Center for MH in Schools & Student/Learning
Supports
What's New From the Center?

2026 – Over the previous years, our analyses of prevailing school improvement legislation, planning, and literature have
delineated fundamental deficiencies, especially with respect to enhancing equity of opportunity and closing the achievement gap.
As
schools continue to recover from the pandemic, it is essential to move forward
in making fundamental changes.
With this in mind,
a major facet of our work in 2025 continues to focus school improvement policy and planning on:
(1) moving school improvement from a two- to a three-component policy and practice framework (That is, expanding from a primary focus on instruction and management/government concerns to fully integrate a third primary component directly concerned with improving how schools address barriers to learning and teaching.)
(2) integrating a deep understanding of motivation – especially intrinsic motivation and personalized teaching
(3) reframing of remediation and special education emphasizing personalized special assistance that is applied in and out of classrooms and practiced in a sequential and hierarchical manner.
(4) transforming student and learning supports into a unified, comprehensive, and equitable system designed to address barriers to learning and teaching and re-engage disconnected students and families.
(5) reworking the leadership structure for whole school improvement
(6) enhancing school-community collaboration by establishing a collaborative operational infrastructure that enables weaving together resources to address shared concerns
(7) expanding the framework for school accountability
(8) providing guidance for substantive, scalable, and sustainable systemic changes
For details see the resources listed below.
All New Center Resources (Reports, Briefs, Information Resources. Packets, Practice Notes) are Reported Each Month in the Center UPDATEs section of ENEWS and Entered into the
Resource Catalogue.
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4/8/26
>Social media and the young: What should we do?
>Social Media as a Behavioral Activation Tool
>Students falling through the cracks: What's the data?
>Links to a few other relevant shared resources
Community of Practice -- "Weekly Practitioner"
https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/practitioner.htm
3/25/26
>Does a Multi-Tiered System of Supports limit teacher creativity?
>About School Improvement and Making Educational
Practice "Scientific"
>Embedding Trauma-Informed Practices into a System
for Addressing Barriers to Learning and Teaching
>Links to a few other relevant shared resources
3/18/26
>Classroom based assistance for students experiencing stress
>Improving understanding of determinants of absenteeism
>Addressing Chronic Absenteeism
>Links to a few other relevant shared resources
3/11/26
>Improving student behavior: It's about promoting pro-social development
>Natural Opportunities for Promoting Pro-Social Development at School
>Reduction in day-to-day victimization at schools
>Links to a few other relevant shared resources
3/4/26
>Are Teens experiencing a "grind" culture and is it affecting their
Mental Health?
>Improving Students' Relationships with Teachers
>Reengaging Disconnected Students
>Links to a few other relevant shared resources
2/18/26
>Prevention and more
>Pursuing "open mic" activities in ways that avoid doing harm
>Why transform K-12 student/learning supports?
>Links to a few other relevant shared resources
2/11/26
>How much can a neighborhood impact educational outcomes?
>About referring students for emotional support
>Anticipating student protests with a view to their well-being
>Links to a few other relevant shared resources
2/4/26
>Impact of peers on academic ambitions
>Improving student/learning supports at rural schools
>About Crosswell Drive Elementary School (Sumter, SC)
>Links to a few other relevant shared resources
1/21/26
>What K-12 Trends to watch for in 2026
>A Bit About Resilience and Student/Learning Supports
>Protective Factors and Children’s Subjective Well-being
>Links to a few other relevant shared resources
1/14/26
>What’s been learned from efforts to address learning loss?
> Prevention yields threat reduction
>About School Climate
>Links to a few other relevant shared resources
1/7/26
>Do mentors give students hope?
>How are the different causes of behavior problems
at school understood?
>Rethinking how schools address student
misbehavior & disengagement
>Links to a few other relevant shared resources
Examples of previous discussions
>Are we over-pathologizing young people's mental health?
>Do Students Disengage -- then, Dropout?
>School improvement: Moving into the age of Implementation Science
>About the Difficulty in Disseminating New Approaches
>Appreciations for what has been accomplished
>Links to a few other relevant shared resources
>How will education cuts impact students?
>Why is it important to have student voices at the table?
>A student's perspective on a school cell phone ban
>How are schools facilitating factors that promote resilience?
>Redefining the resilience narrative
>Student Surveillance vs. Privacy: Another dilemma for schools >What is the role of school leadership in enhancing
students’ equity of opportunity?
