Lydia Rainey

Sep 3, 2024 | districtadministration.com | Lisa Chu |Lydia Rainey

Almost 20% of students are now absent at least 10% of the time, according to our new research. More than that, this new era of chronic absenteeism may be in part the result of a cultural shift, meaning that current intervention strategies won’t work to get all kids back in school. To address the new causes of chronic absenteeism, we need new strategies—which we explore at the end of this commentary.

Aug 27, 2024 | rand.org | Melissa Kay |Melissa Diliberti |Lydia Rainey |Lisa Chu

Key Findings About one in ten districts reported chronic absenteeism levels of 30 percent or more and another two in ten districts reported rates between 20 and 30 percent in the 2023–2024 school year. Although high, these rates were lower than the pandemic peak. In the 2023–2024 school year, nearly all districts (93 percent) tried at least one approach to combat chronic absenteeism.

Apr 17, 2024 | rand.org | Melissa Kay |Lydia Rainey |Robin Lake |Melissa Diliberti

The release of such generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools as ChatGPT in 2022 was a major advancement in the field of AI. Two burning questions for kindergarten through grade 12 (K–12) educators are to what extent new generative AI tools will change teaching and whether they will improve learning. The answers to these questions are not yet clear and likely will not be for some time.