New study: 1/3 of middle and high school students think missing three or more weeks of school—being chronically absent—is mostly OK: https://bit.ly/4vVEYoq

New finding: Teachers report spending a little more than $600 out of pocket on school supplies. https://bit.ly/4fxgD3F

The use of AI for mental health advice has risen sharply in the past year among young people. Most say they have not told anyone about turning to chatbots for help. https://bit.ly/49uaCkr

➡️ But even the strictest policies don't completely stop student phone use. Even in schools that ban phone use entirely, half of students said they still check their phones in class at least once a day. And roughly one-sixth said they do so more than five times per day.

The U.S. national debt now exceeds 100% of GDP. What would it take to reduce the federal debt burden? Our experts used the RAND Budget Model to outline potential solutions: https://bit.ly/3R9qbaH

China has one of the world's lowest fertility rates, and its population decline is accelerating. By 2050, China's population could lose 250 million people from its current 1.4 billion. That's nearly three-quarters of the current U.S. population. https://bit.ly/4sMUHF5

Nearly half of those days involved microdosing. Among U.S. adults who used psilocybin in the past year, 69% microdosed at least once during that period.

Psilocybin—or magic mushrooms—was by far the most commonly used substance. About 4.3% of adults reported using psilocybin in the past year. (That’s approximately 11 million people.)

A new RAND study finds: 🔸1 in 3 boys and young men lacks an adult man he can turn to for help with school or relationships. 🔸1 in 4 lacks an adult man who can help him plan his future. 🔸Boys from low‑income households are even less likely to have access to male mentors. https://bit.ly/3JNuANs

How well do military skills translate to jobs in the civilian workforce? What is the health care experience like for veterans? How much do we know about the needs of veteran families? Listen to a special Veterans Day episode of Policy Minded. ⬇️

New data show growing inaccuracies in official homeless counts in Los Angeles. https://bit.ly/4mZrC5L

Official homeless counts in Los Angeles increasingly underestimate the number of people living on the street in three key neighborhoods. https://bit.ly/3WD5DH0

An estimated 125 million American adults know someone who has died of a drug overdose. The experiences of family and friends left behind by fatal overdoses have been overlooked. RAND's Alison Athey explains why more supports are needed for those who are grieving. bit.ly/3WBfVr8

There was also a clear top reason why youth reported that schools should allow phone use in class. 81% of those who were against phone bans said that their parents should be able to reach them when needed.

But what do students think? Only 11% of youth enrolled in K–12 schools said that phone use should be prohibited “bell to bell.” But 60% did support at least *some* phone restrictions during the school day.

High schools tended to have more-lenient policies. 49% of high schools allowed students to use their phones when class was not in session (e.g., lunch). 24% of high schools allowed students to sometimes use phones during class at the teacher’s discretion.

Nearly all K–12 schools had a policy that allowed students to bring their cell phones during the 2024–2025 school year. 67% of principals said their schools had a policy that prohibited cell phone use from "bell to bell."

Most young people experiencing disconnection have at least a high school diploma. This suggests that efforts to promote high school graduation alone won’t solve the problem of disconnected youth.

This figure shows rates of disconnection by age, education, and other key demographic characteristics.

The use of Ozempic and other GLP-1 medications has increased sharply in recent years. Our new report shows rates of use across different demographic groups. https://bit.ly/41JTFOQ

5️⃣ More teachers are using standards-aligned materials. For decades, states have tried to get more schools to adopt high-quality instructional materials. There's been a steady increase in use over the last six years.

4️⃣ Female teachers report more job-related stress. Teachers who are stressed or otherwise experiencing poor well-being may not always be able to give their best effort to their students.

3️⃣ Teachers feel unprepared to instruct multilingual learners. About 10% of students are still developing English proficiency. Only about half of the teachers we asked said they felt prepared to teach these students to reach the grade-level standard in their subject.

2️⃣ Students are bored with math. About half of middle and high school students reported losing interest during their math lessons about half or more of the time.

1️⃣ Chronic absenteeism—when a student misses at least 10% of school days per year—remains a challenge. Empty desks are a problem in schools across the country, but *extreme* chronic absenteeism is highly concentrated in urban school districts.

We also asked students what they thought about chronic absenteeism. One-quarter said that it's "mostly OK" to miss three weeks of school in a school year:

Why are so many students staying home so often? Sickness was by far the most common reason they cited.

Empty desks are a problem in schools across the country, but *extreme* chronic absenteeism is highly concentrated in urban school districts. Roughly half of urban districts reported extreme levels of chronic absenteeism last year.

Chronic absenteeism—when a student misses at least 10% of school days per year—is a persistent challenge, even years removed from the pandemic. We estimate that roughly 22% of K–12 students were chronically absent in the 2024–2025 school year. That’s nearly 11 million kids.

Among those who have used GLP-1 drugs, about half report they have experienced nausea. About 1/3 experienced diarrhea. The majority of those who report having side effects note that they are mild.