Scott Naftel

Despite recent progress in reading achievement among primary-grade children, many are not moving beyond basic decoding to fluency and comprehension as they go on to higher grades. RAND evaluated the impact of reading coaches: master teachers who offer ongoing on-site instructional support for teachers; and, on teaching practices and student outcomes in Florida middle schools. This title presents results from a RAND evaluation of the implementation and impact of the reading coach program in Florida middle schools.

This report presents an independent implementation evaluation of the Re-Engineering Systems of Primary Care Treatment in the Military (RESPECT-Mil) Program, a system of care designed to screen, assess, and treat PTSD and depression among active duty service members in Army primary care settings. Analyses were based on existing program data used to monitor fidelity across clinics, as well as discussions with key stakeholders.

Analyses of data on service academy entrants show that, although the percentages of women and nonwhite entrants have increased, these groups tend to graduate and complete their initial service obligation at lower rates than their counterparts. However, in recent cohorts, these groups showed improved graduation rates. The study resulted in several recommendations for the U. S. Department of Defense to support service efforts to increase diversity.

Pilot survey of military retirees provides useful information on retirees' health care status, civilian health insurance enrollment, and reliance on TRICARE, the Department of Defense sponsored health care plan. Findings suggest that retirees with civilian health insurance also continue to rely on TRICARE for medical and drug coverage and that higher premiums for civilian health insurance may cause them to shift entirely to TRICARE.

Presents first year findings from an evaluation of teacher education reform at four institutions under the Teachers for a New Era initiative. Teachers for a New Era encourages improvements in teacher education through grants and technical assistance, expecting grantee institutions to implement the program's design principles. The authors helped evaluate the initial progress of the first four TNE grantees and derive some early lessons learned from the effort. The report profiles each institution, summarizes its design proposal, describes its implementation progress and the relevant state policy contexts, and provides an overview of the first year.

This study sets forth the RAND statistical analyses determining both the areas of significant progress in the New American Schools scale-up of implementation of its whole-school reform designs, and various other areas in need of additional attention. New American Schools (NAS) was founded in 1991 as a private, non-profit organization dedicated to whole-school reform. NAS's mission is to help schools and districts significantly raise the achievement of large numbers of students with whole-school designs and the assistance design teams provide during the implementation process. NAS is currently in the scale-up phase of its effort in which the designs are being widely diffused in partnering jurisdictions across the nation. An earlier report, Implementation and Performance in New American Schools, by Berends, Kirby, et al. (2001) provided an overview of the progress in implementation and performance in a longitudinal sample of schools three years into the scale-up phase. This report provides an update on the progress of implementation a year later. These schools adopted one of seven NAS designs and are located in one of seven jurisdictions that chose to partner with NAS at the beginning of the scale-up phase. The study focused on three research questions: What was the level of implementation in NAS schools four years after scale-up and how has this changed over time? What factors impeded or facilitated the implementation of NAS designs in these schools? Among schools that dropped the NAS designs, what factors contributed to this decision? The report makes clear that several factors need to be aligned for designs to be well-implemented in schools: strong principal leadership, teachers who support the designs and have a strong sense of efficacy, strong district leadership and support, and clear communication and assistance from design teams. Without strong implementation, the promise of these designs to help schools improve is unlikely to be met. These are sobering and important lessons for federal, state, and local efforts aimed at comprehensive school reform. (PA)