Public School Employees Research Articles

Does it matter how meditation feels? An experience sampling study.

Meditation apps are the most widely used mental health apps. The precise mechanisms underlying their effects remain unclear. In particular, the degree to which affect experienced during meditation is associated with outcomes has not been established. We used the meditation app arm of a recently completed randomized controlled trial comparing a self-guided meditation app (Healthy Minds Program) to a waitlist control. Predominantly distressed public school employees (n = 243, 80.9% with clinically elevated depression and/or anxiety) reported positive and negative affect during meditation practice. Data were analyzed using two-level multivariate latent growth curve models (observations nested within participants) that simultaneously attended to both positive and negative affect. We examined whether positive and negative affect during meditation changed over time and whether these changes were associated with changes in psychological distress (parent trial's preregistered primary outcome) at posttest or 3-month follow-up. On average, participants reported decreased negative affect but no change in positive affect during meditation over time. Increased positive affect and decreased negative affect during meditation were associated with improvements in distress at posttest and follow-up. Change in positive affect was a stronger predictor of distress at follow-up than change in negative affect. Despite notions embedded within mainstream mindfulness meditation training that deemphasize the importance of the affective experience of practice (i.e., nonjudgmental awareness of present moment experience, regardless of valence), results indicate that these experiences contain signals associated with outcomes. Monitoring affect during meditation may be worthwhile to guide intervention delivery (i.e., measurement-based care, precision medicine). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

School staff as vaccine advocates: Perspectives on vaccine mandates and the student registration process

Recently, several states in the US have made it more difficult to receive nonmedical exemptions to school vaccine mandates in the hope of better orienting parents towards vaccination. However, little is known about how public-facing school staff implement and enforce mandate policies, including why or how often they steer parents towards nonmedical exemptions. This study focused on Michigan, which has recently added an additional burden for families seeking nonmedical exemptions. We used an anonymous online survey to assess Michigan public-school employees (n = 157) about their knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding Michigan’s school enrollment vaccine mandate policy. Our main conclusions are that frontline school staff are generally knowledgeable about vaccines and immunization policy, but are at best ambivalent about their role in immunization governance, believing that other agents should be responsible for ensuring that children are vaccinated. Furthermore, some respondents indicated low vaccine confidence, which was associated with increased ambivalence about, or opposition to, their role in immunization governance. As more jurisdictions within and beyond the US consider introducing or tightening childhood vaccine mandates, it is increasingly important to understand how these policies can be improved by attending to the attitudes and roles of relevant frontline actors.

ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE AS A DETERMINANT OF WORKERS’ JOB COMMITMENT IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

This study examined organisational culture as a determinant of workers’ job commitment in public secondary schools in Ogun State. The study adopted an ex-post facto design approach. The population consists of all workers (teaching and non-teaching staff) in secondary schools in Ogun State, Nigeria. A multi-stage random sampling technique was adopted where five (5) public secondary schools (comprising of both junior and senior) were randomly selected from each of the local government area s from twenty (20) local government areas in Ogun State, making a total of ten (10) secondary schools were selected for the study. Stratified random sampling technique was used in selecting ten (10) workers (teaching and non-teaching) from each junior and secondary schools respectively, making a total number of twenty (20) workers from each of the selected ten (10) secondary schools. A total number of 200 workers was selected for the study. The instrument used for this study is a questionnaire which is sub-divided into three sections. Section A was used to collect information on personal characteristics of the respondents while Section B contained Workers Organisational Commitment Scale which was designed to measure workers’ job commitment. Section C contained Organisational Climate Index (OCI) and was used to measure organisational culture. Data was analyzed using regression and T-test analysis at 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that organisational culture has significant relationship with public secondary school workers’ job commitment and that there was no significant difference in public secondary school workers’ job commitment between senior and junior school employees. It is concluded that organisational culture determines job commitment of public secondary school employees in Ogun State. Based on the findings, it is therefore recommended that motivation strategies should adopted to improve teachers’ salaries and promotions. Teachers should positively change their attitude s to work and view their job as more of a call than a profession. 
 

