July August 2019 A VISION TO ACHIEVE ZERO ROADWAY DEATHS BY 2050 R PAGE 6 RRREVIEW AT THE CROSSROADS The high costs of SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC disparity The changing language of NEWS IN AMERICA Helping SCHOOL PRINCIPALS succeed TOOL BLOG VIDEO TESTIMONY BOOK RAND A Decision Measuring Potential Ensuring Access 1 Support Tool 2 Social and 3 Impacts of 4 to Timely, for the San Emotional Single-Payer High-Quality Francisco Learning Health Care Health Care for Bay–Delta Levees Educators have questions What do policymakers Veterans Investment Strategy about how to measure need to know when In April 2019, senior The risks facing the social and emotional thinking about single- policy researcher Carrie 100+ islands and tracts learning (SEL) topics payer proposals and Farmer and senior northeast of the San such as relationship their likely effects on behavioral scientist Terri Francisco Bay are skills and self-awareness. cost and access? In this Tanielian submitted complex and varied: The desire to improve video, policy researcher testimony to the U.S. Some are at high risk SEL for all students is Jodi Liu discusses key Senate Committee on from flood damage; water growing, and two newly characteristics of single- Veterans’ Affairs. Their supplies, important developed tools—the payer proposals and comments derive from habitats, and the SEL Assessment Guide their potential impact; a series of studies about Delta’s historical towns, and the RAND Education common misconceptions the VA health care system agricultural land, and Assessment Finder—can and areas of uncertainty; and community care public roadways are also help. and plan details and for veterans conducted at risk. RAND developed implementation by RAND over the past MORE AT a risk modeling www.rand.org/b190328 decisions that would several years. framework and decision affect impacts. Picks Five MORE AT support tool to help MORE AT www.rand.org/t/CT508 in the formation of an www.rand.org/v190123 investment strategy. MORE AT www.rand.org/t/TL266 GETTY IMAGES: ANDREI 1. STANESCU; 2. FATCAMERA; 3. FEODORA CHIOSEA; 4. ALEX POTEMKIN; 5. SIMON MCGILL Countering Violent Extremism in Australia As nations develop programs to prevent 5 homegrown terrorism, there is a dearth of understanding about what types of programs to counter violent extremism exist and which approaches are most effective. This project documents an effort to help program directors and policymakers in Australia place their efforts in context and identify promising approaches internationally. MORE AT www.rand.org/t/RR2168 TOOL BLOG VIDEO TESTIMONY BOOK July–August 2019 RRRREVIEW Smart Investments in School Leadership 10 Helping principals succeed can help students succeed, too Jessica Coley, a principal-in-training in Prince George’s County, Md., examines student projects on a recent school day. Coley is part of a “principal pipeline” to prepare her to succeed as a school leader. Students in districts with pipelines outperformed their peers in reading and math, a recent RAND study found. At the The Chronic Crossroads Stress of Inequity What it would take What disparity to drive roadway looks like in one 6 deaths down to 14 American city person you are talking with: different kinds and zero by 2050 amounts of information are appropriate to pass on to strangers, close friends, professional associates, public officials, etc. W ith strangers, probably the less said the better; but you should try to avoid creating an air of mystery about RAND. Where you think it is appropri­ ate, tell people, without evasiveness, the things you can tell them, and simply do not refer to the things you can­ not tell them. Research Commentary Giving A familyHere are some suggested items of unclassified infor­ mation that can be told to people you know to be 2 Briefly 16 Why women 20 commitmentresponsible: for a The value of belong in Coast new generationThe RAND Corporation is an independent nonprofit corporation engaged in research concerning national good teachers, Guard crews security. Most of its effort is devoted to Project RAND, and more an Air Force research program. The RAND Corporation also does research for the Atomic Energy Commission and sponsors research in the public interest with its own funds. The Q&A POV at RANDom Jennifer Retro RAND: COVER PHOTO BY DKART/GETTY IMAGES; THIS PAGE, JESSICA COLEY BY KAREN SAYRE 4 18 On disagreeing 21 Kavanagh better, not Daddy-o’s (but on truth in disagreeing less no mommy-o’s) journalism in 1957 Project RAND is a broad program of scientific research sponsored by the United States Air Force. Much of its research deals with problems in long­range planning. 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R is a registered trademark. visit www.rand.org/t/CP22-2019-07 TRUSTEESSCHAEFFER EMERITI HAROLD BROWN C O R P O R A T I O N Research Briefly The Value of a Good Teacher Good teachers might be even previously thought when you take into account that spillover effect. (The study identified good teach- more valuable than we thought. ers by estimating the value they added to A recent study found they can lift their students’ test scores, over and above what those students would have achieved the achievement of students they otherwise.) never even met. It could be that better-taught students The study looked at data from more than 500,000 spread their knowledge as they make New York City students as they moved from fifth new friends in middle school. The data grade into middle school. That transition brought showed that the effects tend to cluster them into contact with students from other grade by race and gender, which might sup- schools, as they all fed into the same port that peer-to-peer theory. But it middle school. also could be that the better-taught students freed up their teachers in Students who came from an ef- middle school to help students who fective fifth-grade teacher did were further behind. better on their math and reading tests when they got to middle school. The findings have some important policy That makes sense. But the study found implications—from how districts evaluate teach- students also did better when their class- ers to how they weigh the benefits of teacher- mates came from an effective teacher, even improvement programs. If nothing else, the study when they did not. underscores the impact good teachers can have, far beyond their own classrooms. In fact, the study estimated that the value of a good MORE AT teacher could be at least 30 percent higher than www.rand.org/t/EP67831 GOOD TEACHER: TREEMOUSE/GETTY IMAGES 2 RAND.ORG | JULY–AUGUST 2019 Education and Artificial Intelligence Robot teachers won’t be taking over the classroom anytime Alexa and Siri. They can spot grammatical errors and over- soon. But computers that can think, learn, and even score use of the passive voice; some can also assess an essay’s an essay could help real teachers do their jobs more effec- style and organization. tively, a recent paper concluded. 3 Early warning systems could scan thousands of lines It identified three areas where artificial intelligence of student data to identify students at risk of dropping could help schools in the near term: out or not graduating. That could help educators get help to students who need it, long before 1 Intelligent tutoring systems can walk students through a they would recognize the problem subject like algebra at their themselves. But more still needs own pace with tests and to be done to understand the ac- immediate feedback. curacy of these systems, and any They’ve been around potential bias that could influence since the 1980s, and which students get flagged. many schools already use System developers should a version of them, espe- focus on applying cutting- cially to support math edge AI approaches like instruction. More machine learning to well- advanced versions known challenges in edu- can provide extra cation like these, the paper support to students concluded.