Building Professional Capacity among Paraeducators through Onboarding

Many studies have investigated the inadequacy of training and support for special education paraeducators, but few have examined prehire activities or recommended a comprehensive plan to train and hire paraeducators. This quantitative action research study of 267 special education paraeducators and special education teachers was conducted in a large urban school district to address the concern over paraeducators’ lack of knowledge and training and the need to consider these factors when hiring staff in public school districts. Based on themes from the literature and the expertise of an insider, the purpose of the study was to increase the understanding of the relationship between and the perception of the importance of organizational factors, employee knowledge, and training. Results showed that paraeducators are not adequately trained, prefer specific training topics, and recognize that factors and knowledge affect job performance. The researchers then created a formal institutionalized onboarding program for new hire paraeducators based on a change management model. Immediate implementation recommendations, along with an onboarding plan and checklist, are included for school districts and their human resource departments.

The dynamics of faculty hiring networks

Faculty hiring networks—who hires whose graduates as faculty—exhibit steep hierarchies, which can reinforce both social and epistemic inequalities in academia. Understanding the mechanisms driving these patterns would inform efforts to diversify the academy and shed new light on the role of hiring in shaping which scientific discoveries are made. Here, we investigate the degree to which structural mechanisms can explain hierarchy and other network characteristics observed in empirical faculty hiring networks. We study a family of adaptive rewiring network models, which reinforce institutional prestige within the hierarchy in five distinct ways. Each mechanism determines the probability that a new hire comes from a particular institution according to that institution’s prestige score, which is inferred from the hiring network’s existing structure. We find that structural inequalities and centrality patterns in real hiring networks are best reproduced by a mechanism of global placement power, in which a new hire is drawn from a particular institution in proportion to the number of previously drawn hires anywhere. On the other hand, network measures of biased visibility are better recapitulated by a mechanism of local placement power, in which a new hire is drawn from a particular institution in proportion to the number of its previous hires already present at the hiring institution. These contrasting results suggest that the underlying structural mechanism reinforcing hierarchies in faculty hiring networks is a mixture of global and local preference for institutional prestige. Under these dynamics, we show that each institution’s position in the hierarchy is remarkably stable, due to a dynamic competition that overwhelmingly favors more prestigious institutions. These results highlight the reinforcing effects of a prestige-based faculty hiring system, and the importance of understanding its ramifications on diversity and innovation in academia.

Aggregate Nominal Wage Adjustments: New Evidence from Administrative Payroll Data

Using administrative payroll data from the largest US payroll processing company, we measure the extent of nominal wage rigidity in the United States. The data allow us to define a worker’s per-period base contract wage separately from other forms of compensation such as overtime premiums and bonuses. We provide evidence that firms use base wages to cyclically adjust the marginal cost of their workers. Nominal base wage declines are much rarer than previously thought with only 2 percent of job-stayers receiving a nominal base wage cut during a given year. Approximately 35 percent of workers receive no base wage change year over year. We document strong evidence of both time and state dependence in nominal base wage adjustments. In addition, we provide evidence that the flexibility of new hire base wages is similar to that of existing workers. Collectively, our results can be used to discipline models of nominal wage rigidity. (JEL E24, E32, J31, J41)

Job commitment and its impact on job performance: An applied study on the branch of Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Dawah and Guidance in Asir region: الالتزام الوظيفي وأثره على الأداء الوظيفي - دراسة تطبيقية على فرع وزارة الشؤون الإسلامية والدعوة والإرشاد في منطقة عسير-

This study aims to identify the concept and importance of job commitment and job performance with a particular focus on the common job commitment level in Asser. It also figures out the relationship between job commitment and job performance in the Asser. The study uses the analytical descriptive approach as a methodology and reached some results as follows; the indicators of job commitment including days of attendance, days of absence, number of staff, number of appointed staff, number of transferred employees, turnover rate of transferred staff and turnover rate of new hire on job performance represented in the number of training programs for the staff of the division of Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Dinah and Guidance in Asser. The impact percentage reached 98% while the other 2% goes to other factors and indicators not mentioned in this study. The results also show that there is an impact to the statistically significant indicators of job commitment to the number of training programs. For example, days of attendance comes in the first rank follows by the turnover rate of transferred staff in the second rank. The number of transferred staff comes in the third rank follows by the turnover rate of new hire in the fourth rank. The number of appointed staff comes in the fifth rank followed by the number of employees and days of absence respectively. The study suggested some recommendations including the necessity to link the concept of job commitment to measurements and practices to be well designed and to be well integrated with the system of incentives, censorship and employment. It also recommended that administrative leadership should improve the job commitment of their staff through providing a regulatory environment that allows job creativity.

Muscle Health: The Gateway to Population Health Management

The muscle on your frame is a prime indicator of health and longevity. Dr. Paul Terpeluk with the Cleveland Clinic has stated that muscular strength is the new vital sign of workplace health and safety. Research studies focusing on Type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, musculo-skeletal injuries, certain cancers and the delay of dementia have shown a strong correlation between disease prevention and muscular strength. IPCS’ database of over 500,000 strength tests have shown a workers’ absolute strength today is at least 14% weaker than the worker 15 years ago and weighs about 8 pounds more. Over the last 10 years, there has been a significant shift by 52% with an increase in the number of workers with a BMI of 35 or greater. The Cleveland Clinic implemented a new hire muscular strength assessment to place new hire applicants into jobs that match their physical capability in 2011. The outcomes show a statistically significant reduction in number of employee health, pharmacy and workers’ compensation claims and costs with overall savings near $25 million. Musculo-skeletal health of the worker can be improved. When a worker maintains good muscular strength, the worker is more productive, has fewer medical claims and workers’ compensation claims.