes. Taken together, these findings suggest that the pandemic has set schools on diverging pathways depending on whether they were mostly remote or in person over the course of this school year. Using these findings, the authors make several recommendations to policymakers, school and district leaders, and researchers to support K-12 teaching and learning over the next several years.

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, progressively more complete data have shed light on the tremendous variation in districts' approaches to schooling. Some districts have provided fully remote learning since the outset of the pandemic, some have mostly provided in-person learning, and others have fallen somewhere in between. In this report, we reveal the extent of the divisions in public education during the 2020-2021 school year, from the mode of delivery to the length of the school day. RAND Corporation researchers fielded the second survey of the American School District Panel from January 21 through March 5, 2021. This report is based on survey responses from 434 district leaders, including 400 superintendents of traditional public school districts and 34 executive directors of charter management organizations. These leaders come from 48 states and the District of Columbia, and the districts vary greatly in size, racial composition, and levels of poverty. This report summarizes results from the survey.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced educators to rapidly adapt to remote learning during spring 2020, resulting in a scramble for teachers to ensure that students had remote access to instructional materials. Understanding how digital materials were used leading up to school closures can shed light on the extent to which teachers were prepared to pivot to full virtual learning and might help identify areas in which additional supports could be helpful in using digital materials for both virtual and in-person instruction. This Data Note presents a small, focused set of key findings from teacher responses to the spring 2020 American Instructional Resources Survey, which was fielded in May and June 2020. Researchers examine teachers' use of digital and comprehensive curriculum materials during the 2019-2020 school year prior to COVID-19 disruptions and teachers' perceptions about the extent to which their digital materials connected to their main curricula. The authors also consider how teachers' use of digital materials prior to the pandemic was connected to teaching and learning during school closures in spring 2020.

In 2017, the BHP Foundation launched its Education Equity Global Signature Program, which is meant to enhance opportunities for disadvantaged young people to access a quality education and, through this, strengthen the civil and economic components of society. It does so through investing in efforts that increase the use of evidence to improve education. In support of the BHP Foundation's goals, RAND Corporation researchers are conducting a five-year evaluation of the program. The aims of the evaluation are to contribute to the development and evolution of the program's strategy by articulating a theory of change, assess the impacts of the program across funded partnerships and inform learning and continuous improvement for both the BHP Foundation and its partners, share lessons learned with the global education community about the results of a social investment initiative that aims to translate evidence into practice, and develop a model for evaluating a foundation's portfolio of investments. The evaluation will result in three public reports. This initial report describes a framework to evaluate the BHP Foundation's program, explains researchers' methods for assessing progress over the five-year period, and presents some preliminary results after the first year of evaluation.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to major disruptions in the way that teachers educate students with disabilities (SWD). Throughout the pandemic, disabilities rights advocates, teachers, families, and lawmakers have expressed concern that SWD would be disproportionately affected by school closures and the shift to remote learning. To explore these concerns, researchers analyzed teachers' reports of how they are educating SWD during the COVID-19 pandemic using a nationally representative survey of more than 1,579 teachers in the RAND American Teacher Panel, which was fielded from mid-September to mid-October 2020. This Data Note provides insights into teachers' experiences educating SWD in early fall 2020, exploring how teachers' experiences varied by instructional arrangements (e.g., remote, hybrid, in-person) and school characteristics.

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created an unprecedented set of obstacles for schools and exacerbated existing structural inequalities in public education. In spring 2020, as schools went to remote learning formats or closed completely, end-of-year assessment programs ground to a halt. As a result, schools began the 2020-2021 school year without student assessment data, which typically play a role in selecting students for specialized programming or placing students into courses. Although conceptual research has emerged to support school and district decision-making regarding assessment during the pandemic, there has been relatively little empirical research to help guide schools and school districts on handling the impacts of the pandemic on the availability and interpretability of assessment data. To address this gap, the authors of this report provide empirical evidence to inform schools' and districts' approaches to course placement in the absence of end-of-year assessment data. The authors compare and contrast three potential strategies that use older assessment data to estimate missing test scores: simple replacement, regression-based replacement, and multiple replacement. The authors examine the ways in which the pandemic may have influenced the consistency of decision-making under these strategies and the extent to which these strategies work equally well for all students, regardless of student race and ethnicity or school poverty. They also discuss these strategies' implications for schools and districts.

