April 29, 2022
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This report explores the role that race/Hispanic origin,
other demographic characteristics, and custodial/criminal
history factors have on post-prison release mortality,
including on the timing of deaths. It also assesses
whether conditional release to community supervision or
reimprisonment may explain the higher post-release
mortality found among non-Hispanic whites. In the second
part of the analysis, the report estimates standardized
mortality ratios by sex, age group, and race/Hispanic
origin using the U.S. general population as a reference.
The data come from state prison releases from the U.S.
Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Corrections
Reporting Program (NCRP). The NCRP records were linked to
the Census Numident, a data source for all-cause
mortality, to identify deaths occurring within five years
from prison release. Records were linked to previous
decennial censuses and survey responses to obtain
self-reported race and Hispanic origin if available. The
report findings confirms at the multi-state level findings
previously reported from state-level studies. Non-Hispanic
white former prisoners were more likely to die within five
years after release, and also more likely to die in the
initial weeks after release, compared to other racial
minorities and to Hispanics. In addition, as reported by
state-level studies, mortality was higher among
individuals with a history of multiple imprisonments prior
to their 2010 release than for those with only one term in
prison.
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Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics
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The authors calculate conservative estimates for the
marginal value of public funds (MVPF) associated with
providing Medicaid to inmates exiting prison. These MVPF
estimates, which measure the ratio between the benefits
associated with the policy (measured in terms of
willingness to pay) and its costs net of fiscal
externalities, range between 3.44 and 10.61. A large
proportion of the benefits that the authors account for
are related to the reduced future criminal involvement of
exiting inmates who receive Medicaid. Using a
difference-in-differences approach, the authors find that
Medicaid expansions reduce the average number of times a
released inmate is re-imprisoned within a year by about
11.5%. The authors use this estimate along with key values
reported elsewhere (e.g., victimization costs, data on
victimization and incarceration) to calculate specific
benefits from the policy. These benefits include reduced
criminal harm due to reductions in reoffenses; direct
benefits to former inmates from receiving Medicaid;
increased employment; and reduced loss of liberty due to
fewer future reimprisonments. Net-costs consist of the
cost of providing Medicaid net of changes in the
governmental cost of imprisonment; changes in the tax
revenue due to increased employment; and changes in
spending on other public assistance programs. The authors
interpret the estimates as being conservative, because
they err on the side of under-estimating benefits and
over-estimating costs when data on specific items are
imprecise or incomplete. The findings are largely
consistent with others in the sparse literature
investigating the crime-related welfare impacts of
Medicaid access, and suggest that public health insurance
programs can deliver sizeable indirect benefits from
reduced crime in addition to their direct health-related
benefits.
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Source: Social Science Research Network
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Trends in court management are driven by not only
operational (internal) factors, but also responses to our
rapidly changing world (external). These factors require
architects and court planners to reexamine how spaces are
designed to accommodate functional, environmental, and
societal needs and expectations. The authors outlined four
trends that would likely make a significant impact on
court facility planning and design. These trends include
the reduced need to go to a courthouse because of emerging
technologies and declining caseloads and the adoption of
evidence-based practices, including restorative justice.
Additional trends are a desire to enhance public trust and
increase access to justice; the evolving workforce and the
skills needed, including how to attract and retain court
staff by considering their generational expectations; and
the adaptation to global and societal changes, including
climate, increased multimodal transportation options, and
security.
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Source: National Center for State Courts
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School and district leaders significantly impact school
culture and climate, influencing student learning and
teacher retention. Thus, high-quality preparation and
in-service pipelines are critical to supporting schools
and educational programs, as unprepared school leaders are
less likely to improve student outcomes and are more
likely to leave their schools than their more-prepared and
better-supported peers. To address the changing roles of
school leaders — and to address turnover — states are
enacting legislation in two main areas: 1) strengthening
the candidate pipeline and 2) ensuring school leaders are
represented in the policymaking process. This report
examines recent state actions to support school leaders,
including legislative examples from 13 states, including
Florida. Policy ideas include salary supplements for
school principals willing to work in low-performing
schools (North Carolina); development of an online
clearinghouse with data-supported information related to
student achievement and learning, civic education,
coaching and mentoring, mental health awareness,
technology in education, distance learning, and school
safety (Florida); and requiring state board of education
membership to include a school superintendent as a
nonvoting member (Nevada).
