Tasha M. Childs

Mental health and substance use are nationwide public health concerns and the leading causes of disease burden in the United States (US; Fish & Mittal, 2021; Healthy People, 2021). Estimates sugges...

Student mental health needs continue to rise across the United States and many students and families rely on schools to provide services to meet these needs. Yet, an overwhelming number of available frameworks and approaches to school mental health (SMH) and overlapping terminology surrounding SMH supports like trauma‐informed (TI) approaches, social and emotional learning (SEL), and others can lead to confusion and potentially less effective implementation of services and supports for students. In this paper, we aim to mitigate this confusion and offer a solution that integrates several of these approaches into a single complementary model with a special emphasis on the role of SEL. We first present an overview of commonly used SMH frameworks. Next, we present the Trauma‐Informed Multi‐Tiered Systems of Support Model (TI‐SEL MTSS)–an adaptation of the TITI‐SEL MTSS–to include and emphasize the specific role of SEL as a critical foundational layer within a multi‐tiered system of support. The proposed adapted model maintains the key structure of a MTSS while highlighting the importance of embedding SEL pedagogy in daily teaching practices and all aspects of school life. A case study is used to illustrate how the proposed model adaptations can be used in practice and in tandem with TI and SMH services without being conflated as the same service as SEL. Practical implications for implementation are discussed.

Teachers often address student wellness concerns such as health and mental health. Yet, this work goes largely unacknowledged and unsupported by professional preparation. COVID-19 intensified these concerns amid disrupted systems of student support and increased student distress. Our national survey (N = 1398) pursued the powerful opportunity present during the pandemic to understand the extent and distribution of demands on teachers to address student wellness and the support they receive for such work. We found that the demand for teachers’ wellness work was inequitably distributed across teachers, varying largely by their schools’ sociodemographic characteristics. Additionally, access to support for this work did not align with demand levels. We discuss these findings’ implications for teacher preparation, support, and workload equity.

The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study was to understand the types of mental health supports described in school district reopening plans in one southeastern state, and to understand school social workers’ involvement in developing these plans during the first full academic year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Publicly accessible school district reopening plans were collected from the 80 school districts in South Carolina, and 15 school social workers participated in virtual interviews. Out of the 80 school districts, 67 had reopening plans, and of those, only 43 percent mentioned mental health services and supports. Most school district reopening plans described Tier 1 universal prevention services and supports and a process for mental health assessment, identification, and referral. Fewer included Tier 2 early intervention and Tier 3 targeted and intensive services. Of the school social workers interviewed, only four were involved in helping to develop their school district reopening plans, and when involved, advocated for mental health services and supports for their students. The article concludes with a discussion of the study's implications for school social work practice.

Schools worldwide are developing innovative models in response to, and in anticipation of, societal changes. Aiming to address non-academic barriers to learning, while capitalizing on out-of-school time, some school and community leaders have prioritized family and community partnerships, especially in the United States (U.S.). The Community Collaboration Model (CCM) is one such U.S. partnership-oriented model of expanded school improvement. In contrast to some partnership-oriented models, the CCM prioritizes improvements in classrooms and communities, aiming to support students, assist teachers, and improve relationships beyond the typical school day. This scoping review examines 14 peer-reviewed articles which describe CCM-centered innovations and documented outcomes. Barriers and facilitators associated with CCM adoption and implementation in diverse U.S. school and community settings also are explored. CCM’s contributions to important student and school outcomes (e.g., increased access to mental health services, improved school climate, decreased discipline referrals) are documented in this scoping review. Some researchers have also described implementation-related facilitators (e.g., partnerships with universities) and barriers (e.g., initial resistance by educators) that influence the utility of the model in practice. Drawing on prior research, the authors discuss findings and implications for future research, educational policy, and practice.

This integrative review examined correlates, mechanisms, and consequences of teacher bias experienced in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade in primary and secondary schools in the United States. Education Resource and Information Center, Sociological Abstracts, and Applied Social Science Index & Abstracts were searched to identify peer-reviewed articles published in English from 2000–2020. Thirty-one articles were included. The majority (65%) of studies were qualitative and explored teachers’ and students’ perceptions of teacher bias or differential student treatment. Teacher bias was associated with students’ race, ethnicity, immigration status, obesity, mental and physical disabilities. Behaviors associated with teacher bias included exclusionary discipline, microaggressions, name mispronunciations, and disproportionate gifted and special education referrals. Few studies quantitatively measured teacher bias suggesting methodological limitations in this body of evidence. Future research should employ objective measures of teacher bias. Research synthesis suggests teacher bias plays a significant role in teachers’ perceptions of and behaviors towards diverse students.

BACKGROUND: Understanding teachers' appraisals of student wellness services and supports during COVID‐19 is essential to strengthening services and improving student health outcomes. This mixed‐method study aimed to examine US PK‐12 teachers' appraisals of student wellness services and supports during COVID‐19.METHODS: This study focuses on qualitative data from 291 teachers' open‐ended responses to the question: “What do you wish your school leaders knew about this (wellness support) aspect of your work?” and whose responses described wellness services and supports. A qualitative content analysis was conducted by an interdisciplinary research team using open‐ and axial coding.RESULTS: Three main themes emerged. (1) insufficient access to mental health professionals and programming at schools, (2) concern about the quality of available services, and (3) a need for teacher professional development and support on student wellness. Statistically significant differences in teacher appraisals of insufficient access to mental health professionals and programming were found based on grade level taught and percentage of immigrant students in the school.CONCLUSION: With amplified student wellness needs, school personnel, including school leaders, must consider ways to allocate additional resources/staffing, assess the quality of services and supports, and design professional development opportunities to support teachers' involvement in supporting student wellness needs.