Young teens undergo multiple changes that seem to set them apart from other students. But do middle schools actually meet their special needs? The authors describe some of the challenges and offer ways to tackle them, such as reassessing the organization of grades K-12; specifically assisting the students most in need; finding ways to prevent disciplinary problems; and helping parents understand how they can help their children learn at home.
With four million Syrian refugees as of September 2015, there is urgent need to develop both short-term and long-term approaches to providing education for the children of this population. This report reviews Syrian refugee education for children in the three neighboring countries with the largest population of refugees—Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan—and analyzes four areas: access, management, society, and quality.
The National Guard Youth Challenge (ChalleNGe) program serves young people who are experiencing difficulty in traditional high school through a quasi-military, 5.5-month residential program. The RAND Corporation's ongoing analyses of the ChalleNGe program are designed to meet multiple objectives. The first is to gather and analyze existing data from each ChalleNGe site to support the program's yearly report to Congress. To that end, the authors of this report document the progress of program participants (or "cadets") in 2019 and 2020. Participation in the ChalleNGe program remains strong; nearly 13,000 young people entered the ChalleNGe program during 2019, and over 9,500 of those graduated. Among graduates, the vast majority left the program with a recognized credential or with credits toward high school graduation. ChalleNGe is a well-established program with sites in the majority of states, but given the relatively short duration of the residential portion, the program provides limited career and technical training. In recent years, Job ChalleNGe programs have been established at six sites. Job ChalleNGe builds on the ChalleNGe model by providing additional training to ChalleNGe graduates. Job ChalleNGe provides this training through a 5.5-month residential program that focuses on developing career and technical skills. The authors of this report provide initial implementation findings in this document and include a summary of planned future analyses to support ChalleNGe and Job ChalleNGe. Additionally, the authors examine some of the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on both programs.
This report examines the labor markets in Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon for Syrian migrants fleeing the civil war. Each country has its specific challenges, and recommendations are tailored to each to improve the socioeconomic environment for all.
Despite strong economic growth during the last decade, youth unemployment in Jordan remains stubbornly high, and labor-force participation markedly low. Young women in particular face labor market barriers in access to many career paths, and their job aspirations are often discouraged by their parents. Graduates of secondary and postsecondary institutions do not possess the requisite technical and soft skills needed for the jobs they expect to get. Facing poor economic prospects and inadequate income, youth are unable to marry, afford to live independently, or support a family. The youth unemployment crisis appears set to plague the country as well as the Middle East region for years to come in the absence of offsetting policy. This study examines the perceptions of young Jordanian men and women on issues relevant to their transitions into adult roles, specifically aspirations for work and family. To achieve the study objectives, we conducted 13 focus groups and 14 one-on-one qualitative interviews withyoung Jordanians (ages 15-30). Participants came from the nation's capital, Amman, as well as the less urbanized nearby area of Zarqa. We place these subjective perceptions into perspective through a literature review and secondary analysis of national statistics, as well as interviews with experts."--"Abstract" on web page.
As the Kurdistan Region-Iraq develops rapidly, it is creating jobs that require a solid education and technical skills. The government has launched an ambitious reform of basic and secondary education to increase its quality and has expanded opportunities for tertiary technical and university education. But expansion of secondary vocational education has lagged, leaving many students who cannot or do not want to pursue post-secondary education without the necessary preparation to compete in the evolving labor market and contribute to its economy. Enrollment in secondary vocational education has diminished in recent years, and graduates often have difficulty finding employment because their programs have not given them the skills required by employers. At the same time, employers complain that graduates from local general and vocational educational institutions do not possess the skills they need, and are said to resort to hiring foreign labor whenever they cannot find local graduates. As part of its sweeping efforts to transform education, the Kurdistan Regional Government asked the RAND Corporation to assess its Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system. The findings suggest several recommendations for improving TVET, particularly at the secondary level. Rather than implementing all of these at once, the report suggests three phases (short term, medium term and long term) to allow for measured implementation.
The study addresses the question of how the Kurdistan Regional Government can improve the private-sector labor market in the Kurdistan Region-Iraq (KRI). Doing so will involve creating mechanisms by which job-seekers can develop the right skills and find employers who will hire them, employers can find the employees they need, and the government can create an enabling environment in which the best matches between job-seekers and employers can be made. The study estimates the likely number and education levels of new job-seekers through 2020. It conducts an original, scientific survey to learn about employer perceptions of skill gaps in the KRI. Then, it investigates sectoral employment growth in comparison economies to identify promising growth sectors. Finally, it outlines policy steps for the government to take to improve the functioning of the private-sector labor market.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) began an ambitious reform of the Kurdistan Region {u2014} Iraq's (KRI's) kindergarten through grade 12 (K{u2013}12) education system beginning in 2007 in an effort to modernize the curriculum, upgrade school facilities, and raise the quality of instruction. In 2010, RAND was asked to conduct a one-year study to assess the status of the K{u2013}12 system and its reform, and to develop strategic priorities and make practical recommendations for improving access to and quality of education in Kurdistan. In a one-year, multi-method study, RAND researchers analyzed school data from the KRG's Ministry of Education, as well as data from other KRI government sources and Iraq; interviewed a wide variety of stakeholders; surveyed teachers; reviewed the new K{u2013}12 curriculum and the curriculum used in the teacher colleges; developed a model to project future student enrollment; used geographic information system mapping to display the distribution of schools and assess the feasibility of proposed actions; and reviewed the literature on best practices and relevant educational policies. The outcome was three strategic priorities for improving the K{u2013}12 system: expand capacity to meet the rapidly growing demand for education, improve the quality of instruction, and strengthen stakeholders' accountability and incentives. In line with these priorities, RAND recommended that the KRG build new schools and classrooms, hire new teachers, improve teacher training for both practicing and new teachers, increase instructional time, provide high-performing students with broadened learning opportunities, restructure the role of supervisors, redesign the system for evaluating teacher performance, increase the principal's role, reward high-performing schools, measure student achievement and progress and make the results public, and involve parents and the public in promoting education. RAND also suggested ways to implement the recommendations that would make the process manageable.
