RAND Monograph on U.S. Middle School Challenges and Student Outcomes

A literature review and analysis of research from the last 20 years on American middle schools, conducted by the RAND Corporation. The monograph assesses school effectiveness by focusing on student outcomes like academic achievement and reviews research on teachers, principals, and parents. It describes historical changes, organizational practices, and reforms to identify major challenges facing middle-grade education.

Use Cases

• Analyzing trends in middle school student outcomes based on the review of academic achievement data.
• Researching the impact of organizational and instructional practices on early adolescent development.
• Identifying gaps in educational policy and research for middle-grade reform based on the synthesized literature.
• Studying the relationship between social alienation in middle school and subsequent high school dropout rates.

Strengths

• Synthesizes research literature spanning approximately 20 years.
• Includes analyses of recent national and international data sources.
• Focuses on multiple key players in education: students, teachers, principals, and parents.
• Produced by the RAND Corporation, a noted research institution.

Limitations

• The underlying data tables, column definitions, and sample data are unavailable.
• Row count and dataset size are unknown, limiting suitability assessment.
• The monograph is described as a broad context for decision-making, not a practical 'how-to' guide with raw data.

Provenance

Source

RAND Corporation

Collection Method

Literature review and analysis of national and international data.

Time Range

Research from the last 20 years (relative to the monograph's publication).

Geography

United States