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Source: Education Commission of the States
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Community colleges throughout the nation have long been
instrumental in providing workforce education to both
adult and traditional-age students seeking good
middle-skill jobs. Yet, across sectors, these jobs are
changing. The increased use of technologies such as
robotics and artificial intelligence are altering the
kinds of skills and the level of skills that these jobs
require. This report describes a study conducted by
researchers from Community College Research Center and the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Task Force on the
Work of the Future to understand how community colleges
are adapting their workforce programs to changing skill
demands, diversifying pathways to certificates and
degrees, and grappling with equity concerns. The authors
spoke with over 200 administrators, faculty, and staff at
eight community colleges to learn about each college’s
recent experiences with employers and students in the
context of workforce programming in three occupational
fields—allied health, information technology, and advanced
manufacturing—that are undergoing rapid technological
innovation. Interviewees from the colleges emphasized four
categories of skills that employers are increasingly
seeking: foundational skills in math, reading, and
writing; technical skills for specific positions; digital
literacy skills to interpret, analyze, and communicate
using digital platforms; and a broad mix of interpersonal
and cognitive skills central to collaboration, critical
thinking, and customer service. The report also identifies
key considerations for community colleges that want to
respond effectively to evolving skill demands including
modifying program curricula, reorganizing college
structures and supports for workforce students, and
addressing equity concerns surrounding access to
technology as well as enrollment, retention, and
completion of underserved students in particular programs.
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Source: Community College Research Center
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The federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security
(CARES) Act includes a provision for the U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO) to report on its ongoing
monitoring and oversight efforts related to the COVID-19
pandemic. As part of GAO's body of work to understand the
impact of COVID-19 on public K-12 education, GAO
contracted with Gallup to conduct a nationally
representative survey of public school teachers about
their experiences during the 2020-21 school year on a
variety of topics. This report provides information on (1)
how widespread was the issue of K-12 public school
students not showing up for class in school year 2020-21,
(2) obstacles these students faced in showing up, and (3)
the characteristics of the schools these students were
registered to attend. Nearly half of K-12 public school
teachers had at least one student who never showed up for
class in the 2020-21 school year. The majority of these
teachers said that, compared to a typical year, they had
more students who never showed up for class. A variety of
obstacles kept students from showing up, including limited
or no adult assistance at home and competing demands on
students' time such as providing care to a family member.
These students predominately came from majority non-White
and urban schools.
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Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office
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Recently released U.S. Census Bureau population estimates
emphasize that it was domestic out-migration that exerted
an outsized demographic impact on large metropolitan areas
during the prime 12 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. These
estimates—for the period July 1, 2020 to July 1,
2021—reveal an absolute decline in the aggregate size of
the nation’s 56 major metropolitan areas (those with
populations exceeding 1 million). At the same time,
smaller metro areas, as a group, experienced higher
population growth than in each of the previous two years,
while non-metropolitan America showed the greatest annual
population gain in more than a decade. This analysis
examines annual population changes for major metro areas
and core urban counties over the 2010-2021 period based on
the latest census population estimates. The analysis
provides an assessment of how each demographic
component—domestic migration, international migration, and
natural increase—impacted area population change up to and
through the most recent pandemic year. The results show
that each of these demographic components continued and
often exacerbated trends that were already evident before
the pandemic. Most importantly, the results emphasize the
outsized role of domestic migration in dispersing
population to smaller-sized places in the prime pandemic
period of 2020 to 2021.
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Source: Brookings Institution
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According to the Small Business Administration, small
businesses account for providing nearly half of all jobs
in the United States. In recent years, the Aspen
Institute’s workforce development partners across the
country have noted a growing demand for employer
engagement practices that enable collaboration and
innovative solutions in connecting people to good jobs. In
response, the Aspen Institute developed this guide
containing tips and practices for creating trusted
relationships with small business employers focused on
improving job quality. The guide compiles seven lessons
for small business prospecting, recruitment, and ongoing
engagement. The lessons, which include building a list of
businesses in the community likely to be open to
partnerships to improve job quality and framing
partnership goals in ways that will allow the employer to
see the value in employment improvements, are based on
experience working with Pacific Community Ventures and
workforce partners to conduct job quality-focused business
advising pilots with small businesses across the country.
Although there is no one-size-fits-all approach to
developing relationships with employers, the authors note
that asking lots of questions and tailoring engagement to
the local context is key. The guide also recommends
additional resources, including Pacific Community
Ventures’ Good Jobs Good Business Toolkit and Aspen
Institute’s Job Quality Tools Library.
