2026-05-05T10:23:39Z Copyright (c) 2026, The RAND Corporation RAND Corporation https://www.rand.org/about/people/s/schwartz_heather_l.html https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2025/10/five-questions-heather-schwartz-on-connecting-schools.html 2025-10-09T08:00:00Z 2025-10-09T08:00:00Z

Heather Schwartz, vice president and director of RAND Education, Employment, and Infrastructure, heads a team of experts tackling real-world challenges from classrooms and careers to housing affordability to a fair justice system and the infrastructure that keeps towns running.

https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2023/08/five-charts-that-tell-us-about-the-state-of-public.html 2023-08-28T16:00:00Z 2023-08-28T16:00:00Z

To monitor education trends, RAND fields more than a dozen surveys per year to teachers, principals, and superintendents. Five charts highlight findings across different areas—staff turnover, teacher well-being, guns in schools, quality of instruction, and politics in schools—that say a lot about the state of American public education.

https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2022/08/educators-poor-morale-matters-even-if-they-dont-quit.html 2022-08-11T13:45:00Z 2022-08-11T13:45:00Z

State and district education leaders can take steps now to reduce teacher and principal stress this fall in two ways: Recognize that job-related stress is systemic and that educators closer to the classroom may experience more of it, and talk with teachers and principals about the sources of stress in their job, and what could alleviate them.

https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2022/03/summer-learning-is-more-popular-than-ever-how-to-make.html 2022-03-30T19:15:00Z 2022-03-30T19:15:00Z

In the best of times, it is no small feat to put together a quality summer learning program. Given that districts are focusing not only on academic recovery from COVID learning loss, but on retaining teachers, supporting students' and teachers' mental health, and addressing increases in misbehavior, they need immediate, digestible guidance for summer programming.

https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2022/03/what-is-really-polarizing-schools-right-now.html 2022-03-14T19:45:00Z 2022-03-14T19:45:00Z

Political polarization that rises to the level of interfering with schooling isn't simply a headache; it's a fundamental problem for public education. When there is deep disagreement over the essentials—what schools teach, how they keep children safe—schools are at risk of becoming ungovernable.

https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2022/02/finding-teachers-and-bus-drivers-is-a-big-problem-but.html 2022-02-17T17:20:00Z 2022-02-17T17:20:00Z

The majority of school districts report they don't have enough staff to hire, particularly substitutes, bus drivers, and special education teachers. A recent survey also revealed a major challenge for the superintendency. Only half of superintendents said they were likely to stay in their jobs for the long term.

https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2021/06/the-remote-learning-paradox-some-educators-parents.html 2021-06-24T15:30:00Z 2021-06-24T15:30:00Z

Despite remote learning not going particularly well during the pandemic, about one-third of U.S. schools are keeping it as an option. Is remote learning a pandemic blip or a permanent feature of public education moving ahead?

https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2021/04/commit-now-to-get-summer-programming-right.html 2021-04-15T20:30:00Z 2021-04-15T20:30:00Z

When summer programs are targeted to needs, intentionally designed, and well attended, they produce positive outcomes in math and reading. But these programs need federal support, and they require early planning.

https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2021/02/lost-learning-and-the-costs-of-covid-19.html 2021-02-10T15:00:00Z 2021-02-10T15:00:00Z

President Biden's plan calls for $130 billion to help schools safely reopen and identifies summer school or other supports to help students compensate for lost learning time as permissible uses of this funding. Recent RAND research can shed light on how Congress might consider divvying up these funds to support students over the next year.

https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2021/01/school-district-leaders-indicate-online-instruction.html 2021-01-27T12:00:00Z 2021-01-27T12:00:00Z

Remote K–12 learning at scale is an unprecedented challenge for everyone involved. It can and would improve dramatically if educators, government, and philanthropy treated it as a work in progress, featuring evidence-based development of quality online curricula, continuous improvement, and engagement of teachers.

https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2020/04/coronavirus-will-require-changes-in-schools-when-they.html 2020-04-16T09:06:00Z 2020-04-16T09:06:00Z

Schools will likely need to modify their practices so that their teachers, staff, and students maintain social distancing standards whenever they reopen. If a federal agency would create guidance, then educators could focus on teaching students.

https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2020/04/schools-pivot-online-in-wake-of-covid-19-qampa-with.html 2020-04-02T20:00:00Z 2020-04-02T20:00:00Z

Nearly all school-age children in the United States are no longer in the classroom as districts shut down to reduce the spread of the new coronavirus. RAND education researchers discuss how this situation might exacerbate educational inequities, how districts and teachers are innovating and what they need, and what parents can do.

https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2018/03/how-can-the-us-do-a-better-job-of-keeping-kids-safe.html 2018-03-26T10:05:00Z 2018-03-26T10:05:00Z

Many proposals to improve school safety promote the use of technology, such as metal detectors and video cameras. How effective are these devices? The evidence is mixed.

https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2016/08/why-rents-have-gone-through-the-roof-in-new-orleans.html 2016-08-02T09:04:00Z 2016-08-02T09:04:00Z

The rental affordability crisis was caused by declining incomes since 2000, the slowing of new construction, households getting smaller, and the seven million foreclosures during the recession. It is a national problem in need of a national solution.

https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2014/06/narrowing-the-income-achievement-gap.html 2014-06-12T10:00:00Z 2014-06-12T10:00:00Z

The achievement gap between children from the highest- and lowest-income families has substantially grown since 1960. The income achievement gap is now about twice the size of the black-white achievement gap.

https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2012/01/narrowing-the-economic-achievement-gap-the-role-of.html 2012-01-11T12:00:00Z 2012-01-11T12:00:00Z

The results from Montgomery County demonstrate that an integrative housing policy can be an effective form of school policy for disadvantaged children, writes Heather Schwartz.