RAND Corporation

• PRINCETON, N.J., June 7, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ETS CEO Amit Sevak announced the appointment of Daniel McCaffrey as ETS's Frederic M. Lord Chair in Measurement and Statistics.
• "Dan's record of achievement, impact and character embody the spirit of ETS's Lord Chair in Measurement and Statistics," said Sevak.
• In 2000, the ETS Board of Trustees established the Lord Chair to honor ETS Psychometrician Frederic M. Lord for his vast contributions to the fields of statistics and psychometrics.
• McCaffrey will serve as the third ETS Lord Chair, succeeding Robert Mislevy (2010–2021) and Paul Holland (2000–2006).

• During the last several years, tense school board meetings where superintendents were fired erupted in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Oregon, South Carolina and Virginia.
• Within this tense environment, a recent study found that nearly 40% of superintendents reported being threatened or feeling threatened on the job.
• And, 63% of superintendents reported feeling worried about their mental health and well-being over the past two years.

New insights into superintendent turnover

• And for a newly published research study in the academic journal Educational Researcher, I conducted a comprehensive, national analysis of superintendent turnover in over 12,500 public school districts since 2019.
• A superintendent change occurred at least one time in 35% of districts nationwide, and 6% of districts experienced two or more turnover events.
• Though we are unable to determine the exact cause, my research also shows that districts serving larger proportions of students of color were significantly more likely to experience superintendent turnover.

The role of gender

• Town and suburban districts were significantly more likely to experience superintendent turnover than urban and rural districts.
• My research also revealed that superintendent turnover rates for men increased at nearly twice the rate of that for women.
• Though the jump in turnover rate for men could have narrowed the superintendent gender gap, the gap barely budged.
• Among districts that experienced turnover, very few hired a new superintendent who was a different gender than their prior superintendent.

Why superintendent data matters

• For example, ILO Group’s analyses show that half of the nation’s largest 500 districts have experienced superintendent turnover since March 2020.
• Moreover, national, longitudinal superintendent data would allow for deeper examination of the contributors to and consequences of superintendent turnover.
• If ensuring some teachers and students are not disproportionately at risk of undesirable superintendent churn, sustained support for and efforts to collect and analyze national longitudinal superintendent data must be prioritized.

• Analysis in 2018 by research organisation RAND Corporation suggests up to 3% of a country’s GDP could be lost due to lack of sleep.
• On an organisational level, some companies are aware of the benefits of a good night’s sleep.
• They also received advice on the benefits of good quality sleep, the recommended hours of sleep, and strategies to improve sleep.
• Others were offered financial incentives, and were promised payment when extra sleep was tracked on the actigraphs.

A night’s sleep versus a nap

• It also led to a slight reduction in labour supply as people came into the office later because they were asleep for longer.
• Another group of participants were offered the option to take a 30-minute nap in the afternoon in a comfortable and quiet environment.
• Doing this increased productivity by 14%, and our results suggested that taking a midday nap boosted productivity as much as a 50% wage hike.

Limitations of sleep research

• Sleep research tends to focus on nighttime sleep and how it affects people in developed economies.
• More research in this area would be really beneficial both for workers in low income economies and for employers in the developed world.
• Indeed, another more recent article I worked on encourages others to use field experiments to generate more evidence on sleep.

• TaiwanPlus , the nation's premier English-language news outlet, will feature extensive coverage and exclusive interviews to help viewers decipher the dynamics and implications of the 10-day trip.
• A two-part interview with Riley Walters, an Asian affairs expert at Hudson Institute and the Global Taiwan Institute, will stream on TaiwanPlus on April 3 and 4.
• Rand Corporation senior defense analyst Derek Grossman shares his perspective in an interview that will be available the following week.
• "President Tsai Ing-wen's visit with key partners further demonstrates Taiwan's significance to U.S.-China relations and regional security," said TaiwanPlus CEO Michael Yu.