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Source: Aspen Institute
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The passage of the federal Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform
and Consumer Protection Act and the COVID-19 pandemic are
among the factors that have made the environment for
tax-exempt debt issuers increasingly challenging and
complex. This guide is designed to help surface
transportation agencies improve the development and
execution of debt management policies, procedures, and
practices. It provides surface transportation
debt-financing practioners with a detailed step-by-step
guide to debt issuance and management process and
highlights a diverse suite of effective practices issuers
can use to inform their decisions. By using debt, a
transportation agency can complete a capital project with
a repayment schedule that spreads the cost of that project
over its useful life, with the purchaser of the debt
receives a reasonably reliable source of investment
income. Many factors govern debt issuance, including
statutory authority, project and/or program needs, federal
rules and regulations, and the economy. This guidebook
describes the federal institutions and tools available to
state and regional debt issuers, and provides guidance and
effective practices for each phase of the debt issuance
and management process, including: 1) the decision
process; 2) individual transaction preparation and
development; 3) marketing and placement of individual
transactions; and 4) post-issuance compliance.
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Source: National Academies Press
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Many of the ethnic and racial workforce inequities in the
United States are present in health care systems. Low
representation of African American/Black individuals in
the health care system workforce can be traced to a
history of exclusionary practices that leave such
individuals less likely to pursue health careers. Past
research found that low representation is driven by
inequities in health, education, and employment that are a
result of structural racism. This report describes the
development of key factors in framework design for the
Health System–Community Pathways Program, which aims to
increase representation of African American/Black
communities in the health care system workforce and
improve the quality of their experience in pursuing
careers in these fields. The program framework of key
factors is informed by an environmental scan, interviews
and focus groups, and an expert discussion panel session.
Key findings include that to boost the number and quality
of experience of African American/Black learners and
ultimately their representation in health care, the
following factors are key to program design: (1) student
recruitment, admission, and retention, (2) mentor
recruitment and training, (3) programming, (4) program
outcome measurement, and (5) long-term program
sustainability strategies. Also, admissions committees
should be more diverse, social and financial support
should be provided to students, and students should be
encouraged to participate in decision-making and
leadership of curriculum committees and oversight boards.
Different types of mentor-mentee relationships should be
encouraged to support student success in the program,
including peer-peer, near-peer, and senior, and mentors
should be trained in racism, micro-aggression, unconscious
bias, and cultural understanding. Institutional changes in
hiring practices would encourage a more diverse faculty
and future mentorship pool. Program evaluation plans
should be established to capture feedback on program
administration. Programming should include educational and
non-educational support and clinical experiences to expose
students to opportunities in health care professions.
Finally, longitudinal financial support is crucial to
eliminate budgetary constraints and maintain program
continuity.
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Source: RAND Corporation
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Commercial health plans pay higher prices than public
payers for hospital care, which accounts for more than 5%
of U.S. gross domestic product. Crafting effective policy
responses requires monitoring trends and identifying
sources of variation. Relying on data from the Healthcare
Provider Cost Reporting Information System, the authors
describe how commercial hospital payment rates changed
relative to Medicare rates during 2012–19 and how trends
differed by hospital referral region (HRR). The authors
found that average commercial-to-Medicare price ratios
were relatively stable, but trends varied substantially
across HRRs. Among HRRs with high price ratios in 2012,
ratios increased by 38 percentage points in regions in the
top quartile of growth and decreased by 38 percentage
points in regions in the bottom quartile. The findings
suggest that restraining the growth rate of HRR commercial
hospital price ratios to the national average during the
sample period would have reduced aggregate spending by $39
billion in 2019.
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Source: RAND Corporation
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Oral health is an essential component of overall health
and well-being. Along with good oral hygiene, an important
factor of oral health is regular dental care. However,
about 35% of adults aged 18 and over did not have a dental
visit in 2019, and predictors such as age, race, sex, and
socioeconomic status were associated with delayed dental
care among adults in the United States. In 2020, many
dental practices limited their hours and services in
response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This report uses data
from the 2019 and 2020 National Health Interview Survey
(NHIS) to describe recent changes in the prevalence of
dental visits among adults aged 18−64. The authors found
that between 2019 and 2020, the percentage of adults who
had a dental visit in the past 12 months decreased in all
family income levels, among all races and origin groups,
and in all urban and rural areas. A previous study
reported several predictors of unmet dental need among
adults in the United States. Therefore, the decline in
dental visits between 2019 and 2020 may be attributable to
other factors in addition to the impact of the COVID-19
pandemic.
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Source: National Center for Health Statistics
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Florida, the Legislature's website that includes continually updated information on the state's operating budget and daily expenditures by state agencies.
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PolicyNotes, published every Friday, features reports, articles, and websites with timely information of interest to policymakers and researchers. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations
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