• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

november december 2020 RESTORING FACTS RRRREVIEW AND ANALYSIS to the public policy debate CIVICS EDUCATION for the 21st century HOW SCHOOL PRINCIPALS responded to COVID-19 WOUNDED WARRIORS MENTAL HEALTH, SUBSTANCE USE, AND THE ROAD TO RECOVERY PAGE 10 R Staffing Needs Planning as Introducing Continuity 1 in the U.S. 2 Freedom 3 the RAND Space 4 and Change in Secret Service The pandemic Enterprise China’s Foreign This user guide is has confined Initiative Policy part of a project designed Americans to their Watch this video to learn In September to help the U.S. Secret homes, kept them from more about the mission 2020, senior political Service determine offices and schools, and and goals of the Space scientist Andrew Scobell staffing needs in a separated them from Enterprise Initiative presented testimony subset of administrative, the people they love and and the importance of before the U.S.–China professional, and the activities they value. making space research Economic and Security technical work functions. If the U.S. had planned available to all. Review Commission. RAND researchers better, Americans might MORE AT MORE AT Picks Five from the Homeland be more free during the www.rand.org/v200904 www.rand.org/t/CTA774-1 Security Operational COVID-19 crisis. But Analysis Center there is a silver lining: analyzed organizational This experience could structures, workflows, provide lessons for how to and available data address other sweeping and compared these problems that require factors with possible planning, such as climate approaches to build tools change. for workforce planners MORE AT to use in making staffing www.rand.org/b200904plan determinations. MORE AT www.rand.org/t/TL353 Diversity in the 5 U.S. Air Force The Air Force experiences challenges in maintaining a demographically diverse civilian workforce. Researchers analyzed personnel data to better understand the challenges that civilian women, racial/ethnic minorities, and individuals with disabilities may face in advancing to higher pay grades as well as factors they consider when deciding whether to OFFICIAL1: DHS PHOTO BY BARRY BAHLER, BEARSKY23/ADOBE STOCK; 2: RYANJLANE/GETTY IMAGES; 3: ELEN11/GETTY IMAGES; 4: BEEBRIGHT/GETTY IMAGES; 5. U.S. AIR NATIONAL GUARD PHOTO BY MASTER SGT. MATT HECHT remain with the Air Force. MORE AT www.rand.org/t/RR2643 TOOL BLOG VIDEO TESTIMONY BOOK November–December 2020 RRRREVIEW The Civic Mind What students need to know about civic 14 responsibility Závon Billups, shown here in a screen grab from a classroom video, teaches eighth- grade civics at a Boston charter school— not just how government works, but how to be active, engaged, and effective participants in it. He describes his students as “21st-century change agents.” Think Help for Teaching Tanks in the Wounded and era of truth Warriors Learning decay Treating in the 8 10 mental health 18 age of and substance COVID-19 use disorders Research Commentary At RANDom 2 Briefly Brain– 6 The decline 21 RAND rolls computer of American the dice interfaces and influence more The Q&A Terri Giving 4 Tanielian, a voice 20 Making a for veterans lasting difference COVER DESIGN BY JESSICA ARANA/RAND CORPORATION; PHOTO COURTESY OF DAN SMEE RAND BOARD OF TRUSTEES EDITORIAL LETTERS REPORTS MICHAEL E. LEITER (CHAIR), Steve Baeck, Manager Send letters to RAND REVIEW, 1776 Main RAND reports are available on MARY E. PETERS (VICE CHAIR), Corporate Communications Street, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA rand.org for free PDF download or can CARL BILDT, KENNETH R. FEINBERG, 90407-2138, or e-mail [email protected] be purchased as hard copies. RAND MALA GAONKAR, MALCOLM GLADWELL, DESIGN PERMISSIONS e-books are also available for Amazon’s MICHAEL GOULD, PEDRO JOSÉ GREER, Dori Gordon Walker For information about using material Kindle, Apple’s Books, and for most R RRREVIEW JR., CHUCK HAGEL, BONNIE G. HILL, published in RAND REVIEW, visit other popular e-book platforms. KAREN ELLIOTT HOUSE, JOEL Z. HYATT, PRODUCTION www.rand.org/publications/permissions/ SEARCH LIONEL C. JOHNSON, PHILIP LADER, Cynthia Lyons RAND documents can be searched NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2020 PETER LOWY, VIVEK H. MURTHY, COPIES For hard copies of RAND REVIEW, by author, title, and category at SOLEDAD O’BRIEN, GERALD L. PARSKY, CIRCULATION call (877) 584-8642 (toll free) or www.rand.org/pubs OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS. DAVID L. PORGES, DONALD B. RICE, Kathryn Kuznitsky (310) 451-7002 (outside the United EFFECTIVE SOLUTIONS. MICHAEL D. RICH, TERESA WYNN States); send a fax to (412) 802-4981; ROSEBOROUGH, LEONARD D. WWW.RAND.ORG or e-mail [email protected] © Copyright 2020 RAND Corporation SCHAEFFER For more information on this publication, TRUSTEE EMERITUS R is a registered trademark. visit www.rand.org/t/CPA682-2 ANN MCLAUGHLIN KOROLOGOS C O R P O R A T I O N Research Briefly IMAGE CREDITS: GISELLEFLISSAK/GETTY CREDITS: IMAGE IMAGES Investing in Disadvantaged