Framework/Best Practices

Behavioral Health Teams and Universal Mental Health Screening

This website helps schools who are on the journey to implementing behavioral health teams and universal mental health screening. CBHM is a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) designed to promote students’ social, emotional, and behavioral wellbeing. MTSS is a three-tier model of service delivery for educational and behavioral services in a school setting. This model is also often called Response to Intervention (RtI). In BPS, the Academic Achievement Framework (AAF) is a version of RtI focused on students’ social and behavioral learning. The Comprehensive Behavioral Health Model (CBHM) is focused on students’ social and behavioral learning. The goal of the CBHM Lighthouse model is to create safe and supportive learning environments in which students may grow and thrive academically, personally, and socially. This includes providing the right amount of services and supports at the right time when a student absolutely needs them.

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School Active Shooter Drills Mitigating Risks to Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Health (2025)

Active shooter drills have become a standard practice in nearly all U.S. schools, yet their potential impact on students and educators has received limited attention. School Active Shooter Drills: Mitigating Risks to Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Health explores how these drills are conducted and how to reduce potential harm while supporting school safety. Developed by a committee of experts in education, school safety, public health, pediatrics, child and adolescent development, psychiatry, psychology, neuroscience, public policy, and criminology, this report provides an in-depth review of current practices and offers guidance. The report provides suggestions for implementing practices that promote prevention and preparedness while supporting well-being, and foster learning environments where students and staff feel safe, capable, and supported.

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Transformative SEL

“Transformative SEL” is a form of SEL implementation where young people and adults build strong, respectful, and lasting relationships to engage in co-learning. It facilitates critical examination of individual and contextual factors that contribute to inequities and collaborative solutions that lead to personal, community, and societal well-being. Through SEL, students and adults develop social and emotional skills needed for school and community engagement, with a focus on rights and responsibilities for creating learning environments that are caring and just. 

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CASEL’s SEL Framework

Learn more about CASEL’S framework, known to many as the “CASEL wheel,” that helps cultivate skills and environments that advance students’ learning and development. This framework creates a foundation for applying evidence-based SEL strategies to your school community.

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Healing Centered Framework

This framework is designed to articulate what it will require to be a school district that centers healing and wellness in its work. The information aims to clarify what being “healing-centered” looks and feels like for the different members of the CPS community in different roles. It also outlines five different components of a healing-centered district that apply, in unique ways, to each stakeholder.

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