Teacher Labor Market Responses to Statewide Reform: Evidence From Michigan

We examine the effect of Michigan’s 2011 reforms to teacher evaluation and tenure policies on teacher retention. Our data are drawn from administrative records containing the population of public school employees from 2005–2006 through 2014–2015. To identify the causal effects of these reforms on teacher attrition, we utilize a difference-in-differences (DD) strategy that compares the exit rates of teachers with the exit rates of other professional staff in the same school districts who were not affected by the policy changes. We find that, on average, Michigan’s teacher reforms had little impact on teacher attrition overall. However, further analyses provide strong evidence that early-career teachers assigned to hard-to-staff districts were more likely to exit post-reform.

School Psychology Workforce Trends: Recommendations for Graduate Preparation and Policy

Recent concerns about the psychoeducational needs of children and adolescents have drawn increased attention to the importance of psychological services in public schools. In particular, media reports on issues related to school safety, special education supports, and appropriate service delivery for culturally and linguistically diverse students have underscored the demand for school psychologists. The need for school psychologists to address these critical concerns is compounded by the fact that, for many years, there have been documented shortages of school psychologists. For the most part, reporting on shortages has been either anecdotal or based on surveys. In this article, we identify trends in graduate preparation and workforce data to better understand current and future needs by analyzing public data on graduate students, public-school employees, and workforce records from Texas. Following this analysis, we provide recommendations for policy and practice.

Supplemental Retirement Savings Plans in the Public Sector: Participation and Contribution Decisions by School Personnel

Virtually all full-time state and local government employees are covered by a retirement plan, typically a defined benefit plan, in which they are required to participate. In addition, most school employees have the option of choosing to contribute to a voluntary retirement savings plan offered by their school district. Relative to private sector workers, public employees face an expanded choice of retirement savings plans. Federal tax policies allow state and local governments the opportunity to offer both 401(k) plans and 457 plans to their employees. In addition to these plans, public schools and certain other organizations can offer 403(b) plans to their employees. This paper examines the decision to participate in a voluntary savings plan and the level of contributions for those that enroll in at least one of the plans. The analysis begins by describing the savings options available to public school employees and how these plans differ. The findings indicate that the same economic and demographic factors that influence saving decisions by private workers also drive the decisions of school employees. The three savings plans offered to public employees have many similar characteristics; however, several differences in the plans imply that certain workers may prefer one plan type over the others. Probit and Tobit models of participation in any plan and total annual contributions are estimated. Finally, we estimate the determinants of the decision to choose any one or a combination of savings plans.

Community Schools and the Role of University-School-Community Collaboration

Public school districts are locally controlled and funded through local property taxes. Funding schools this way perpetuates structural inequities in poorer school districts and as a result, students living in poverty have minimal access to critical resources that support student learning. Community schools are resurfacing in many of these urban spaces as a mechanism for addressing the systemic and structural inequities plaguing students, schools, and communities. Advocates posit that increasing student achievement requires addressing the needs of the whole child; conceptualizing schooling through this lens offers an expanded vision of what public education needs to be for many of today’s children. This paper aims to improve our overall understanding of community schools and highlights specific actions taken by community organizations and higher education institutions to create meaningful partnerships with public schools operating as community schools. The authors posit that collaborative and organically developed, grassroots relationships have the potential to alter the traditional dynamic between internal public school employees and external stakeholders, leading to school, student, and community transformation.

Vaccination Perceptions of Urban School Employees

The purpose of this study was to explore public school employee perceptions regarding vaccinations. Employees from 1 urban school district in Utah responded to the School Employees' Perception of Immunizations Questionnaire. Lack of perceived efficacy was the most common explanation for lack of seasonal influenza vaccine. Being unsure of need was the most common reason participants were unvaccinated for measles, mumps, and rubella. The most common reason for rejecting a mandatory vaccine policy was a perceived violation of personal freedoms. Nurse practitioners can positively influence the health of public school employees by ensuring they are properly vaccinated.

