The federal First Step Act of 2018 mandated the development and implementation of a risk and needs assessment system in the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). The act also required that the U.S. Department of Justice review, validate, and publicly release the risk and needs assessment system – the Prisoner Assessment Tool Targeting Estimated Risk and Needs (PATTERN) – on an annual basis. This report is the third review and revalidation report which analyzes a subsequent cohort of Fiscal Year 2018 BOP releases and evaluates PATTERN for its predictive accuracy, dynamic validity, and racial and ethnic neutrality, as mandated by the act. It also expands upon the prior analyses by including one-, two-, and three-year recidivism outcomes, assessing what proportion of change in risk scores and levels are influenced by the current age item, and providing additional descriptive information on individual items, risk scores and levels, and outcomes by race and ethnic group. This review found that PATTERN is a strong and valid predictor of general and violent recidivism. Comparisons of recidivism rates by risk level category and predictive value analyses by risk level grouping also continue to indicate that such risk level designations provide meaningful distinctions of recidivism risk. In addition, the results continue to suggest that individuals can change their risk scores and levels during confinement. Furthermore, changes in risk were not driven exclusively by changes in age. Those who reduced their risk level category from first to last assessment were shown to have the lowest recidivism rates, followed by those who maintained the same risk level and those with a higher risk level, respectively. While the study findings continue to indicate that PATTERN is predictively accurate across the five racial and ethnic groups analyzed, there remains evidence that the instrument overpredicts the risk of recidivism for some racial and ethnic groups relative to white individuals (e.g., Black, Hispanic, and Asian individuals on the male and female general tools).

This article details how neuroscience inquiries are making important inroads in the field of correctional research, traditionally the domain of the social sciences. Recently the neuroscience field has yielded two significant contributions to National Institute of Justice-supported studies on correctional officer wellness, and reentry. First, neuroscience data and biological and physiological markers have emerged as an invaluable source of data augmenting what correctional officers themselves are reporting about their stress levels. Second, it is becoming increasingly clear that many justice-involved individuals may suffer from a past traumatic brain injury and that the lingering effects of that trauma may contribute to their criminal justice involvement and act as a barrier to their successful reentry. Understanding the prevalence and consequences of past brain trauma among that population, particularly in terms of criminogenic risk and needs, will facilitate effective reentry programing.

With demand for workers rising, employers are more open than ever to hiring people with conviction histories, and state Departments of Correction (DOCs) are positioning people in their custody to secure career-track infrastructure jobs. The departments have developed strategic partnerships with employers, colleges, and community-based organizations to provide job training in high-demand industries. People leaving prison need these training programs, and research suggests a career in a high-quality industry may reduce recidivism. This brief presents five case studies of state DOCs (Kansas, Washington, Texas, Colorado, and Michigan) and their partners, which include education providers, employers, and community-based organizations. These partnerships have created robust job training programs in green energy, construction, roads and infrastructure, and utilities that provide incarcerated people opportunities to earn industry-relevant credentials and prepare for in-demand careers after release. The researchers found that job training programs, especially those that prepare students for career-track industry jobs, are essential to set incarcerated people up for success post-release. Career-track jobs, with union-memberships, benefits, and reliable and well-paying salaries, help reduce recidivism and ensure people with conviction histories can thrive. Numerous policy recommendations were made, including creating strong partnerships between DOC and education providers along with other relevant stakeholders; ensure that job training programs connect to fields without significant barriers to employment for formerly incarcerated people; considering policy changes that help address barriers to program delivery; and engaging legislators to remove legislative barriers to employment in in-demand fields and other obstacles to reentry for formerly incarcerated people.

Federal incentives and requirements under the Obama administration spurred states to adopt major reforms to their teacher evaluation systems. The authors examine the effects of these reforms on student achievement and attainment at a national scale by exploiting the staggered timing of implementation across states. The authors find precisely estimated null effects, on average, that rule out impacts as small as 0.015 standard deviation for achievement and 1 percentage point for high school graduation and college enrollment. The authors also find little evidence that the effect of teacher evaluation reforms varied by system design rigor, specific design features or student and district characteristics. The authors highlight five factors that may have undercut the efficacy of teacher evaluation reforms at scale: political opposition, the decentralized structure of U.S. public education, capacity constraints, limited generalizability, and the lack of increased teacher compensation to offset the non-pecuniary costs of lower job satisfaction and security.