Policymakers and practitioners alike have increasingly positioned instructional materials as essential for achieving high-quality, standards-aligned instruction. State education agencies, school districts, and schools have looked to instructional materials to signal what to teach and to what depth for students to be on track to meet college- and career-readiness standards. As instructional leaders, principals play a critical mediation role in communicating district curriculum policies to teachers and supporting teachers' enactment of curriculum. However, very little work has explored how principals take on this role and what school leaders need most to engage effectively with issues and decisions regarding instructional materials. This brief brings together key findings from three RAND Education & Labor reports on principals' roles with respect to instructional materials. The findings point to several recommendations for how various stakeholders--federal and state policymakers, principal preparation programs, districts, and curriculum and professional learning developers--can better prepare and support principals to lead on the selection and use of instructional materials. [For the first report, "How Instructional Materials Are Used and Supported in U.S. K-12 Classrooms: Findings from the 2019 American Instructional Resources Survey," see ED614109. For the second report, "Teachers' Perceptions of What Makes Instructional Materials Engaging, Appropriately Challenging, and Usable: A Survey and Interview Study of Teachers," see ED614115. For the third report, "School Leaders' Role in Selecting and Supporting Teachers' Use of Instructional Materials: An Interview Study," see ED614075.]

The authors of this report build on past studies by using survey data from a nationally representative sample to examine how middle and high school English language arts (ELA) and mathematics teachers use and perceive their instructional materials in terms of engagement, challenge, and usability. In addition, the authors use interview data to understand teachers' perceptions about what makes instructional materials engaging, appropriately challenging, and usable. "Engagement" is the extent to which the instructional materials pique and sustain student interest and attention; "appropriately challenging" is the extent to which the materials address the academic and learning needs of students; and "usable" is the extent to which the materials feature components that teachers desire and that are easy to enact or adapt to meet the needs of their students. Gaining insight into teachers' perceptions of their materials is important because this insight can affect the work of curriculum developers; it can influence state, school district, and other decisionmakers in their materials-adoption processes. Furthermore, teachers' modifications of materials can affect students' opportunities to achieve academic standards. This insight has become even more important during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic because of instruction moving online and teachers having to adapt their instruction and materials accordingly.

Just as teachers' perceptions of instructional materials influence what they do with those materials, school leaders' perceptions of instructional materials influence their decisions about how and how strongly to support teachers' material use. The authors address a gap in existing literature by identifying what school leaders regard as key dimensions of quality instructional materials and describing the role that school leaders play in guiding the selection and use of instructional materials. The authors found that school leaders particularly valued characteristics of instructional materials that facilitated teachers' implementation and use of the materials. They also prioritized standards-aligned materials, perceiving these as best meeting the needs of their teachers and students. Fewer school leaders identified cultural relevance, language-acquisition supports, and social-emotional learning supports as essential dimensions of quality instructional materials. School leaders influence teachers' use of instructional materials by involving teachers in the selection of instructional materials, creating buy-in for district-recommended or -required curriculum, and providing guidance that balanced teacher autonomy and the fidelity of curriculum implementation. During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, school leaders grew more concerned about the engagement and social-emotional learning supports that materials offered. These findings can provide useful guidance to district policymakers about how to leverage the role of school leaders in the use of instructional materials and what might support school leaders in helping teachers use their materials thoughtfully.

School districts are facing several urgent questions as they plan for fall 2021. Will parents send their children to school in person in fall 2021? Why or why not? And what can schools do to reassure parents about sending their children to in-person schooling? To answer these questions RAND researchers surveyed 2,015 parents of children ages 5-18 in May 2021 about their willingness to send their children to school in person in fall 2021. The research team also asked parents about their support for various health and safety practices at school, including getting their children tested for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and whether they would get their children vaccinated if a vaccine were available. The results are intended to inform school districts' and health officials' planning for operating schools in fall 2021. As of May 2021, 84 percent of parents surveyed said that they planned to send their children to school in person in fall 2021. Black and Hispanic parents were the most hesitant about sending their children back for in-person schooling in fall 2021. Two-thirds of parents overall said that they wanted to keep COVID-19 school safety measures, although subgroups of parents differed. Fifty-two percent of those surveyed planned to vaccinate their children, and another 17 percent were unsure. Rural parents and those who were not vaccinated themselves were the least likely to intend to vaccinate their children against COVID-19.

The American Educator Panels (AEP) are nationally representative samples of teachers, school leaders, and district leaders across the country. In the main report, "Job-Related Stress Threatens the Teacher Supply: Key Findings from the 2021 State of the U.S. Teacher Survey," (ED613590) that accompanies these appendixes, the authors draw on the American Teacher Panel (ATP) to examine teachers' reports of their own well-being and working conditions to understand what factors might influence teachers' intentions to leave their teaching jobs during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In these technical appendixes, the authors provide more detail about the data, samples, and methodology. They also present the results of the survey questions referenced in the main report. The survey was administered to 1,006 ATP members in January and February 2021. The following appendices are presented: (1) Methods; (2) ATP Survey Questions and Responses; (3) Survey Questions and Responses from the American Life Panel; and (4) Survey Questions and Responses from the Understanding America Study.