Young women in Egypt face substantial inequalities in the labor market in terms of employment opportunities and wages. Labor force participation of young women is low and unemployment is high. Although education disparities between Egyptian women and men have diminished, women continue to earn less than men and face numerous challenges in finding employment. Furthermore, far more young women than young men are not in employment, education, or training. These indicators suggest that young Egyptian women seeking work face persistent structural challenges in securing employment. Key obstacles include the high cost of childcare, the expectation that women carry out the majority of household responsibilities, negative attitudes toward women in the workplace, lack of mobility, legal barriers, persistent wage gaps, sexual harassment in the workplace, and poor enforcement of anti-discrimination laws. The authors of this report assert that women's vastly disproportionate struggles to contribute economically are likely to seriously impede improvement of Egypt's economic outlook. Society is not fully reaping the rewards of its investments in human capital, as evidenced by the combination of women's growing educational attainment and their low employment. The authors point out that Egypt has allocated resources to expand education access, but has not provided a major beneficiary of this expanded access the opportunity to fully contribute to the country's growth and development. In this report, the authors examine the issues that are constraining young women in Egypt in terms of labor force participation and employment, consider governmental and nongovernmental initiatives that are underway to address these issues, and present policy considerations that can build on current efforts to help economically empower young women.
This monograph provides strategies to reemploy civil-service workers in the private sector and to increase private-sector employment in the Kurdistan Region-Iraq. Prepared for and at the request of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), this monograph is based on a variety of research methods and analyses. These include a review of the existing literature, analyses of survey data, analysis of Kurdistan regional and Iraqi national documents and laws, and a qualitative assessment of numerous conversations with government officials and private-sector employers. The KRG can develop its private sector by removing obstacles to starting or expanding a business, by identifying sectors for which conditions are particularly favorable for private-sector growth and supporting them, and by outsourcing and privatizing some functions that the KRG currently performs. However, private-sector growth does not guarantee that civil-service workers will leave for private-sector employment. Civil-service workers will need the qualifications necessary for private-sector jobs and will have to expect that the benefits of private-sector employment outweigh the benefits of civil-service employment. At the same time, as the KRG devises methods for encouraging civil-service workers to leave for the private sector, a key challenge will be to ensure that the KRG is able to retain the employees it needs in order to ensure the proper functioning of government.
The book examines the growing tension between social movements that embrace egalitarian and inclusivist views of national and global politics, most notably classical liberalism, and those that advance social hierarchy and national exclusivism, such as neoliberalism, neoconservatism, and national populism. In exploring issues relating to tensions and conflicts around globalization, the book identifies historical patterns of convergence and divergence rooted in the monotheistic traditions, beginning with the ancient Israelites that dominated the Near East during the Axial age, through Islamic civilization, and finally by considering the idealism-realism tensions in modern times. One thing remained constant throughout the various historical stages that preceded our current moment of global convergence: a recurring tension between transcendental idealism and various forms of realism. Transcendental idealism, which prioritize egalitarian and universal values, pushed periodically against the forces of realism that privilege established law and power structure. Equipped with the idealism-realism framework, the book examines the consequences of European realism that justified the imperialistic venture into Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America in the name of liberation and liberalization. The ill-conceived strategy has, ironically, engendered the very dysfunctional societies that produce the waves of immigrants in constant motion from the South to the North, simultaneously as it fostered the social hierarchy that transfer external tensions into identity politics within the countries of the North. The book focuses particularly on the role played historically by Islamic rationalism in translating the monotheistic egalitarian outlook into the institutions of religious pluralism, legislative and legal autonomy, and scientific enterprise at the foundation of modern society. It concludes by shedding light on the significance of the Muslim presence in Western cultures as humanity draws slowly but consistently towards what we may come to recognize as the Global Age. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781003203360, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.
With four million Syrian refugees as of September 2015, there is urgent need to develop both short-term and long-term approaches to providing education for the children of this population. This report reviews Syrian refugee education for children in the three neighboring countries with the largest population of refugees—Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan—and analyzes four areas: access, management, society, and quality.
Young teens undergo multiple changes that seem to set them apart from other students. But do middle schools actually meet their special needs? The authors describe some of the challenges and offer ways to tackle them, such as reassessing the organization of grades K-12; specifically assisting the students most in need; finding ways to prevent disciplinary problems; and helping parents understand how they can help their children learn at home.
Reform-minded leaders of Qatar, who have embarked on a sweeping reform of their nation's education system, asked RAND to evaluate their education finance system and offer suggestions for improvements. The authors analyze the system's evolution and resource allocation patterns between 2004 and 2006 and develop analytic tools for performing the evaluation, including a framework that allows assessment of the system in light of six main objectives.
Summarizes the education and labor market initiatives implemented or under way in four countries in the Arab region--Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates--to address the human resource issues they each face as they prepare their countries for a place in the 21st century global economy. Together, these countries highlight the variety of challenges faced by countries in the region and responses to those challenges.
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 712: Optimization of Tack Coat for HMA Placement presents proposed test methods for measuring the quality and performance characteristics of tack coat in the laboratory and the field, and includes a training manual presenting proposed construction and testing procedures for tack coat materials.
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