After an active election season, State of the State addresses offer time for new and incumbent governors to outline policy priorities and celebrate state accomplishments. Since 2005, the Education Commission of the States has tracked, analyzed and identified education policy trends in governors’ State of the State addresses to help readers understand trending education issues across states. This year’s report includes 45 gubernatorial addresses that signal a continued focus on funding, enhancing the workforce and recruiting and retaining teachers. The full report highlights the top seven trends across state education-related proposals and features state examples of each. The trends are: 1) K-12 funding; 2) Workforce development and career and technical education; 3) Teacher staffing; 4) Early learning; 5) Academic supports; 6) Physical and mental health; and 7) Postsecondary affordability.

Gender-based wage gaps are ubiquitous in U.S. labor markets, even in occupations where women make up most of the workforce. This dynamic extends to the K-12 educator workforce, where women account for roughly three–quarters of the teaching workforce but make an estimated $5,000 less than men annually, based on a 2019 study using nationally representative data. Findings from this report include that all school income sources show gender wage gaps with male teachers earning $2,200 more than female teachers of similar characteristics. Supplemental school-based compensation plays a lead role in these gaps. Average male teachers earn $1,700 more in extra duty pay than their female colleagues with similar qualifications and in comparable contexts. The authors also found a gender gap in the likelihood of receiving payment for performing extra duties and being compensated for them. Men are even more likely to be paid for this extra work when the principal at the teacher’s school is male. These income sources off the salary schedule provide the most likely avenue for gender-based wage discrimination among teacher. The authors argue that increasing pay transparency and including supplemental pay in collective bargaining agreements have the most potential to achieve pay equality. Additionally, salary history bans and participatory budgeting hold promise and warrant further exploration.

This report examines, among other things, (1) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) actions to manage risks to air quality and public health from wildfire smoke and to coordinate with other federal agencies, and (2) how the EPA could better manage these risks. This report found that the EPA partnered with other agencies to provide a range of information and tools to help communities prepare for and respond to wildfire smoke events, such as an online map that shows near real-time air quality data, along with the locations of wildfires and where smoke is traveling. The report identifies opportunities for the EPA to better manage the growing risks from wildfire smoke by building on its actions to help communities prepare for and respond to wildfire smoke events, noting the EPA could take a more coordinated approach to its actions that aligns with leading practices for collaboration. Additionally, the report recommends that the EPA work with federal land management agencies – the Forest Service and agencies within the U.S. Department of the Interior – to strengthen federal coordination.

This paper considers the potential labor market consequences of the innovative activity of the largest U.S. firms (‘superstars’) over eight decades. Superstars generate a large share of innovations, and their innovations are technologically distinct and differentially impactful relative to those of other firms. Leveraging a novel patent-level measure of innovations’ labor-augmenting and labor-automating potential, the authors show that superstar innovations are more likely to augment labor compared to innovations pioneered by other firms, especially in recent decades. Workers of different skill types do not benefit equally, however: top firms’ differential labor augmentation is largely limited to high-paid occupations. This suggests modern-day superstar firms’ innovations contribute to the diverging labor market fortunes of high- and low-skilled workers. The authors highlight that the social value of augmenting innovations as measured by novelty and intellectual impact has risen while their market value has fallen – particularly for innovations which augment middle-skilled workers – suggesting that labor-augmenting innovations may be under-supplied by the market.

