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In 2018, the RAND Corporation entered into a research-practice partnership (RPP) with Quality Start Los Angeles (QSLA), Los Angeles County's quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) for early learning providers serving children from birth to age 5. RAND conducted a developmental evaluation of selected QSLA components, including coaching, assessment technical assistance, and early learning providers' perceptions of their QSLA quality tier ratings. This report provides insights into the strengths and challenges from the developmental evaluation, and lessons learned from the RPP. The authors present recommendations to help other partnerships—particularly those with multi-organization systems—establish strong and open relationships that can positively influence evidence-based decisionmaking, and ultimately improve child and youth outcomes.
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The Big Lift™ (Big Lift), a collective impact initiative extending from preschool through third grade in San Mateo County, California, aims to boost reading proficiency and kindergarten readiness through four programmatic pillars: High-Quality Preschool, Summer Learning, Attendance, and Family Engagement. In this report, the authors present results describing the early learning outcomes of children from three kindergarten classes who were eligible to participate in Big Lift. This report — part of a multiphase evaluation of Big Lift services — is the third in a series of annual outcome studies that focus on two pillars: High-Quality Preschool and Summer Learning. In earlier reports, the authors examined the early education and summer learning experiences of the 2016–2017 and 2017–2018 kindergarten classes. In this report, the authors continue to follow these children through elementary school and add data for a new class of children, the 2018–2019 kindergarten class. The authors found that Big Lift preschoolers were more likely to be kindergarten-ready than demographically similar peers who did not attend preschool, but were less likely to be ready than peers who attended other community preschools. They also found that most children who attended Big Lift Inspiring Summers (BLIS) before first or second grade maintained or improved their reading levels over the summer. Within a subgroup of lower-income children, children who attended BLIS in the summer after kindergarten had reading levels at the start of first grade that were higher than those of children who did not attend any summer programs.
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The South Carolina Child Early Reading Development and Education Program (CERDEP) is a state-funded full-day four-year-old prekindergarten (4K) program for children at risk of not being ready to start kindergarten. The program is implemented using a mixed-delivery system, with both public school districts and licensed private center–based providers able to serve eligible children. As part of an ongoing commitment by the South Carolina legislature to evaluate aspects of CERDEP, the South Carolina Education Oversight Committee (EOC) contracted with the RAND Corporation to address questions related to teacher education and teacher professional development. The teacher education requirements differ between public school districts and private center–based providers. Teachers in public school districts are required to have a bachelor's degree, while teachers in private centers must have at least an associate degree. In the first half of the report, the authors explore the distribution of teacher education levels among CERDEP teachers in public school districts and private CERDEP providers. The authors also examine the relationship between teacher education levels and assessments of children's language and literacy kindergarten readiness skills at the end of 4K in the private CERDEP settings only. In the second half of the report, the authors document the in-service professional development opportunities available to CERDEP teachers in the 2017–2018 school year, and compare the opportunities available to teachers in the public school districts and private settings.
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Quality Start Los Angeles (QSLA) is a county-level quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) that supports center-based and family child care providers serving children from birth to age five. During a developmental evaluation of QSLA that focused on program coaching, assessment technical assistance, and quality tier rating perceptions, the authors of this report also examined data use at QSLA. In this report, they identified strengths, challenges, and lessons learned that could benefit other QRISs or early learning systems as such organizations create or expand data systems, noting that, even with good intentions and a strong data system infrastructure, data use might not always be implemented as expected.
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To better understand sports participation rates for middle and high school–aged youths, the funding landscape, barriers and enablers to youth sports participation, and perceptions of the benefits and challenges of youth sports, RAND researchers launched three large-scale surveys of parents, school administrators, and community sports program leaders. A separate appendix provides detailed descriptions of survey and analysis methods, additional survey results, and survey protocols. Perceived and actual barriers for middle and high school youths who may be interested in playing sports include financial costs and family time commitments, such as volunteering and providing transportation. Lower-income families in the sample were more likely to name financial costs as a reason for not participating than were middle- and higher-income families. Schools and community-based organizations may need to examine how costs — both time based and financial — currently burdening families can be reduced or supplemented with outside sources. Schools, community sports programs, policymakers, and funders can work to lower fees, particularly for low-income students. Providing equipment and transportation and minimizing parent time commitments may have the greatest effect on increasing sports participation among youths from lower-income families.
