CT School Districts Among Leading Participants in Mental Health Planning, Assessments

Connecticut is one of a growing number of states, school districts and schools nationwide that has implemented the National Center for School Mental Health's School Health Assessment and Performance Evaluation System (SHAPE), according to a recent newsletter published by the Child Health and Development Institute (CHDI).

The SHAPE initiative is a public-access, web-based platform that offers schools, districts, and states resources to support school mental health.

To highlight Connecticut's success and encourage participation across the country, a fact sheet featuring Connecticut, Massachusetts and Indiana and was created with information about the way SHAPE has been utilized across states, districts, and schools to offer a way for other leaders across the country to connect.

SHAPE is offered to Connecticut schools through a partnership between the Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF), CHDI and the National Center for School Mental Health at the University of Maryland, host of the SHAPE System. 

Districts and schools are using SHAPE data and reports to engage in proactive planning; recognize and sustain the strengths of their school mental health system, identify and prioritize areas for improvement; and strategically abandon areas that are not working.

In Connecticut, 42 school districts are participating in the SHAPE system, at either the Blue, Bronze, Silver, or Gold levels, as well as 69 individual schools across the state. 

The SHAPE system allows school and district leaders to take stock in what has gone well, identify what is crucial to retain and prioritize, recognize gaps and areas of need, and make sure their school mental health system is robust and efficient.

“School administrators indicate that mental health is one of the most challenging unmet needs among their students. By using the SHAPE system, we support districts in Connecticut to develop comprehensive plans to support students’ well-being,” explained Dr. Jeana Bracey, Associate Vice President of School and Community Initiatives, CHDI.  “After assessing their strengths and gaps, SHAPE schools are strategically addressing prevention, early intervention and more intensive needs, while more efficiently targeting their resources to better meet all student’s needs.”

With funding and support from the Connecticut Department of Children and Families, the Child and Health Development Institute (CHDI) provides free training and technical assistance to Connecticut schools and districts to foster engagement in the SHAPE system.  Thus far, involvement has included districts and schools in all six of the state’s Department of Children and Families (DCF) regions, as well as the majority of state’s CT Alliance districts.

The SHAPE system national website points out that, “students who participate in social emotional learning programs do better academically and socially,” with three-quarters of youth who receive mental health services accessing them in schools.  The site also notes that youth are six times more likely to complete mental health treatments in schools than in other community settings, and that a positive school climate integrated with social emotional leaning improves school safety and decreases bullying. 

One Connecticut school district administrator, Carrie Rivera, School Psychologist and Department Head for the New London Public Schools, noted that “Despite school building closure this spring, we were still able to complete the SHAPE assessment with 4 out of 6 of our schools and the deep, self-reflective discussions that resulted were invaluable. Never before had our school teams stepped back to review their mental health structures, discuss what was going well and set goals as a department to make systematic changes moving into the next school year. We are excited to continue working on the goals set by each building and see the impact on student mental health and achievement!”

Every school in the New London school district has since completed all Mental Health Quality Assessments and have reached Gold Star status.

SHAPE houses the National School Mental Health Census and the School Mental Health Quality Assessment (SMH-QA). These measures are designed for team completion at the school or district level to document the school mental health system components, assess the comprehensiveness of a SMH system, prioritize quality improvement efforts and track improvement over time. In addition, the system includes the Trauma-Responsive Schools Implementation Assessment (TRS-IA), a tool to measure trauma-informed efforts among schools.  

Connecticut is one of eight states that participated in the National Coalition for the State Advancement of School Mental Health in 2017-18, driving statewide adoption of school mental health performance measures.

Connecticut school districts are also demonstrating leadership by their participation in related programs aimed at supporting students and furthering their education.

School-Based Diversion Initiative (SBDI) districts include Bristol, Hamden, New London, Thomaston and Thompson.  The mission of the Connecticut School-Based Diversion Initiative is to the reduce rate of in-school arrests, expulsions, and out-of-school suspensions.   By doing this, SBDI helps keep kids in school, improves student outcomes, and ensures that students receive fair and equitable in-school discipline regardless of mental health, special education needs or demographic characteristics such as race or ethnicity.

SBDI is state-funded by the State Department of Education, Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, and Court Support Services Division. DCF also provides oversight for the initiative and CHDI serves as the SBDI Coordinating Center.

Project AWARE is a program which supports partnerships and collaboration between state and local systems to promote healthy development of school-age youth and prevent youth violence. Advancing Wellness and Resilience in Education (AWARE) districts include Middletown, Naugatuck and Windham. Utilizing the trauma-informed, multi-tiered system of supports for school mental health framework, CHDI collaborated with the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) and the Department of Children and Families (DCF), to launch the Advancing Wellness and Resilience in Education (AWARE) initiative in 2018.