Frequently Asked Questions

This page provides answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) for those who are considering participating in the RAND study on teaching about Jewish identity and history.

Frequently Asked Questions

If I’m interested, what should I do next?

Fill out the interest survey. Within 24 hours, a member of the study team will reply to set up a time for a virtual meeting to share more information about participation and answer your questions.

Which educators are eligible to participate?

Middle school (grades 6-8) and high school (grades 9-12) English language arts and social studies teachers in traditional public schools are eligible to participate.

Unfortunately, we are not able to include charter and private school teachers in this project.

What is the purpose of the study?

RAND is conducting a study that evaluates the impact of classroom lessons on topics related to Jewish identity and history. The goal of the study is to understand how the lessons build students’ knowledge about these topics and the lessons’ effectiveness in combating antisemitism. Study results will be used to identify high-impact lessons and improve lessons for future use.

When is the study taking place?

Participating teachers will be asked to implement their lessons during the 2026–2027 school year. Teachers will be assigned lessons that align with the content they are already planning to teach. Priority will given to teachers covering this content in fall 2026.

What will districts be asked to do?

RAND will establish research agreements with participating districts that detail the study procedures, all data collection instruments (e.g., student and teacher surveys), consent procedures, and data security protocols.

Upon execution of the research agreements, RAND will ask participating districts to support teacher-level recruitment by helping researchers connect with middle and high school principals and middle and high school ELA and social studies teachers.

What will teachers be asked to do?

Teacher participation in all study activities is completely voluntary. All teachers will be asked to complete a set of core study activities. In addition, teachers will have the option to choose to complete supplemental study activities.

Core study activities

• Teach assigned lessons: Participating teachers will be asked to implement one lesson spanning 1 to 4 class periods (i.e., 45 minutes to 3 hours). Teachers will be assigned lessons that align with the content they are already planning to teach.
• Take two brief surveys: All teachers participating in the study will be asked to complete a 15-minute survey before and after they teach the assigned lesson. These surveys will allow us to understand teachers’ experiences with using the lessons.
• Administer provided student assessments: Teachers will first help us obtain student consent to participate in the study. All students who agree to participate will be asked to complete a 15-minute assessment before and after lesson implementation.

Teachers will receive $500 for completing these core study activities.

Supplemental study activities

• Teacher Interviews: We will ask a subset of teachers to participate in a voluntary virtual interview with the RAND research team to learn about their experience teaching the content in more detail.
• Student Interviews: We will conduct voluntary, virtual interviews with a subset of students to learn about their experiences in more detail. We will ask participating teachers to help us recruit students to participate.

Teachers will receive $100 for completing each of these supplemental study activities.

What’s on the student assessment?

The student assessment will include a set of questions to assess students’ factual content knowledge about the topics they learned about during the lesson. In addition, the assessment will be used to measure shifts in students’ attitudes towards Jewish people and social and emotional competencies.

How will schools and districts benefit?

Participating schools and districts will have access to high-quality, vetted lessons created by content experts that will be ready to use off-the-shelf. Teachers will be provided lesson plans, teaching resources (e.g., videos, articles, primary sources), and implementation supports (e.g., videos or articles to support teacher knowledge). Lessons are on topics that teachers are often already required to teach.

Results will be available to the public in 2027.

How will teachers benefit?

We will provide up to $700 in incentives to participating teachers (A $500 e-gift card to all participating teachers, $100 for teachers who complete an interview, and $100 for teachers who assist with student interviews).

In addition, teachers will be provided high-quality, vetted lessons created by content experts that will be ready to use off-the-shelf. Teachers will be able to continue using these lessons in future school years if they wish.

How will students benefit?

Students will be exposed to content that is designed to increase their knowledge on topics often included in state standards. In addition, the lessons may reduce antisemitic biases and enhance social and emotional competencies, like empathy and tolerance.

What are the lessons about, and how long will they take?

Participating teachers will be invited to complete one of four types of lessons, depending on which subject and grade they teach. Lessons will be aligned to common ELA and social studies standards.

• Middle or high school ELA: Teachers will receive one lesson spanning 2 class periods (i.e., ~90 minutes) to accompany their instruction on a Holocaust-focused novel (e.g., Night, The Diary of a Young Girl, or Maus).
• Middle or high school social studies: Teachers will receive one lesson on the Holocaust, designed to span 4 class periods (i.e., ~3 hours).
• High school social studies: Teachers will receive one lesson on the Arab-Israeli conflict or Israel in the post-WWII period, designed to span 1 class period (i.e., ~45 minutes).
• High school social studies: Teachers will receive one lesson on Jewish identity and immigration, designed to span 1 class period (i.e., ~45 minutes)

If districts provide permission, teachers may also express interest in teaching two lessons. Teaching more than one lesson would be entirely voluntary, and teachers would receive twice the amount of incentive for teaching two lessons.

Who is creating these lessons?

Lessons are created by vetted Holocaust and Jewish history education expert organizations.

How were the lessons selected?

Lessons were vetted using rubrics evaluating the quality of their content and pedagogical approaches. Lessons were evaluated on criteria such as whether they promote student-centered learning experiences; are aligned to grade-appropriate standards for social studies and ELA; include primary and secondary sources that are engaging and factually-accurate; and provide differentiated strategies to meet the learning needs of diverse students.

How will lessons be assigned to teachers?

To help make lessons easier to integrate into teachers’ instruction, we plan to match teachers with content they are already planning to teach during the 2026-2027 school year. For instance, we will provide Holocaust-focused lessons to teachers who are already planning to teach about the Holocaust as part of their regular scope and sequence of instruction.

Will the lessons displace or supplement teachers’ existing lessons?

This may vary from teacher-to-teacher and is up to teachers’ discretion. For some teachers, the lessons provided may be all they plan to teach about the given topic. For other teachers, the provided lesson may be one part of a larger set of lessons they plan to teach.

Are there any risks? How will the study protect teachers’ and students’ information?

There are no known or anticipated risks. As with any data collection, a risk of potential breach of confidentiality is possible. RAND takes the security of teacher and child data very seriously, and we institute strong data safeguarding procedures to minimize that risk.

RAND will keep districts’, schools’, teachers’ and students’ information and results confidential. RAND will not share any information teachers or students provide to anyone outside the research team.

All information will be reported in totals, averages, and statistics; individual answers and names of districts, schools, teachers, and students will not be included in any study report.

Who can I contact if I have questions?

You may reach project leaders Ashley Woo (awoo@rand.org) and Anna Shapiro (ashapiro@rand.org) by email if you have any questions or concerns about this research study.

If you have any questions about your rights as a research participant, or if you have a concern about this study, you may contact the Institutional Review Board listed below, and reference study number 2025-N0370:

RAND Human Subjects Protection Committee
RAND
1776 Main Street
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Telephone: (866) 697-5620
hspcinfo@rand.org