Policy Currents | The newsletter for policy people
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** May 6, 2025
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How Are America's Pre-K Teachers Doing?
Public school pre-K teachers are a distinct and growing part of the educator workforce, but they are often excluded from education research. To learn more about this overlooked population--and help schools make the most of their pre-K programs--we recently added pre-K teachers to the RAND American Educator Panels.
The results from our first survey, conducted in spring 2024, reveal important insights about how America's public school pre-K teachers are doing. Here are some of the findings:
- Almost twice as many pre-K teachers said they experienced frequent job-related stress as similar working adults.
- Eighteen percent of pre-K teachers intended to leave their jobs by the end of the 2023-2024 school year. (That's compared with 22 percent of public school K12 teachers and 24 percent of similar working adults.)
- Pre-K teachers' top-ranked sources of job-related stress were managing student behavior, low pay, supporting student mental health and well-being, and administrative work outside teaching.
- Pre-K teachers reported earning nearly $7,000 less in base pay, on average, than their K-12 counterparts and about $24,000 less than similar working adults.
- Pre-K teachers reported working an average of 47 hours per week--eight more than the 39 hours they were contracted to work.
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Ukraine Is Not Fighting a “Proxy War”
The term "proxy war" generally describes situations where one country provides military support to another country that is engaged in a conflict. Many have applied this label to the conflict in Ukraine. But according to RAND's Stephen Webber, the term is both inaccurate and unhelpful. The "proxy war" designation deprives all parties of agency, especially the Ukrainians. It also oversimplifies the complex relationships on all sides of the war. And it's not just a simple misnomer, Webber says. Thinking of the conflict in this way "can translate into ineffective policies with bad outcomes."
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Are America’s Indo-Pacific Friends Flirting with China?
This could be the most volatile geopolitical moment in the Indo-Pacific since World War II, says RAND's Derek Grossman. That's because, in response to uncertainty surrounding U.S. policy, America's allies and partners in the region have been exploring the possibility of relying less on the United States and pivoting more toward China. It's still early days, and much will depend on how Washington calibrates its approach and how Beijing handles its newfound influence. But Grossman emphasizes that a future tilt toward China could be reversed by engaging allies and partners in ways that provide economic benefits and safeguard the region from China's aggression.
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** RAND Recommends
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- Most clicked last week: our new report on how Russia's use of mercenaries in Africa has changed in recent years.
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- RAND Europe's Stijn Hoorens explains how the Netherlands is experimenting with the regulation of cannabis sales--and what policymakers might learn from it.
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- Bryan Dowd of the University of Minnesota and RAND's Tim McDonald explore how employers and employees can use their insurance benefit designs to make health care more affordable.
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** Events
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How Resilient Is China's Economy?
Wednesday, May 21, 2025 (Online)
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Policy Lab: Protecting Schools, Protecting Students
Thursday, May 22, 2025 (Online)
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Admissions Webinar: Master of National Security Faculty Panel
Wednesday, May 28, 2025 (Online)
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At the RAND School of Public Policy, you'll gain the skills and knowledge needed to shape a better tomorrow. Full-time and part-time master's degree programs are available at our campuses in Santa Monica, CA, and Arlington, VA.
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