Sheila Nataraj Kirby

As part of a broader research effort examining officer education and development in joint matters, the authors use data analysis and complex modeling to identify billets that that provide and/or require joint experience; and determine whether there are sufficient numbers of officers with joint experience to fill such billets.

Describes accountability models in the manufacturing, job training, legal, and health care sectors; summarizes their effectiveness; and draws specific lessons for educators. Examines five accountability models--two from the manufacturing sector; a performance incentive model used in the evaluation of job training programs for the poor; accountability in the legal sector; and accountability in health care as shown by clinical practice guidelines, use of statistical risk-adjustment methods, and the public reporting of health performance measures. The authors summarize the models' effectiveness and draw lessons for implementing the No Child Left Behind Act.

"Prepared for the Office of the Secretary of Defense."

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.

The New York City Department of Education asked RAND to conduct an independent longitudinal evaluation of its 5th-grade promotion policy. The findings of that study, conducted between March 2006 and August 2009, provide a comprehensive view of the policy's implementation and its impact on student outcomes, particularly for students at risk of retention and those who were retained in grade.

This research, part of a larger project examining the preparation and support of leaders in the medical field, evaluates the need for and feasibility of qualifying health care officers as "joint" officers. An extensive policy review and assessment of data from the 2005 Joint Officer Management survey suggest that such officers are indeed serving in billets that need and provide joint duty experience for which they should receive credit.

To reduce costs and increase interoperability of the military services, a joint medical education and training campus is being established at Fort Sam Houston, Texas with a view to consolidating training across the services. A methodology is outlined for defining and implementing a common standard of practice for a given specialty and its use illustrated through an application to the medical surgical technologist specialty.

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.

The Department of Defense has an identified need to update the practice, policy, and law applied to Joint Officer Management and Joint Professional Military Education. As a lead-in to this study, the 2005 Joint Officer Management Census survey polled officers serving in billets. The authors examine the extent to which officers believe their jobs provide them with joint experience or require joint education or experience and examine how respondents' answers differ across organizations.

After a decade of studies, this report draws together RAND's research on New American Schools, highlighting the organization's significant contribution to comprehensive school reform and noting the challenges that came with implementing whole-school designs. About a decade ago, New American Schools (NAS) set out to address the perceived lagging performance of American students and the lackluster results of school reform efforts. As a private nonprofit organization, NAS's mission was-and is-to help schools and districts raise student achievement levels by using whole-school designs and design team assistance during implementation. Since its inception, NAS has engaged in a development phase (1992-1993), a demonstration phase (1993-1995), and a scale-up phase (1995-present). Over the last ten years, RAND has been monitoring the progress of the NAS initiative. This book is a retrospective on NAS and draws together the findings from RAND research. The book underscores the significant contributions made by NAS to comprehensive school reform but also highlights the challenges of trying to reform schools through whole-school designs. Divided into sections on each research phase, the book concludes with an afterword by NAS updating its own strategy for the future. This book will interest those who want to better understand comprehensive school reform and its effects on teaching and learning within high-stakes accountability environments.

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)

An analysis of the effects of changing family characteristics and demographics on aptitude scores. The conclusions undercut the conventional wisdom about failing schools, deteriorating families, and ineffective public policies.