Parents, Homevoters, and Public School Employees: An Analysis of Voting Patterns in the 2012 Georgia Charter Schools Amendment Referendum

ABSTRACTGeorgia’s 2012 Charter Schools Amendment was the first successful statewide school choice referendum in the United States. This amendment permitted the state to authorize new charter schools, thereby creating a way for charter creators to bypass local school boards. This study analyzes voting on this state constitutional amendment and finds that support was higher among counties with lower achieving public schools, more school-aged children, more adults having college degrees, more private school enrollment, more homeowners, and lower public school employment. There was also a positive correlation between Democratic voters and support for the amendment–this result differs from previous research and the heavily Republican legislative vote authorizing the public referendum.

Intergovernmental (Dis)Incentives, Free-Riding, Teacher Salaries and Teacher Pensions

In this paper, I document evidence that intergovernmental incentives inherent in public sector defined benefit pension systems distort the amount and timing of income for public school teachers. This intergovernmental incentive stems from the fact that, in many states, local school districts are responsible for setting the compensation that determines the size of pensions, but are not required to make contributions to cover the resulting pension fund liabilities. I use the introduction of a policy that required experience-rating on compensation increases above a certain limit in a differences-in-differences framework to identify whether districts are willing to pay the full costs of their compensation promises. In response to the policy, the size and distribution of compensation changed significantly. On average, public school employees received lower wages largely through the removal of retirement bonuses. However, the design of the policy led some districts to increase compensation, rendering the policy less effective that it might have otherwise been.

Retiree health insurance for public school employees: Does it affect retirement?

Despite the widespread provision of retiree health insurance for public sector workers, little attention has been paid to its effects on employee retirement. This is in contrast to the large literature on health-insurance-induced “job-lock” in the private sector. I use the introduction of retiree health insurance for public school employees in combination with administrative data on their retirement to identify the effects of retiree health insurance. As expected, the availability of retiree health insurance for older workers allows employees to retire earlier. These behavioral changes have budgetary implications, likely making the programs self-financing rather than costly to taxpayers.

How Much Are Public School Teachers Willing to Pay for Their Retirement Benefits?

Public sector employees receive large fractions of their lifetime income in the form of deferred compensation. The introduction of the opportunity provided to Illinois public school employees to purchase additional pension benefits allows me to estimate employees' willingness-to-pay for benefits relative to the cost of providing them. The results show employees are willing to pay 20 cents on average for a dollar increase in the present value of expected retirement benefits. The findings suggest substantial inefficiency in compensation and cast doubt on the ability of deferred compensation schemes to attract employees. (JEL H75, I21, J26, J45)

School Climate as a Predictor of Incivility and Bullying Among Public School Employees: A Multilevel Analysis

We surveyed public school educators on the workplace incivility and workplace bullying they experienced and obtained their ratings of the organizational climate of the school. We used multilevel modeling to determine the effects of individual-level and school-level predictors. Ratings of school climate were significantly related to incivility and bullying. We found inverse relationships— the better the organizational climate, the lower the incivility and bullying. Several demographic variables of educators and two school-level variables were not significant predictors. Leaders who focus on improving organizational climate may find that their efforts benefit both student achievement and relationships among educators.

Associations between statin adherence level, health care costs, and utilization.

