Policy Currents | The newsletter for policy people
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** March 11, 2025
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Why Gaza Is the Land of "No Good Options"
What might happen if Israel and Hamas agreed to a final hostages-for-prisoners exchange and ended the war in Gaza?
According to RAND's Raphael Cohen, Hamas would likely be able to rebuild and remain a significant military organization. If this happens, then excluding Hamas from governance in Gaza--as Israel, the United States, and others have insisted--will be challenging. This would also make it much harder for the enclave to obtain the security commitments and financing necessary for what will be a massive reconstruction effort.
Finally, if Hamas regains power in Gaza, then the chance of a durable political settlement with Israel is slim to none. On this trajectory, Cohen says, the question is not if but when another Gaza war will erupt.
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Teachers Need More Training on Curriculum Materials
Five years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, public school students haven't rebounded as everyone had hoped. One way to address this, says RAND's Julia Kaufman, is to ensure that teachers receive the training they need to effectively use curriculum materials. (Recent RAND survey data show that only about 10 percent of U.S. teachers say their training program emphasized this.) "It takes considerable skill and subject-matter knowledge to use any materials thoughtfully and productively," Kaufman says. Ample, hands-on training can enable teachers to help more students catch up and meet state academic standards.
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Dealing with North Korea as It Deepens Cooperation with Russia
North Korea's growing friendship with Russia could yield benefits that embolden Kim Jong-un, says RAND's Naoko Aoki. To start, the Korean People's Army is gaining valuable combat experience fighting alongside Russia in Ukraine. Pyongyang may also believe that cooperation with Russia will create space to pursue its goals more assertively. One way the United States can prevent such cooperation from becoming a bigger problem, Aoki says, is to "show unflinching support for South Korea's defense."
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** RAND Recommends
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- RAND Europe's James Black discusses cost asymmetry in warfare in the National Interest. He says that leaders now face more strategic questions because it's so cheap to attack and so expensive to defend.
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- California's efforts to review long prison sentences have made some progress. RAND's Lou Mariano, coauthor of a recent evaluation of the resentencing pilot program, tells KQED that the cases reviewed show a clear alignment with the motivation of responding to the "get tough" legislation of the late '90s.
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- Architect Magazine highlights key takeaways from a recent RAND report that reveals pressing gaps between architectural education and professional practice and aims to adapt the role of architecture in social change and innovation.
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** Events
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RAND Health Care Workforce Summit
Monday, March 17, 2025 (Washington, DC)
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Policy Lab: Why AI Projects Fail
Wednesday, March 26, 2025 (Online)
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