Teaching was a stressful occupation long before the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic occurred; during the pandemic, it might have become even more stressful. Teachers are navigating unfamiliar technology, are balancing multiple modes of teaching, and have concerns about returning to in-person instruction. In addition, many teachers are caring for their own children while teaching. To explore the issue of job-related stress among teachers, the authors fielded a survey in January and February 2021 through RAND's American Teacher Panel. The results suggest that teachers have experienced many job-related stressors during the 2020-2021 academic year. Perhaps as a result, one in four teachers were considering leaving their job by the end of the school year -- more than in a typical pre-pandemic year and a higher rate than employed adults nationally. Black or African American teachers were particularly likely to plan to leave. Also, teachers were more likely to report experiencing frequent job-related stress and symptoms of depression than the general population. Stressful working conditions and increased personal responsibilities were more common among likely pandemic leavers (i.e., teachers who were unlikely to leave their jobs before the pandemic but who were likely to leave at the time of the survey). The experiences of these likely pandemic leavers were similar in many ways to those of teachers who left the profession after the start of the pandemic. These similarities suggest that likely pandemic leavers might decide to quit their jobs absent efforts to address challenging working conditions and support teacher well-being. [For the Technical Appendixes to this report, see ED613591.]

The U.S. Department of Education funds various types of technical assistance centers with the goal of providing the expertise and resources needed by state education agencies (SEAs), regional education agencies, and local education agencies (LEAs) to effectively implement federal education programs. Given the complexity of technical assistance for both providers and recipients, understanding technical assistance provision requires a deeper and more nuanced examination of (1) how recipients use, combine, align, and manage sources of support and (2) how providers design, adjust, and coordinate the support provided directly and in collaboration. The purpose of this report is to provide policymakers and technical assistance providers and recipients with an analysis of how a federally funded technical assistance center balances competing pressures amid unexpected challenges so that it can address the needs of its clients and fulfill its charge. The authors examine the Center to Improve Social and Emotional Learning and School Safety (CISELSS)'s first three years of operation. They explore how CISELSS balanced competing pressures and the influence of shifting contextual conditions in the provision of technical assistance to SEAs and LEAs and offer insights about CISELSS's early implementation that might help guide efforts to continuously improve its provision of supports.

Providing an avenue for students to share their perceptions and opinions of their learning environment with educators makes the process of teaching and learning more reciprocal and can address issues of inequity by giving students the opportunity to participate in and influence decisions that will affect their lives and those of their peers. When asked to voice their perceptions, students can provide insights into information and relationships that adults in the school do not have access to, while also generating higher levels of student engagement in learning. In this Data Note, the authors use nationally representative survey response data from the 2021 Learn Together Surveys (LTS) to examine the extent to which secondary teachers and school leaders take student voice into account in their practices at the classroom and school levels. The 2021 LTS introduced the topic of student voice and asked about the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on teachers' and school leaders' consideration of student voice to inform their practices. Drawing on responses from 3,605 6th- to 12th-grade teachers and 1,686 middle and high school leaders, the authors compare teacher and school leader responses across various school-level characteristics, including instructional mode during the 2020-021 school year (in-person, hybrid, or remote), school free and reduced-price lunch enrollment, and race/ethnicity of the student population. The authors conclude with implications and policy recommendations based on their analysis.

School districts in the United States are responding to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in significantly different ways. The authors of this report fielded the third American School District Panel (ASDP) survey in June 2021 to discover what changes districts are making to their academic and nonacademic offerings for the upcoming 2021-2022 school year, and whether parental demand has played any role in prompting districts to make these changes. In this report, the authors summarize key ASDP findings based on the responses of 292 district leaders, after weighting their responses to make them nationally representative. Survey results suggest that while public schools are expanding their nonacademic offerings, much of their academic offerings for 2021-2022 remain the same. The authors examine differences between pre-pandemic and 2021-2022 offerings among district subgroups in the areas of summer programming, tutoring, grade retention practices, technology-related services, student health and weekend meals, academic recovery measures, and scheduling. The authors also found that most district leaders did not perceive a strong parental demand for changes to their children's schooling; however, there were some notable exceptions among leaders of urban, suburban, and majority-students of color districts, even though the correlation between perceived demand and district provision is currently weak. Parents' demands may still change public education in the long run, but the authors did not find evidence for this thus far. [This report was prepared by the RAND American Educator Panels.]