Policy Currents | The newsletter for policy people
Web version: [link removed]


** Aug 29, 2023

The State of Public Education Right Now

Every year, RAND fields more than a dozen surveys of teachers, principals, and superintendents across the United States. Their responses--and our researchers' analysis of those responses--reveal key insights about challenges facing both educators and students. As millions of kids head back to the classroom this fall, here are five trends shaping public education in America:

- Educator turnover has increased nationally. This comes after turnover held steady in the school year immediately following the onset of the pandemic.
- Far more teachers experience frequent job-related stress when compared with other working adults.
- It's become more common for math teachers to skip over content that is part of their state's standards.
- State restrictions on classroom discussions of politicized issues, such as race- and gender-related topics, are affecting how teachers do their jobs.
- Teachers are divided about whether arming themselves would make schools safer. Fifty-four percent think that teachers carrying guns would make schools less safe, while 20 percent believe it would increase school safety.

Read more: [link removed]


Technologies That Could Help Defend Taiwan

If China were to invade Taiwan, U.S. and allied forces would likely struggle to defend the island--partly because of Beijing's wide array of sensors and weapon systems. Experts from RAND and the Special Competitive Studies Project recently took a new approach to understand the potential China-Taiwan invasion scenario, involving Silicon Valley technologists in a unique series of wargames. Ultimately, these games led to 17 tech-based solutions that can support a U.S. advantage in the Indo-Pacific.

Read more: [link removed]


Spending on Mental Health Services Surged After COVID-19

A new RAND study finds that spending on mental health services among Americans with private health insurance has risen by more than half since the beginning of the pandemic. This increase has continued even as telehealth use has plateaued. According to RAND's Jonathan Cantor, the lead author of the study, if this surge in utilization drives higher health care spending, then insurers might start pushing back. For example, insurers may look for ways to curb costs, leading to less flexibility for consumers to use virtual mental health services.

Read more: [link removed]


** RAND Recommends
- RAND's Dara Massicot spoke to the New York Times following Russian reports of Yevgeny Prigozhin's death. The former Wagner Group leader "developed a kind of main character syndrome," she said. "And in Russia, there is only one main character. He sits in the Kremlin."
[link removed]

- Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates were invited to join BRICS. RAND's Michelle Grise weighed in on what these invitations mean for the Middle East.
[link removed]

- A new RAND study reveals that patient experiences with hospitals significantly worsened during the first two years of the pandemic.
[link removed]


** Events
Introducing a Toolkit for Improving Instructional System Coherence
Thursday, August 31, 2023 (Online)
[link removed]


Policy Lab: Building the U.S. Workforce Through Stackable Credentials
Thursday, September 28, 2023 (Online)
[link removed]


** About RAND
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis.

Follow Us:
Twitter: [link removed]
Facebook: [link removed]
LinkedIn: [link removed]
Instagram: [link removed]


Privacy statement
[link removed]

Unsubscribe
[link removed]

Manage your subscriptions
[link removed]

RAND Corporation
1776 Main Street
Santa Monica, CA 90401-3208

RAND is a registered trademark.