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RAND researchers conducted a developmental evaluation of Quality Start Los Angeles (QSLA), the voluntary quality rating and improvement system for early learning providers in Los Angeles County. The goal of the evaluation was to determine whether selected components of the QSLA model were feasible, appropriate, and being implemented as designed. The evaluation focused on two topics: (1) the QSLA assessment process and tier ratings and (2) QSLA coaching. The RAND study team engaged in multiple data-collection and research activities from February 2019 through March 2020, including a survey of early learning providers; administrative data analysis; observations of coaching sessions; and focus groups and interviews with early learning providers, coaches, technical assistants (TAs), and other QSLA stakeholders.
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States and localities throughout the United States are expanding their investments in pre-kindergarten (pre-K) programs. Although spending on publicly funded pre-K programs is well documented, relatively less is known about the true cost to deliver the programs, especially considering varying quality standards and accounting for the resources used at both the provider and system levels. This report attempts to help fill that knowledge gap. The researchers examine seven pre-K systems across six jurisdictions and use two analytical methods — cost data collection and cost modeling — to estimate the cost of a high-quality pre-K program. They also explore whether state-provided funding appears to be adequate to cover the costs of providing high-quality programs. Finally, the researchers outline the challenges in understanding full pre-K program costs and the implications for policymakers and future research. Having a better understanding of the expected costs may inform the initial planning for or expansion of a pre-K investment, guide the mechanism for reimbursing providers of the pre-K program, support estimates of the incremental cost of further quality investments, and even identify the quality enhancements that are the most cost-effective.
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The local governance level in Israel has historically been weak compared with the power of the national government. Many of the issues regarding socioeconomic development and access to opportunity in the wider economy are best addressed at this level. This report discusses three key aspects of Israeli municipalities, with a view toward strengthening the effectiveness and efficiency of local government in Israel, particularly in recruiting personnel to become more-active agents for change. First, the authors make the case for adopting a regional approach to address the fragmented nature of municipal governance and overcome some of the key obstacles confronted when dealing with the problems faced by individual small and poor municipalities. Second, they lay out a model for the hiring and placement of personnel in managerial municipal positions as a partial solution for cronyism and the dearth of skilled leadership and professional staffing that typifies many peripheral localities in Israel. Finally, the authors examine the education services that municipalities would be able to offer their residents, with an emphasis on minority communities. This report should be of interest to those involved in urban and regional transformations, the institutions of democratic governance, and Israeli social and economic development, including those working toward greater inclusion of disadvantaged populations within Israel and more generally.
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In this summary, RAND researchers describe the Partnerships for Social and Emotional Learning Initiative — which is an effort to explore whether and how children benefit when schools and out-of-school time programs partner to improve and align social and emotional learning — as well as what it takes to do this work. The researchers report findings and early lessons from the first two years of implementation in the six participating communities.
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The government of Puerto Rico developed a plan to recover from the destruction caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria, build resilience to withstand future disasters, and restore the struggling economy. The Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center (HSOAC), operated by RAND Corporation under contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, worked with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to assist with the development of the plan. Acting in support of FEMA's Education sector, HSOAC analyzed data sources to conduct an assessment of the damage and recovery needs, and engaged with stakeholders to identify recovery courses of action, costs, and possible funding mechanisms. Education system reforms initiated prior to the hurricanes and poststorm legislation set the strategy for the recovery actions. This report details prestorm conditions, assesses the damage and recovery needs, and describes the courses of action represented in the recovery plan for the Education sector. The analyses, coupled with discussions with local education stakeholders and subject-matter experts, informed the development of 13 courses of action to support Puerto Rico's recovery plan and efforts to transform the education system. The courses of action cover four major themes related to Education sector recovery: rebuilding, repairing, and upgrading infrastructure; strengthening and supporting the government's K–12 system reform; expanding and improving out-of-school and preschool learning opportunities; and increasing access to vocational, technical, and career education and strengthening school-to-work transitions.
Education and state --- Educational change --- Hurricane Maria, 2017. --- Hurricane Irma, 2017. --- Hurricane damage --- Puerto Rico.
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