Evidence of the associations between statin adherence level, health care costs, and utilization is still limited. It is not clear whether better clinical outcomes derived from increasing statin adherence levels can be translated into cost savings and lower health care utilization. To evaluate the associations between statin adherence level, health care costs, hospital admission, and emergency room (ER) visits after statin therapy is taken for 1 year. A retrospective cohort study was performed to examine whether higher statin adherence level, measured as medication possession ratio (MPR), is associated with lower health care costs and hospital admission rate and with fewer ER visits. The study sample consisted of adult patients aged 18-64 years on an index date with continuous enrollment 12 months prior to and 12 months after the index date (the first fill date of a statin between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2010). Study subjects also needed to have a minimum of 2 ICD-9-CM diagnoses for hyperlipidemia or diabetes in the pre-index date period. Main data sources were medical and prescription (Rx) claims, as well as enrollment files provided by a health benefit program and a medical carrier of state government and public school employees in a midwestern state. Study subjects were stratified into 8 groups based on statin MPR level: less than 40%, 40%-59%, 60%-69%, 70%-79%, 80%-84%, 85%-89%, 90%-95%, and 96%-100%. Total medical and Rx costs, as well as all-cause hospital admission rates and ER visits in a year after the index date, were computed based on medical and Rx claims. A separate breakout of statin costs, part of total Rx costs, was also computed. Generalized linear models (GLMs) were developed to test the hypothesis that higher statin adherence levels are associated with lower health care costs and utilization. A total of 10,312 subjects met the criteria and were selected. The average statin MPR in a year after the index date was 71.95%. Mean total costs (medical + Rx) in a year after the index date were $6,064.36. There were significant variations in Rx costs and total health care costs as well as ER visits among the 8 patient groups stratified using the statin MPR level. A GLM model showed that all the ratios of health care costs among groups with statin MPR from 40%-59%, 60%-69%, 80%-84%, 85%-89%, 90%-95%, and 96%-100% were larger than 1 and statistically significant compared with the reference group with statin MPR less than 40%, suggesting those groups had higher health care costs than the reference group with the lowest statin MPR level. Based on a logistic regression model of hospital utilization for this study population, all the odds ratios of all-cause hospitalization among the groups with higher statin MPR were not statistically significant, suggesting that the likelihood of hospitalization for patients with higher statin MPR was not statistically lower than that of the reference group with statin MPR less than 40%. After controlling for all other covariates, another GLM model based on the Poisson distribution and log link function showed that ratios of ER visits among groups with statin MPR from 60%-69%, 80%-84%, 85%-89%, 90%-95%, and 96%-100% were smaller than 1 and statistically significant, suggesting the groups had fewer ER visits than the reference group with statin MPR less than 40%. The patient group with statin MPR from 96%-100% was estimated to have the lowest number of ER visits. Our study results show that much higher statin adherence levels are related to fewer ER visits after statin treatment is taken for a year among beneficiaries; however, the study is inconclusive whether higher statin adherence levels are associated with lower overall health care costs in a year after statin therapy is taken. Further research is needed to evaluate the associations between statin adherence level, the cost of cardiovascular care alone, and utilization over a longer period.

Weight gain prevention in the school worksite setting: Results of a multi-level cluster randomized trial

ObjectiveTo describe the effectiveness, reach and implementation of a weight gain prevention intervention among public school employees. MethodA multi-level intervention was tested in a cluster randomized trial among 782 employees in 12 central Massachusetts public high schools from 2009 to 2012. The intervention targeted the nutrition and physical activity environment and policies, the social environment and individual knowledge, attitudes and skills. The intervention was compared to a materials only condition. The primary outcome measures were change in weight and body mass index (BMI) at 24-month follow-up. Implementation of physical environment, policy and social environment strategies at the school and interpersonal levels, and intervention participation at the individual level were assessed. ResultsAt 24-month follow-up, there was a net change (difference of the difference) of −3.03 pounds (p=.04) and of −.48 BMI units (p=.05) between intervention and comparison conditions. The majority of intervention strategies were successfully implemented by all intervention schools, although establishing formal policies was challenging. Employee participation in programs targeting the physical and social environment was maintained over time. ConclusionThis study supports that a multi-level intervention integrated within the organizational culture can be successfully implemented and prevent weight gain in public high school employees.

Risk of colorectal cancer associated with active smoking among female teachers.