>Helping others bring children happiness
>What contributes to depressed mood among adolescents?
>About children in foster care
>How Important is What This Middle School Student Has to Say?
>How unified and comprehensive are "whole-school" approaches?
>It's not about just throwing money at problems: Making Money Matter
>Working on Recovery
>Supporting Social and Emotional Development in 2025
>Advocating for Change in Providing Student/Learning Supports
>Are schools responsible for supporting staff mental wellness?
>Supporting students during and after a crisis
>Behavior Problems: What's a teacher to do?
>Student news broadcasts as a platform for participatory civics
>Adverse and Positive Childhood Experiences and Resilience
>"Holidays" are Special Social and Emotional Development Opportunities
>Are you part of a school stakeholder collaborative?
>Supporting students impacted by threat of family deportation
>Positive working relationships in the classroom
>Concerns about online therapy for adolescents
>End of the year? ... No, not for the school year!
>Are schools protecting students' mental health?
>What do those in the field say about what student/learning supports
are most helpful?
>About socioeconomic factors and achievement gaps
> Let's face it: MTSS is not a unified, comprehensive, and equitable
student support system
>Preventing truancy
>About Addressing Poverty: What’s a School's Role?
>Demonstrating that mental health in schools is worth the investment
>Promoting positive mental health in schools
>Colleague asks for "real" examples of schools addressing prevention
>About Engaging students in active learning
>Are school boards important??
>Impact of homework on students and families
>About new directions for addressing youth mental health
>Will Tier 3 interventions reduce school shootings?
>About Relationship Building at School
>What do you think about online/telephone counseling for students?
>Rethinking universal mindfulness programs in schools
>Should schools use student well-being surveys to guide policy/practice?
>How should schools use artificial intelligence and also cope with misuses?
>Looking for a list of behavioral/mental health evidence based
interventions for use in schools
>Does MTSS contribute to the marginalization of disabled students?
>Student voice and mental health in schools
>Prevention, promotion, & strength-based approaches to youth mental health
>What's involved in recruiting and retaining school professionals?
>>Enhancing Ongoing Alliances Between Teachers and Student/Learning Support Staff
>Who's Really Interested in TRANSFORMING Student and Learning Supports?
>Schools need to consider "fit" in adopting interventions
>A related concern about fitting evidence-based treatment
to the person, not the diagnosis
>What's being done about youth who have disconnected from school?
>About "at-risk" youth
>Showing and Receiving Kindness: An Example of a Natural Opportunity for SEL
>Can there be too much talk about mental health?
>Artificial Intelligence in the classroom
>Can unnecessary student mental health referrals be reduced?
>Increasing Concern About the Complexity of Attendance Problems
>Absenteeism: Yet Another Reason for Transforming Student/Learning Supports
>Social-Emotional Curriculum Isn’t a Good Fit for Every Student
>Paraprofessionals and student/learning supports
>Shifting discipline from consequences to prevention
>The impact of students' sense of belonging on their learning
>What will best meet the needs of all students and staff:
>Adding Some More Mental Health Services at Schools
OR
Developing a Unified, Comprehensive, and Equitable
Student and Learning Supports System?
>Discipline's impact on student mental health
>About concerns that arise in addressing school/community violence
>Some indicators of youth risk behavior show encouraging trends
>About mental health in schools as a platform for transforming
student/learning supports
>Students Thrive with Positive Experiences (and so do school staff)
>What problems arise when additional MH professionals are brought into a school?
>Focusing on Mental Health in Schools from a Public Health Perspective
>Countering the Impending Tidal Wave of Unnecessary Referrals for
Special Assistance and Special Education
>About Developing Kindness and Compassion & Promoting MH
>Time for Straight Talk about Mental Health Services and MH in Schools
>Evolving Community Schools and Transforming Student/Learning Supports
>How are various sources of funding being braided to improve/transform
student/learning supports?
>Can youth empowerment enhance violence prevention?
>Student anxiety, aggressive behavior, school climate, & other related concerns
>How should schools improve discipline practices?
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ENEWS*
Spring Slump? Engagement is an Even Greater Concern over the Coming Months
Also
- Continuing Education Through Quick links to online resources
- A few Stories Excerpted from Various News Sources
Comments and
sharing from the field
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Recent Hot Topics & Issues & Commentaries
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Net Exchange The Center offers a variety of informal and formal ways to interact and network with the Center and colleagues around the country.
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