January 19, 2024

A total of $13.9 million in grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will strengthen RAND’s research panels by extending the American School District Panel, adding preschool teachers to the American Teacher Panel, and creating two new panels: an American Youth Panel and American Parent Panel.

RAND’s panels consist of nationally representative participants who agree to take surveys over time for research purposes. Survey results reveal relevant and timely information about issues and concerns on important, policy-related topics.

RAND fields the surveys to participants online and makes the de-identified survey results available for free to benefit the public good.

Currently, RAND operates the 6,000-participant RAND American Life Panel and three education-focused panels that provide feedback on educational policy and practice: 25,000 teachers in the American Teacher Panel; 8,000 principals in the American School Leader Panel; and 1,000 districts in the American School District Panel. Previously, only adults were surveyed, but this gift expands RAND’s capacity to glean insights from youth.

The youth panel will consist of approximately 4,000 youth ages 12–21, with about 5,000 participants on the parent panel. Initial plans are for the new panels to gather data on youth and parent perceptions of schooling experiences. The youth panel will address such topics as attitudes toward math, connectedness to school, and college and career plans.

RAND education surveys in recent years have yielded important information about such diverse topics as teacher well-being and burnout, the effects of COVID-19 on education, and a teacher and substitute teacher shortage.

Students over the age of 18 will be recruited directly; parental consent is required for those under 18. Future survey topics are to be determined but will be restricted to topics that benefit educators, students, and the public interest.

“We chose RAND for this investment because of RAND’s long-standing reputation for objective, data-driven, nonpartisan research, which will enable us to unlock deeper insights into national and state trends,” said Adam Goldfarb, program officer at the foundation. “The new panels will complement RAND’s teacher and school leader panels, providing our foundation and the field with access to timely, strategy-relevant data about student achievement.”

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation describes itself as “a nonprofit fighting poverty, disease, and inequity around the world.” It has a track record of engaging with K–12, with recent investments in understanding and promoting math education.

“We want to hear directly what youth are thinking and learn about their experiences,” said Heather L. Schwartz, a senior policy researcher at RAND who directs the Pre-K to 12 Educational Systems Program and codirects the American District Panel.

“Not all nationally representative surveys are equally rigorous or transparent about their methodology,” said Schwartz, “but what’s great about these panels is that you can have confidence that the results truly represent the people that you care about. In the past, we’ve been able to get education-related information directly from teachers and school leaders across the United States. Now, we can get it directly from youth, which adds a whole new dimension to our research, and enables us to juxtapose the results from our various panels.”

RAND will field its first youth panel survey by summer 2024, followed by approximately four short surveys to youth per year.

Also starting in 2024, RAND plans to open the youth panel to additional funders to field surveys. RAND would also like to increase the number of youths who participate in the panel over time to allow for more state-representative or subgroup-specific surveys.