The objective of this study was to examine the risk of colorectal cancer associated with active smoking among members of the California Teachers Study (CTS), a large cohort of female public school employees for whom highly detailed smoking information is available. The analysis was conducted among the 122,264 CTS participants who lived in California at cohort entry in 1995/1996, had no prior history of colorectal cancer, and provided detailed smoking information. 1,205 cases of invasive colorectal cancer prospectively diagnosed in 1995-2009 were identified from the California Cancer Registry, including 650 in the proximal colon, 267 in the distal colon, and 288 in the rectum. Hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals were estimated using Cox proportional hazards models, stratified by age at cohort entry, and adjusted for race/ethnicity. Compared to never smokers, current smokers had an approximately 30% increased risk of colorectal cancer. Overall, a slightly elevated risk was also noted for former smokers. Among former smokers, risks appeared to remain elevated for up to 20 years following cessation. Risks among former and current smokers increased with greater intensity and duration of smoking. Little evidence for heterogeneity in risk was noted for colon versus rectal cancer or for different subsites within the colon. These results provide convincing evidence that heavy and/or long-term smoking is a risk factor for cancers of the colon and rectum. Such evidence should be considered when updating screening guidelines to include targeting people with long active smoking histories.

Retiree Health Insurance for Public School Employees: Does it Affect Retirement?

Despite the widespread provision of retiree health insurance for public sector workers, little attention has been paid to its effects on employee retirement. This is in contrast to the large literature on health-insurance-induced “job-lock” in the private sector. I use the introduction of retiree health insurance for public school employees in combination with administrative data on their retirement to identify the effects of retiree health insurance. As expected, the availability of retiree health insurance for older workers allows employees to retire earlier. These behavioral changes have budgetary implications, likely making the programs self-financing rather than costly to taxpayers.

Latino Street Gang Emergence in the Midwest

This article explores the role of migration in the recent emergence of Latino street gangs in a large, Midwestern city. Like many other places in the region, Indianapolis, Indiana, has witnessed the growing presence of Latino street gangs over the past decade. Seizing on the opportunity to document and analyze the early stages of formation, competing theoretical perspectives on how and why these gangs emerged are evaluated. The work is supplemented by insights gained in ethnographic work with Latino gang members, nongang Latino residents, public school employees, and police. The result is a contemporary historiography of Latino gang emergence, framed by a description of the social and structural context in which these groups are situated.

Development and Validation of Worksite Weight-Related Social Norms Surveys

To describe the development of measures of worksite descriptive social norms for weight loss, physical activity, and eating behaviors. Three surveys were tested in 844 public high school employees. Factor analysis, Cronbach alpha, and tests of association with other worksite social contextual measures and behaviors were performed. Each survey demonstrated high internal consistency and was associated with measures of social support and behaviors. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the reliability of the weight-loss and eating-behavior norms surveys, but not the physical-activity norms survey. The weight-loss and eating norms surveys are reliable, valid measures.

Five-year examination of utilization and drug cost outcomes associated with benefit design changes including reference pricing for proton pump inhibitors in a state employee health plan.

