A Comprehensive Approach to Wellness for All School Staff

Center the voices of a broad range of education workforce members. Discussions about school employee wellness often focus on classroom teachers; however, nearly half of school staff serve in other critical roles such as counselors, paraprofessionals, librarians, bus drivers, and food service staff. When school systems implement plans that do not reflect the diverse education workforce, their investments may fail to address the needs of all staff—or even worse, they may have unintended negative consequences for some staff.

Collect and disaggregate data to identify inequities. Efforts to achieve equitable school employee wellness should be informed by data. School systems should engage teams that reflect the diversity of the education workforce with respect to positions, tenure, and sociodemographic characteristics to assess needs and monitor progress. Whenever possible, teams should move beyond looking at overall averages to examine patterns among different groups of employees so they can identify whether some groups need more—or different—supports.

Distribute resources and set/enforce policies fairly. School district policies, programs, and practices can influence school employees’ wellness both directly (e.g., through salaries and employee benefits) and indirectly (e.g., through working conditions and job stressors). While many strategies to promote employee well-being are implemented at the school level, efforts to achieve equitable and sustainable improvements must address systemic barriers, which often require changes to school system policies, programs, and practices.

Address multiple dimensions of employee well-being. Strategies that help employees manage stress—like yoga or mindfulness instruction—can benefit employees who participate in them. However, school leaders should also implement strategies to reduce or eliminate job stressors, such as providing adequate collaboration time and ensuring that staff have a voice in decision making. See the box below for specific examples.

To learn more about how school districts can support employee wellness, check out Child Trends’ Toolkit for School Systems to Advance Comprehensive Employee Wellness. If you’re a state or school district leader interested in joining a learning collaborative to advance the emotional well-being of students and school employees, or you want to learn more about what Child Trends is doing to support school employee well-being, feel free to contact Dr. Brandon Stratford at bstratford@childtrends.org.