As digital skills become progressively more essential for workforce participation, addressing foundational digital literacy gaps among disadvantaged workers has become an increasingly pressing issue for achieving economic growth for all. The authors summarize results from a pilot study of a course on foundational computer skills and digital…

The development of effective regional collaborations is essential to address interconnected challenges across education, workforce development, and economic growth. When community colleges, employers, and workforce development boards work together, they can align goals, share resources, and design strategies that strengthen regional economies.…

Rural regions across the United States are facing enduring challenges in aligning postsecondary education with industry and workforce development to advance economic mobility. The Tristate Energy and Advanced Manufacturing (TEAM) Consortium--which spans 45 counties across Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia--brings together ten community…

Micro-credentials are increasingly being adopted across a variety of industries and countries, including the kindergarten through grade 12 education system in the United States, as a way to identify workers with specific skills, knowledge, and competencies. This report presents the results of a study conducted by RAND researchers who investigated…

This report describes how six Colorado community colleges used $1.4 million of pandemic relief funding to support individuals pursuing short-term credentials. The authors examined state and college decisions about program eligibility, student eligibility, grant amounts, funding uses, and application requirements as well as outcomes for those…

Out-of-school-time (OST) programs have long focused on children's social and emotional development as part of their mission of building a culture of connectedness and positive relationships between youth and adults. Research demonstrates that high-quality, evidence-based social and emotional learning (SEL) programs are associated with positive…

School principals are critical to students' academic achievement, second only to teachers. They are the primary agents of change in their schools, fostering supportive learning environments that enhance student learning and teacher effectiveness. Moreover, they often design and oversee the initiatives and hiring to sustain the positive changes…

This report presents summative findings from RAND's six-year evaluation of the BHP Foundation's Education Equity program. The evaluation is based on a review of funded partner organizations' internal program progress reports, performance indicators, and independent project evaluation reports; interviews with representatives from partner…

Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) are government-funded accounts typically established for parents who opt not to enroll their children in public kindergarten through grade 12 (K--12) schools. ESAs allow parents to spend funds that the state would have spent for their student to attend their local public school on a broad array of educational…

Instructional materials, such as printed textbooks and digital resources, are a cornerstone of education in kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12) education and represent a powerful lever for improving classroom instruction. Historically, the selection of instructional materials in the United States has been predominantly led by local school…

In response to the widespread youth mental health crisis, some kindergarten-through-12th-grade (K-12) schools have begun employing artificial intelligence (AI)--based tools to help identify students at risk for suicide and self-harm. The adoption of AI and other types of educational technology to partially address student mental health needs has…

This Perspective builds on a related RAND Corporation report that describes the implementation of Findhelp at four North Carolina community colleges in 2021 and 2022. Findhelp is an online tool to connect students to resources in their communities to help meet their basic nonacademic needs. The North Carolina Community College System, with support…

This report evaluates the effects of Lexia[TM] Core5[TM] Reading (Core5) -- a product of Lexia Learning Systems -- on the reading achievement of students in grades 3-5 during the 2021-2022 academic year. Core5 is a program that focuses on various student literacy skills, such as fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. This report represents the…

Community colleges enroll a diverse set of students who often face challenges meeting their basic needs. This report describes the potential benefits and costs of one low-cost and relatively light-touch tool that colleges might use to increase students' access to basic needs assistance. The authors focus on the Findhelp platform, which is modeled…

Experts from the RAND Corporation prepared this independent report on New Jersey's Tuition Aid Grant (TAG) program for low-income college students. TAG is the nation's most generous state-funded financial aid program on a per-resident-undergraduate basis. Currently, TAG distributes around $475 million in grants per year, and an award covers about…