The need to support the whole student has never been more urgent. While many educators have long recognized the interconnection between student’s safety, wellness, and academic outcomes, school districts are under increasing pressure to support student mental health – their social, emotional, and behavioral needs – in addition to their academic success.
The statistics around youth mental health are sobering. One in six young Americans aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year. The prevalence of suicidal ideation and attempts is even more troubling, particularly among females and students of color.
Taking a comprehensive approach to student support is no longer a pedagogical ideal; it’s a practical necessity. Since children spend most of their waking hours at school, educators are in a unique position to turn the tide. To do so effectively, however, they need effective tools and processes to support student mental health with early identification, prevention, and intervention.
MTSS and PBIS Can Help Schools Effectively Support Student Mental Health
Evidence-based frameworks including Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) are intended to help schools identify and support all students. Both frameworks provide structured strategies to improve student outcomes, but they do so in slightly different ways.
Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS)
MTSS is a proactive framework designed to provide targeted support to all students based on varying needs. Centered on a whole-child approach, MTSS integrates academic, behavioral, and social-emotional learning into a cohesive system that supports struggling students at multiple levels.
Using a continuum of evidence-based practices adjusted according to the intensity of student needs, MTSS suggests a three-tiered approach to delivering interventions:
- Tier 1: Universal interventions provided to all students to promote overall academic and behavioral success
- Tier 2: Targeted interventions for groups of students who require additional support beyond what is offered universally
- Tier 3: Intensive, individualized interventions for students who demonstrate significant difficulties despite receiving Tier 1 and Tier 2 supports
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS)
In practice, PBIS can be seen as a component of MTSS, which addresses behavior specifically within the larger MTSS framework. Like MTSS, PBIS suggests a three-tiered approach to student behavioral interventions, as well as a preventative approach to behavior management. The idea is to prevent problem behaviors before they happen by using positive reinforcement and clear expectations to encourage desired behaviors.
When the two are integrated, PBIS’s strategies for creating a positive school climate and managing student behavior complement the academic and social-emotional components of MTSS. This integration ensures a well-rounded approach to support student mental health that addresses diverse needs comprehensively.
A Shared Reliance on Data-Driven Decision Making
Both MTSS and PBIS also stress the importance of using data to make decisions and rapidly adapting to evolving needs. In both frameworks, decisions are made by continuously monitoring student progress and using this data to dynamically adapt interventions and supports.
However, this data-driven focus is also what has traditionally created obstacles to realizing the potential of these frameworks and similar approaches to driving school improvements. If you’re trying to implement frameworks like MTSS and PBIS while still relying on manual data collection and analysis, your success will be limited at best.
4 Ways Automated Data Collection & Analysis Helps Schools Support the Whole Student
Traditionally, school districts have relied on manual survey tools and periodic assessments to collect the necessary data for MTSS and PBIS implementation. These methods, while once the only option, are unnecessarily time-consuming and labor-intensive.
The data collected from these methods also represents only a snapshot in time and is often outdated by the time it’s actionable. Furthermore, not all K-12 educators have the time or the skills to effectively analyze the data and translate it into action plans.
To mitigate these challenges, school districts can automate data collection and analysis using revolutionary AI technology. The use of AI takes the time and labor out of data collection, making it possible to collect and analyze data in minutes that would otherwise take months.
Data can be analyzed to meet a range of diverse needs, including:
- Tier 2 and 3 interventions
- Social-emotional competence
- School climate
- Student behavior
- Safety threats
When administrators and educators have access to real-time data and actionable insights, they’re empowered to make timely, data-driven decisions.
Here are four ways access to real-time data helps schools not only support student mental health, but the whole student:
1 | Early Identification of Concerns
The ability to identify and support children and adolescents who are still in the early stages of depression, anxiety, or a mental health disorder can significantly reduce the likelihood that the issue will escalate. Their online behaviors can provide the early indications needed to identify emerging mental health issues.
“Because teachers, school psychologists, social workers and other counselors have extended contact with children on a daily basis, they are often in the best position to recognize early patterns of behavior that pose a risk for a child’s academic, social, emotional or behavioral functioning.”
Source: “Early Identification of Mental Health Issues in Young People,” Mental Health Association
When you have access to data about students’ web searches and online interactions, you gain insight into concerning behaviors that might otherwise go undetected until things get much worse. This data also provides additional context and clues about a student’s mental state when investigating potential concerns.
2 | Timely Interventions
Access to real-time data gives school counselors and mental health professionals the ability to know which students need help now and support student mental health proactively. Student wellness monitoring software analyzes students’ online interactions for signs of distress—including self-harm, suicide, bullying/cyberbullying, and violence—and alerts school personnel of concerning behaviors so they can investigate quickly and intervene if warranted.
Like an “extra set of eyes and ears,” student wellness monitoring gives you the ability to identify and monitor dangerous and risky student behaviors before they escalate, such as TikTok challenges and suicide clusters.
3 | Tailored Support Plans
With continuous access to up-to-date data, educators can more easily identify students who need Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions. They also have the information needed to develop personalized plans that address the specific needs of each student. Having the data to individualize their approach allows school teams to not only be responsive to the unique circumstances and backgrounds of students, but to also promote an equitable and inclusive system of supports.
4 | Better Communication with Parents and Caregivers
Real-time data facilitates better communication between schools and families. When schools are able to give families insights into their children’s school life and online activities, more collaborative relationships are fostered. The school-family partnership is crucial, particularly when it comes to students’ mental health.
Learn More about How Integrated Technology Tools Can Help You Holistically Support Student Mental Health
The integration of real-time data into school support systems transforms how educators, counselors, and administrators understand and respond to student needs. When student mental health is increasingly fragile, the ability to act swiftly and effectively based on accurate, current data isn’t just beneficial, it’s essential.
Securly Filter and Securly Aware are integrated student safety and wellness tools that give schools the real-time data they need to be responsive to in-the-moment needs and ensure that interventions are timely, tailored, and comprehensive.
Securly Filter is a cloud-based K-12 school web filter that safeguards students from harmful, offensive, and inappropriate content on school devices. Also a powerful and secure data collection tool, Filter gives schools the data they need to identify and gain deeper insights into student safety and wellness concerns.
Securly Aware plays a critical role in the detection and prevention of student suicide, self-harm, bullying, and violence. Aware continually scans students’ online interactions to detect early warning signals of distress and alerts schools when students display concerning behaviors. Aware helps busy school support teams know which students need help now so they can investigate and intervene quickly.
By embracing integrated student safety and wellness technologies, school districts can overcome the obstacles of traditional data collection and make decisions that are data-driven, timely, and most importantly, aligned with the current needs of their students.
To learn more, visit www.securly.com.