Families For nearly 60 years, a learning center in Pasadena, Calif., has worked to uplift some of the most disadvantaged families in its community, parents and children alike. A recent RAND study adds to a growing body of evidence that programs like it can make a real and lasting difference. The Families Forward Learning Center provides free care and education to infants, toddlers, and preschoolers who are mostly living below the poverty line and learning English as a second language. It also provides parenting and English classes, among other supports, to their mothers. Most of the mothers interviewed by RAND researchers said their English had improved; so had their self-confidence and their ability to advocate for their children in school. Almost all said they were now more involved in their children’s educa- tion, helping them with homework and reading to them. The researchers also found that children who went through the program before kindergarten outperformed their peers on standardized tests in the third grade. The differences in their scores were “large and meaningful,” the researchers wrote— enough to make up some of the persistent school achievement gap between white and Latinx students. The study was small, and it’s possible that the parents who enrolled in the program would have been more engaged in their children’s education anyway. But the findings are in line with other studies that have shown promising results from such two-generation programs. Done well, parents and children both seem to benefit when learning becomes a family affair. MORE AT www.rand.org/t/RRA358-1 2 RAND.ORG | NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2020 Military Applications of Brain–Computer Interfaces The U.S. military has started to put real research fund- and direct mind control of drones and other machines. But ing into the idea that future fighters may be able to engage all of those came with some big asterisks. machines with their minds. It may sound less like science Players questioned whether brain signals could be jammed than fiction, but a recent RAND study found the technologi- or intercepted in the blur of war. They worried that deci- cal challenges might not be the biggest obstacles to making sions made at computer speed could outrun moral and it happen. ethical considerations. And they doubted that future enlist- Scientists have already developed electrodes that can read ees would consent to link their brains to a computer unless brain signals and translate them into commands for a drone the technology had been tried, tested, and adopted in the in flight. People with quadriplegia have used brain–computer civilian world first. interfaces to control a mouse point with their minds. Those concerns should guide the development of brain– In the not-so-near future, that kind of technology could computer technologies going forward, the researchers enable soldiers to communicate directly with surveillance wrote. The risks are significant—just imagine what a hacker drones, or to control battlefield robots without using their could do—but they have not received enough attention. The hands. Computer implants could allow them to take in military and other funders should make sure the need is more information than their five senses provide, or to com- driving the demand for such new technology, and not the municate with their team members without saying a word. other way around. To test what that might look like, researchers at RAND invited MORE AT www.rand.org/t/RR2996 experts—including neuroscientists and combat veterans—to play a tabletop wargame. The players were given a scenario— This research is part of Security 2040—a RAND initiative that tackles clearing a building, surviving an ambush—and asked to big, important questions about new technologies and trends that are think through what human–computer capabilities they shaping the future of global security. Funding was provided by gifts from would want on the ground. RAND supporters and income from operations. Support for this project IMAGE CREDITS: KRAS99/ADOBE STOCK; MATTHIEU/ADOBE STOCK; JACKIE NIAM/ADOBE STOCK; THINKNEO/GETTY IMAGES; ELENABSL/ADOBE STOCK Their technological wish lists included computer-enhanced was also provided, in part, by the generous contributions of the RAND information processing, improved physical performance, Center for Global Risk and Security Advisory Board. Mobile Phone Surveillance During Pandemics Tech companies have responded to the new realities of life The most common apps in the study were contact trac- under COVID-19 with mobile apps that can check symp- ers. They use a phone’s Bluetooth signal to detect when toms, trace contacts, even monitor compliance with stay- someone with a confirmed case of COVID-19 gets at-home orders. But users need to know what they’re giving too close. But even within that category, some up when they click “download.” apps far outperformed others when it came to The same app that can flag a fever might also feed sensitive privacy protections.

Load more

  24

Copy Link