The Arkansas State Employee Benefits Division (EBD) is a self-insured program comprising public school and other state employees, their spouses, and dependents. Previous research published in JMCP (2006) showed drug cost savings of $2.20 per member per month (PMPM; 37.6%) or annualized savings of $3.4 million associated with a benefit design change and coverage of the proton pump inhibitor (PPI) omeprazole over-the-counter (OTC) beginning in March 2004. On May 1, 2005, brand esomeprazole was excluded from coverage, with current users grandfathered for 4 months until September 2005. Reference pricing for PPIs, including esomeprazole but excluding generic omeprazole, was implemented on September 1, 2005, and the beneficiary cost share for all PPIs except generic omeprazole was determined from comparison of the PPI actual price to the $0.90 omeprazole OTC reference price per unit. To examine PPI utilization and drug costs before and after (a) excluding esomeprazole from coverage (with grandfathering current users) and (b) implementing a therapeutic maximum allowable cost (TMAC), or reference-pricing benefit design, for the PPI class in a large state employee health plan with fairly stable enrollment of approximately 127,500 members in 2005 through 2008 and approximately 128,000 members in 2009 Q1. The pharmacy claims database for the EBD was used to examine utilization and cost data for PPIs in a longitudinal analysis for the 61-month period from March 1, 2004, through March 31, 2009. Pharmacy claims data were compared for the period 14 months prior to esomeprazole exclusion (preperiod), 4 months during the esomeprazole exclusion (postperiod 1), and the ensuing 43 months of PPI reference pricing (postperiod 2). PPI cost and utilization data for the intervention group of approximately 127,500 beneficiaries were compared with a group of 122 self-insured employers with a total of nearly 1 million beneficiaries whose pharmacy benefits did not include reference pricing for PPIs. Despite 79% of existing esomeprazole users being grandfathered during the 4-month esomeprazole-exclusion period (postperiod 1), the share of omeprazole OTC claims increased from 35.2% to 42.5% (+ 7.3 percentage points) of all PPI claims, and esomeprazole claims decreased from 16.7% to 12.0% (-4.7 percentage points), with little change in the use of other PPIs. The average allowed charge (price) per day of PPI drug therapy decreased in postperiod 1 by 8.9% from $2.81 to $2.56, while utilization increased by 2.2% from 1.83 days PMPM to 1.87 days PMPM; the net plan cost PMPM decreased by $0.40 PMPM from $3.78 to $3.38 (-10.6%), representing a reduction in spending of $35,664 per month while the average member copayment per claim was essentially unchanged. In the 43 months of reference pricing in postperiod 2, PPI utilization was essentially unchanged at 1.82 days PMPM compared with the preperiod (1.83 days PMPM) and 2.7% lower than the esomeprazole-exclusion period (1.87 days PMPM); however, price (charge per day) decreased by 38.4% during refer- RESEARCH ence pricing to $1.73 from $2.81 in the preperiod and by 32.4% compared with $2.56 in the esomeprazole-exclusion period, despite an increase in the average pharmacy dispensing fee to $5.21 per PPI claim. Net plan cost decreased by $1.87 PMPM (49.5%) to $1.91 PMPM during reference pricing compared with the preperiod ($3.78 PMPM) and by $1.47 PMPM (43.5%) compared with the esomeprazole-exclusion period 1 ($3.38 PMPM). Beneficiary costs (copayment per claim) for PPIs decreased to $1.24 PMPM ($23.27 per claim) compared with the preperiod ($1.37 PMPM, $24.95 per claim) and compared with the esomeprazole-exclusion period ($1.40 PMPM, $25.06 per claim). The reductions in net plan costs represented lower plan spending for the 43 months of reference pricing (postperiod 2) of approximately $9.4 million or an average of approximately $219,500 per month compared with the preperiod or $7.9 million (approximately $183,900 per month) compared with the esomeprazole-exclusion period. Compared with a group of self-insured health plans without pharmacy benefit reference pricing of PPIs, the cost savings over the 43-month period from September 1, 2005, through March 31, 2009, were approximately $7.2 million or $1.31 PMPM. For this state employee health plan, the policy change that excluded esomeprazole from coverage but grandfathered current users was associated with a relatively small reduction in PMPM spending on PPIs compared with the subsequent policy change that applied reference pricing to the PPI class based on the price (drug cost plus dispensing fee) for omeprazole OTC. Over 43 months of reference pricing, net plan costs fell dramatically by 49.5% PMPM compared with the preperiod or decreased by 43.5% compared with the esomeprazole-exclusion period. While utilization was essentially unchanged compared with the 18 months before reference pricing, the average pharmacy dispensing fee per PPI claim increased, and beneficiary costs PMPM decreased.