As the demand for digital skills in the workplace continues to develop and transform in the years to come, it is essential that both employers and employees are equipped with the right tools to succeed in this digital economy so that no one gets left behind. However, data shows that Latino workers are the segment of the workforce most at risk of job displacement due to automation and digitalization. With Latinos representing 18% of the U.S. workforce and estimations that they will account for 78% of net new workers between 2020 and 2030, ensuring that Latino workers have adequate access to relevant digital skills development programs is of the utmost importance for the future competitiveness and resilience of the U.S. economy. Researchers surveyed 844 human resources professionals across eight U.S. cities with notable Latino populations: Atlanta, Chicago, El Paso, Miami, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Antonio, and San Bernardino, to identify the digital skills organizations need both now and in the future, to understand what challenges organizations face in the digital world, and to provide pathways to develop these needed skills and enhance workers’ participation in the digital economy. In Miami, 43% of human resources professionals surveyed reported difficulty in upskilling/reskilling individuals for positions that require the digital skills needed by their organizations in the past 12 months; 57% reported difficulty finding qualified individuals for these positions in the past 12 months. The biggest challenges Miami organizations face in supporting employees’ digital skills development were time constraints (49%), budget constraints (43%) and employee unwillingness to learn new digital skills (35%). Most organizations in Miami preferred online-only education or training providers (39%) to develop their employees’ digital skills, followed by four-year colleges or universities (27%) and community colleges (21%).

This report describes emergency department visits related to mental health disorders among adults and assesses differences in mental health-related emergency department visit characteristics by race and Hispanic ethnicity using nationally representative estimates from data collected in the 2018-2020 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. The report finds that rates of mental health-related emergency department visits by race and Hispanic ethnicity were highest among non-Hispanic Black adults (96.8 visits per 1,000 adults), followed by non-Hispanic White (53.4) and Hispanic (36.0) adults. Rates of emergency department visits for specific mental health disorders, including substance use disorders, anxiety disorders, and mood disorders, were also highest among non-Hispanic Black adults. A higher percentage of visits by Hispanic (57.7%) and non-Hispanic Black (49.5%) adults had Medicaid as the expected primary source of payment than visits by non-Hispanic White adults (36.1%).

When parents cannot care for their children, grandparents or other relatives often step in as primary caregivers, although they may face significant hardships. Congress provided funding to states to support programs that help these kin caregivers navigate programs and services for which they are eligible. States can also access additional federal matching funds if they operate programs determined by the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to be evidence based. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to review how states are investing in these programs. GAO reviewed relevant federal laws, policies, and HHS guidance; analyzed reports states submitted to HHS on their use of federal funds; and interviewed HHS officials, child welfare stakeholders from four national organizations, and officials from five states (Arizona, Florida, Mississippi, Nevada, and Ohio). The GAO found that states have not accessed federal matching funds for evidence-based kinship navigator programs as of December 2022, although HHS has approved three programs (one each in Ohio, Arizona, and Colorado) to qualify for these funds. States have used other federal funds, appropriated annually for kinship navigator programs, primarily to build programs and provide services to kin caregivers. Fewer states use these funds to evaluate their program outcomes, which would be necessary if states wanted their program to be approved as evidence based. Officials from three of the five states selected for interviews reported difficulty understanding various aspects of the evaluation requirements; officials in three states said meeting the requirements is challenging, for example, because they must evaluate programs that provide different services depending on unique family needs. HHS is in the process of updating its guidance.

The top three costs for the federal Military Health System are health care delivery costs, military medical personnel costs, and Medicare Eligible Retiree Health Care Fund contributions. The system, administered by the U.S. Department of Defense, has two primary purposes; the first is to provide medical operational readiness and the second is to provide health care to uniformed service members, military retirees, and their dependents through TRICARE, the military’s health care program. Determining how to curb burgeoning military health care costs without compromising access to and quality of care or the readiness of military medical personnel continues to be a priority for the Defense Health Agency. The authors of this report conducted a literature review and solicited expert opinions to outline key policy areas in which further research could be pursued to understand how to reduce Military Health System costs. They found four key policy areas in which further research could be pursued: (1) Reforms to the Military Health System, which are in progress, provide many possibilities for future research; (2) Implementing the military’s universal health records system, called Genesis, could streamline service and provide cost savings; (3) The military medical force, which needs to both be ready to deploy and provide regular medical care, should undergo a cost analysis; and (4) The TRICARE program, which covers existing and former military service members and their dependents, should undergo a cost analysis.