The greater intensity and complexity of mental health needs among K-12 students has only been exacerbated by the isolation and stress of the Covid-19 pandemic and response. We are all aware of the harmful effects of severing students from their friends, extracurricular activities, clubs, teams, and caring adults. Before the lockdowns, we built into our schools an intricate support system, so students feel safe and connected to their school community, increasing their buy-in and improving their readiness to learn.
Now we move into the next phase – building back that community even better so that our students can excel. Schools must find a way to take the hard lessons learned in during Covid lockdowns and equip their staff for the post-pandemic students whom they now serve.
As we continue together on this road to recovery, the U.S. Department of Education has gathered a list of the key challenges in Supporting Child and Student Social, Emotional, Behavioral, and Mental Health Needs. Our recent webinar focuses on four of those challenges and how Impero Wellbeing can support schools in enhancing the system of support they already have in place. With our holistic approach to student safety, we aid in the cumulation and presentation of key data points to determine appropriate tiers of intervention and support.
Challenges as identified by US Dept of Education:
- Rising Mental Health Needs and Disparities Among Children and Student Groups
- Ineffective Implementation of Practices
- Fragmented Delivery Systems
- Lack of Access to Usable Data to Guide Implementation Decisions
Recommendations for integration of Impero Backdrop and Wellbeing tools to address these challenges:
- Utilize Backdrop and Wellbeing to create a data-driven, reportable, and holistic view of the health and wellness of all students.
- Reference and report on the student chronology in Backdrop to identify students who need an alternative support from within your MTSS framework.
- Create a single source of information on your student health by pulling student data, student online activity, in-class activity, and hallway encounters into a single, user-friendly dashboard.
- Generate reports to determine the health of wellness of the school, analyze trends in increasing concerning behavior, or track effectiveness of PBIS implementation.