Summer learning programs have the potential to help children and youth improve their academic and other outcomes. This is especially true for children from low-income families who might not have access to educational resources throughout the summer months and for low-achieving students who need additional time to master academic content. However, summer learning programs are often an afterthought of school districts or not offered at all, especially in restrictive funding environments. To focus attention on the potential of such programs, this monograph reviews the literature on summer learning loss and the effectiveness of summer learning programs, determines key cost drivers of and available funds for summer programs, and gathers information about how such programs operate in district and city contexts, including facilitators and challenges. The findings should be of interest to policymakers and practitioners involved in improving the performance of and expanding opportunities for low-income and lowachieving students, including school district and city leaders, the National Summer Learning Association, the Council of the Great City Schools, the U.S. Department of Education, funders of summer learning programs, state departments of education, state legislators, and the education research community. This research was conducted by RAND Education, a unit of the RAND Corporation, and sponsored by The Wallace Foundation, which seeks to support and share effective ideas and practices to improve learning and enrichment opportunities for children. Its current objectives are to improve the quality of schools, primarily by developing and placing effective principals in high-need schools; improve the quality of and access to out-of-school-time programs through coordinated city systems and by strengthening the financial management skills of providers; integrate in-and out-ofschool learning by supporting efforts to reimagine and expand learning time during the traditional school day and year as well as during the summer months, helping to expand access to arts learning, and using technology as a tool for teaching and promoting creativity and imagination. For more information about research on these and other related topics, please visit The Wallace Foundation Knowledge Center at www.

Reversible ubiquitination of activated receptor complexes signals their sorting between recycling and degradation and thereby dictates receptor fate. The deubiquitinating enzyme ubiquitin-specific protease 8 (USP8/UBPy) has been previously implicated in the regulation of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR); however, the molecular mechanisms governing its recruitment and activity in this context remain unclear. Herein, we investigate the role of USP8 in countering ligandinduced ubiquitination and down-regulation of EGFR and characterize a subset of protein-protein interaction determinants critical for this function. USP8 depletion accelerates receptor turnover, whereas loss of hepatocyte growth factor-regulated substrate (Hrs) rescues this phenotype, indicating that USP8 protects EGFR from degradation via an Hrs-dependent pathway. Catalytic inactivation of USP8 incurs EGFR hyperubiquitination and promotes receptor localization to endosomes marked by high ubiquitin content. These phenotypes require the central region of USP8, containing three extended Arg-X-XLys (RXXK) motifs that specify direct low affinity interactions with the SH3 domain(s) of ESCRT-0 proteins, STAM1/2. The USP8⅐STAM complex critically impinges on receptor ubiquitination status and modulates ubiquitin dynamics on EGFR-positive endosomes. Consequently, USP8-mediated deubiquitination slows progression of EGFR past the earlyto-recycling endosome circuit in a manner dependent upon the RXXK motifs. Collectively, these findings demonstrate a role for the USP8⅐STAM complex as a protective mechanism regulating early endosomal sorting of EGFR between pathways destined for lysosomal degradation and recycling.

BackgroundDuring an evolving influenza pandemic, community mitigation strategies, such as social distancing, can slow down virus transmission in schools and surrounding communities. To date, research on school practices to promote social distancing in primary and secondary schools has focused on prolonged school closure, with little attention paid to the identification and feasibility of other more sustainable interventions. To develop a list and typology of school practices that have been proposed and/or implemented in an influenza pandemic and to uncover any barriers identified, lessons learned from their use, and documented impacts.MethodsWe conducted a review of the peer-reviewed and grey literature on social distancing interventions in schools other than school closure. We also collected state government guidance documents directed to local education agencies or schools to assess state policies regarding social distancing. We collected standardized information from each document using an abstraction form and generated descriptive statistics on common plan elements.ResultsThe document review revealed limited literature on school practices to promote social distancing, as well as limited incorporation of school practices to promote social distancing into state government guidance documents. Among the 38 states that had guidance documents that met inclusion criteria, fewer than half (42%) mentioned a single school practice to promote social distancing, and none provided any substantive detail about the policies or practices needed to enact them. The most frequently identified school practices were cancelling or postponing after-school activities, canceling classes or activities with a high rate of mixing/contact that occur within the school day, and reducing mixing during transport.ConclusionLittle information is available to schools to develop policies and procedures on social distancing. Additional research and guidance are needed to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of school practices to promote social distancing.

We conduct the first nationwide study of incentives under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, which requires states to punish schools failing to meet target passing rates on students' standardized exams. States' idiosyncratic policies created variation in the risk of failure among very similar schools in different states, which we use to identify effects of accountability pressure. We find NCLB lowers teachers' perceptions of job security, shifts time towards specialist teachers in high-stakes subjects and away from whole-class instruction, and has positive or neutral effects on students' enjoyment of learning and achievement in reading, math, and science. (JEL H52, H75, I21, I28, J45)

This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited. Permission is given to duplicate this document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial use. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions. The RAND Corporation is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous. RAND is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and committed to the public interest. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.

No abstract

Different types of public housing have a modest impact on the health composition of one's social network, suggesting the importance of housing policy for health.

The objective of this qualitative study was to explore the perspectives of school and preparedness officials on the feasibility of implementing a range of social distancing practices to reduce influenza transmission during a pandemic. In the summer of 2017, we conducted 36 focus groups by teleconference and webinar lasting 90 min with school and preparedness stakeholders from across the United States. We identified and characterized 11 themes arising from the focus group protocol's domains as well as unanticipated emergent themes. These themes were: the need for effective stakeholder communication, the importance of partnering for buy-in, the role of social distancing in heightening anxiety, ensuring student safety, how practices work in combination, challenges with enforcement, lack of funding for school nurses, differing views about schools' role in protecting public health, the need for education and community engagement to ensure consistent implementation, the need for collaborative decision-making, and tension between standardizing public health guidance and adapting to local contexts. Addressing several crosscutting considerations can increase the likelihood that social distancing practices will be feasible and acceptable to school stakeholders.