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The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe program is a residential, quasi-military program for youth ages 16 to 18 who are experiencing difficulty in traditional high school. The program provides classroom instruction and other structured activities to young people at 40 different sites. The focus of this report is on determining how sites can measure their progress at meeting their overall mission ("to intervene in and reclaim the lives of 16- to 18-year-old high school dropouts, producing program graduates with the values, life skills, education, and self-discipline necessary to succeed as productive citizens"). The report summarizes and documents findings and recommendations from analyses carried out between 2016 and 2020. Sources of data include information gathered during visits to each site, as well as site- and individual-level information gathered yearly over four years. Extant data sets and information from the existing literature are also used as appropriate.

In 2003, the State of Qatar engaged the RAND-Qatar Policy Institute to assist Qatar University, the nation's first and only public higher education institution, with reform of its major administrative and academic structures, policies, and practices. This monograph summarizes that reform effort, which formally lasted from October 2003 through January 2007. The authors recount the motivation for reform, describe the design of the reform agenda, and detail the early stages of the implementation effort. They conclude with a reflection on the reform strategy, including the key elements that made the reform possible, the difficult choices that reform leaders had to make, and the challenges that lie ahead for the reformed Qatar University. Five appendices are included: (1) Senior Reform Committee Members; (2) Qatar University's Vision and Mission Statements; (3) Conceptual Framework for the Qatar University Reform Project; (4) An Exercise in Decentralized Planning and Decisionmaking: Developing a University-Wide Academic Plan; and (5) Improving Faculty Development and Accountability: The Faculty Performance Appraisal System. (Contains 7 figures, 6 tables and 33 footnotes.) [This report was written with Mohammed Al Hamadi and Sheikha Jabor Al Thani.]