Principal Investigator: Hannah Lane, Duke University; Co-Investigators: Kirsten Almberg, Yuka Asada, and Tessa Bonney, University of Illinois at Chicago; Donovan Lessard, School Nutrition Association

The U.S. school food workforce—particularly those in school-level roles—are under-paid, have few professional development opportunities, are susceptible to burnout, and may have limited job security. In order to develop actionable strategies toward a stable, thriving workforce, more robust examination of the characteristics and experiences of the school food workforce is needed. This explanatory sequential mixed methods study will include a nationally representative survey of 1,330 school-level food workers (managers and staff) followed by focus groups with 75 of those workers. 

The survey will seek to characterize this workforce in terms of demographics and occupational information (e.g. roles, titles, benefits). The survey will also examine associations between workers’ perceptions of their working conditions, burnout, and perceived capacity for scratch cooking and other best practices. The focus groups will explore worker-driven strategies, such as compensation and professional development, to improve working conditions and job satisfaction, reduce burnout, and build capacity for best practices among school-level food workers. The study team will collaborate with the School Nutrition Association to recruit a representative sample, and study methods will draw upon worker-centered principles and input from a Community Advisory Board. They expect to gain a comprehensive understanding of experiences and perspectives of the school-level SFW and generate a replicable set of worker-centered findings that can inform lasting improvements to school food staffing models.

Principal Investigator: Nevin Cohen, CUNY; Co-Investigators: Katherine Fraser, Craig Willingham, CUNY

This study examines school food service labor practices in America’s two largest school districts - Los Angeles Unified School District and New York City Department of Education - which together employ more than 10,000 food service workers serving over 2 million students. Despite their critical role in student nutrition, school food service workers face persistent challenges affecting program quality and workforce stability, including wage disparities and precarious schedules. 

This research has three primary aims: 1) analyze how certain employment practices in large urban districts affect worker retention, job satisfaction, and school meal program quality; 2) identify models for workforce development and career advancement applicable across districts; and 3) examine how different approaches to school food work and programs like scratch cooking and farm to school influence worker satisfaction and program sustainability. Using a worker-centered, mixed-methods approach, the study will survey 375 workers and conduct 40-50 in-depth interviews, engaging workers and their unions, when applicable, in the research. 

The study team will document worker-driven innovations and examine the effects of certain contract provisions. Robust analysis of workforce patterns and their relationships to program quality in these two large districts will generate evidence-based recommendations for professional development and career advancement, strategies for improving job quality through labor-management partnerships, and insights applicable to unionized and non-unionized settings. 

Principal Investigator: Bonnie Solomon, Child Trends; Co-Investigators: YiYu Chen (Co-PI), Brandon Stratford, Child Trends; Donovan Lessard, School Nutrition Association

School foodservice workers are crucial to the operation of national school meal programs. Data indicate high employee turnover in this workforce, particularly among part-time and non-management staff. However, research on turnover drivers beyond position type is limited. This study aims to fill this gap by: 1) examining turnover rates among frontline school foodservice employees; and 2) analyzing structural factors associated with turnover, including organizational, district, school, policy, and economic influences. 

The study will develop surveys for frontline workers and school nutrition directors, including open-ended questions to gather insights on turnover reduction strategies and worker perceptions. In collaboration with the School Nutrition Association, these surveys will be administered to approximately 1,300 school-level workers (in collaboration with Duke University; PI Hannah Lane) and 1,400 district-level directors. Multivariate regression analyses will be conducted to determine how hypothesized factors predict turnover, both across districts and within specific district characteristics (e.g., poverty, Community Eligibility Program participation, and urbanicity). The study will seek feedback from a community advisory group throughout the research process to inform the designs and findings. Based on its findings and feedback, the study will develop recommendations for state and district policymakers to support stable and effective school meal programs, benefiting both employees and students.

Principal Investigator: Eunice Han, University of Utah; Co-Investigators: Sarah Small (Co-PI), University of Utah; Papungkorn Kitcharoenkarnkul, Nebraska Department of Economic Development

This project will examine the current state of the K-12 school food workforce, offering a comprehensive assessment on their labor market well-being and the returns to investment in this workforce over the most recent decade. The study team will utilize nationally representative data combined with school district finance information as well as students’ educational outcomes to conduct nationwide, state-, district-, and individual-level analyses on the school food workforce. This dataset will allow the study team to not only understand the current state of workplace well-being for school food service workers but also compare time trends of their employment outcomes and working conditions by various demographics, sectors, and locality. 

By linking the school district finance information regarding school food workforce to students’ academic performance, they will examine the relationship between investment in school food personnel and worker productivity. The main goals of this project are threefold: (i) provide descriptive, intersectional statistics on the labor market well-being of school food workers and compare them to other school support staff and food service workers in non-instructional institutions; (ii) identify determinants for working conditions and job quality and offer key factors promoting overall labor market experiences of the school food workforce; and (iii) assess the relationship between expenditure on worker compensation and various student outcomes to estimate the returns on investment in the school food workforce. This project not only provides snapshots for national workforce dynamics and regional variations for school food workforce, but also highlights the factors influencing occupational well-being as well as their roles in promoting education quality.