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Prevention- Early Intervention Trauma Programming

School Mental Health Quality Assessment (SMHQA) Guide

This is a complementary guide to completing the School Mental Health Quality Assessment (SMHQA) assessment tool, which is a starting point in supporting schools and districts in creating a safe and supportive school environment. Indicators guide how schools may demonstrate success in each area within the seven domains of SMHQA. The examples are a guide and can be used as a starting point for quality improvement initiatives. Overall, the assessment tool provides suggestions for action planning that can be adjusted to meet the needs of the school and/or district using it. Resources to further support action planning can be found through the RSSI and SHAPE systems as well as the Action Plan Facilitator Guide.

The SMHQA is designed for teams to assess the comprehensiveness of their school mental health system and to identify priority areas for improvement. The Assessment is composed of seven domains (Teaming, Needs Assessment/Resource Mapping, Screening, Mental Health Promotion, Early Intervention and Treatment, Funding and Sustainability, Impact).

*Note that there are two versions of the SMHQA: one for schools and one for districts. Please access the assessment that makes sense for your work.

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42 MTSS Intervention Strategies for Your Student Support Team

Every student comes into the classroom with their own experiences and needs. As educators, we can support students by choosing intervention strategies designed to help them succeed. A strong Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) depends on individualized, research-based intervention strategies. Intervention plans must be relationship-informed as well as data-informed, building on what we know about our students and determining how best to support them. Check out these ideas for your student support team.

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6 Ways to Sustain SEL in Schools

Sustaining SEL efforts over the long term is crucial to allow children to adequately develop these skills. But that sustainability faces barriers in the form of staff turnover, limitations on resources, and competing for precious classroom time against other programs and initiatives. This article provides six key ways to support sustaining SEL PreK–12 efforts districtwide.

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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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Connecting Schoolwide SEL with Other School-Based Frameworks

Some of the most common frameworks for organizing student supports are Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). Adopting schoolwide SEL does not mean that a school must abandon these existing frameworks. Rather, schoolwide SEL offers an opportunity to enhance or refine existing systems of support. This guide from CASEL defines Schoolwide SEL, MTSS, and PBIS, then describes how these frameworks can align with and complement one another.

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Supporting Mental Health in Schools

Concerning trends in rates of anxiety, depression, self-harm, and suicidality have brought the mental health of America’s youth to the forefront. While an estimated 1 in 6 children and adolescents meet the criteria for a
diagnosable mental health disorder, few receive needed treatment. Inequities and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) exacerbate risks. This report highlights Comprehensive School Mental Health Systems (CSMHS) in schools across the U.S. and the core features that make up a successful CSMHS.

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Building a Culture of Joyful Learning

Research shows that students who feel known and valued are more prepared to meaningfully engage in learning. Students who experience a sense of belonging have better self-esteem, higher rates of classroom participation, and higher academic achievement (Korpershoek, 2018). As a result of creating a positive school climate for both students and educators, the elementary school featured in this report had the conditions in place to make rapid academic gains. When educators implemented the instructional improvements described in this case study, student proficiency improved dramatically because children were in the right mindset for learning.

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Cultivating Relationships in Secondary Schools

The science of learning and development demonstrates the value of positive relationships for student success and well-being. This brief describes structures that secondary schools can integrate to cultivate conditions that enable healthy attachments to grow. Specifically, it highlights structures that can foster personal teacher–student relationships, including those that create small learning communities, promote safety and belonging, support culturally sustaining and relevant education, and foster student voice and agency. In addition, it describes structures that enable relationship-building between and among staff and families so that relationships can become more fully embedded into a school’s culture and fabric. School structures can create opportunities for relationships to develop, but those structures are only as powerful as the interactions within them.

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Branching Minds MTSS educational technology platform

Branching Minds is a K-12 educational technology platform that was designed to support schools in doing the work of MTSS and to make personalized learning sustainable for schools and teachers. This site has lots of data, resources and actionable insights on how to provide the necessary instruction to meet the unique learning needs, strengths, and challenges of each student. This platform streamlines the work of MTSS and provides guidance to personalize support for students so educators have more time and energy to do the inherently personal and personalized work of building positive student-teacher relationships.

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