�Centering Wellness in School��Susan Barrett�sbarrett@dragonflyforward.org�ADAPT-HOPE-HEAL�

National Center on PBIS Implementer Partner, Co-developer of the Interconnected Systems Framework, Founder, Dragonfly Forward

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Acknowledgement and Contributions

How will you apply your learning?

What’s my “Why”?

• Special Educator
• School Counselor
• Middle School Administrator
• PBIS State Coordinator, Maryland
• Technical Assistance Director, Center on PBIS
• Wife, Mom

• Whole Child Teams- NURSE, Counselor
• Story, strengths, needs
• Quick access to support in math and coping skills

Supports w/o label, diagnosis, insurance plan

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Middle School , 2010

• Warm welcome
• 2 champions
• Connection and Belonging
• Art and Music Department
• Photography and Film
• Pro-social group of friends
• Consistent, predictable, routines and expectations

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Current Context

Social media �2009-2010�available on mobile devices

The Social Dilemma

71.8 % of High School Students spend 3 more hours per day on screen time.

2021 Montana Youth Risk Behavior Survey Results

41.5 % of High School Students in Montana reported feeling so sad and hopeless for 2 week or more in row, they stopped doing usual activities

2021 Montana Youth Risk Behavior Survey Results

And ….

March 2020

Common Experiences AND

Intersection with Discipline Policies

National Trends

• Increased Social Emotional Behavior and Mental Health have been on an increasing trends for over a decade
• Majority of students/staff with anxiety, depression, trauma, generational trauma
• Racism is an adverse childhood experience- major long term health implications
• Social Determinants of Health and larger community context that impact student success
• Staff shortages- increasing and expected prior to pandemic
• 1:1 service delivery will not be enough
• Impact of healthy, positive, predictable, consistent nurturing environments – significantly impact wellbeing and academic achievement

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www.pbis.org

Across the board, teachers struggling to feel that they are effectively and appropriately supporting students with intensive behaviors.��Administrators struggling to feel that they are effectively supporting staff with well-being. ��Early childhood and primary buildings, rates of behaviors such as biting (others and self), hitting (others and self), anxiety, withdrawal, etc. program-wide that are unprecedented. ���At Secondary level, increase suicide ideation, drug and alcohol misuse/abuse�

SY 2022-2023

www.pbis.org

Guiding Questions �Redesigning how we do school…

• How do we broaden of what mental health is in schools?
• If we broaden scope of health and wellness, how do we change our approach to training and supporting our staff?
• How do we ensure health and wellness is the backbone of what we do?
• How do we get everyone to invest?

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Why Mental Health in Schools?�School-based mental health services reach children in typical, every-day environments. The natural, non-stigmatizing location offers an early and effective environment for intervention.��

• Youth are 6x more likely to complete mental health treatment in schools than in community settings (Jaycox et al., 2010)
• Mental health treatment has large effects on decreasing mental health symptoms (Sanchez et al., 2018)
• Mental health services are most effective when they are integrated into students’ academic instruction (Sanchez et al., 2018)

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Read more…

new brief on The Case for School Mental Health

https://smartcenter.uw.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Case-for-School-Mental-Health_2023-Update.pdf

WE CAN NOT HIRE OR BUY OUR WAY OUT OF THIS

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AND

MTSS and PBIS are widely used. How can we enhance to fit mental health needs?

“MTSS is something to help organize the adults and their implementation of best practices within classrooms and schools.  MTSS is not about organizing kids as much as it is about organizing what we do for and WITH kids and their families.” - Dr. George Sugai, Professor Emeritus, University of Connecticut

Expanding PBIS to include MH with ISF�Interconnected Systems Framework

A Structure and process for education and mental health systems to interact in most effective and efficient way.

guided by key stakeholders in education and mental health/community systems

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who have the ability to reallocate resources, change role and function of staff, and change policy.

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One Set of Teams

Success defined �by Outcomes

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”-~Maya Angelou�

When Implementing Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) with Fidelity

�PBIS: A Continuous Improvement Framework

• We organize our teams and resources to be effective, efficient and we continuously examine our needs
• We make sure our kids are known, feel connected, valued and get help early.
• We invest in what is likely to work for our students
• We invest in our staff so they can support ALL students
• We make sure we are implementing well as we review student outcomes
• We continuously adjust based on need and improve based on our family, youth, staff and community input and leadership.

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Inclusion is engagement within a community where the equal worth and inherent dignity of each person is honored. An inclusive community promotes and sustains a sense of belonging; it affirms the talents, beliefs, backgrounds and ways of living of its members.

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Cobb and Krownapple, 2019

Core Values of PBIS

Inclusion, Equity, Dignity and Unconditional Belonging

“Inclusion Is NOT a strategy to help people fit into the systems and structures which exist in our societies. It is about transforming those systems and structures to make it better for everyone. Inclusion is about creating a better world for everyone.” Diane Richler

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Cobb and Krownapple, 2019

“PBIS is NOT a curriculum adoption, it is about Transforming the System”-Dr. Kurt Hatch

�What are the ways we are designing a healthy environment for all ?

• Effective teams that include youth, family and community mental health providers (expand opportunity and access for members who historically have been excluded)
• Data-based decision making that include school data beyond ODRs and community data
• Formal processes for the selection & implementation of evidence-based practices (EBP) across tiers with team decision making and customized to fit culture/context/strengths/needs of community.
• Early access through use of comprehensive and equitable approach to screening, which

includes uncovering strengths, story & internalizing and externalizing needs

• Rigorous progress-monitoring for both fidelity & effectiveness of all interventions regardless of

who delivers

• Ongoing coaching at both the systems & practices level for both school and community employed professionals (e.g., continuously examining the “health” of the system and the strengths and needs of the caregivers and helpers in the system)

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Team Check

Effective leadership team that include youth, family and community mental health providers (expand opportunity and access for members who historically have been excluded)

• Do you have executive level leadership actively engaged ?
• Do you have members represent school community?
• Should you consider adding members to this team?
• Student, family, community employed mental health provider?
• Is the team clear about its purpose?
• How is it linked to the school improvement plan?

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Mental Health

Teaching and Learning

Suicide Prevention Planning Team

Threat Assessment

Equity Team

Data Team

Midtown Community Partners

SEL Team

Climate and Culture Workgroup

Safety Committee

MTSS Leadership Team

PBIS Leadership Team

Inclusion Committee

Attendance Team

Discipline Team

Whole Child Committee

Restorative Practices

UDL

Current Teams

Doing Great work, but….

Consolidate Your Teams- From 25 to 3 �Expand your membership, Expand Your Data�Expand Your Results

Center on PBIS

COVID-19

Team Check�

Do we have data-based decision making routines that include school data and community data?

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What is the story, strength and need of our larger community?

• School Community
• Neighborhood

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Life outside of school directly impacts our children in school.

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Partnerships with family, youth and community essential to transformation.

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Tier 1 Team

• Do you have an accurate picture of ALL of your student’s story, strengths and needs? Across ALL Subgroups
• % of students meeting attendance criteria, % in each sub group
• % of students who feel connected
• % of students with 0-1 office referrals
• % of students on track to graduate
• % of students meeting academic benchmark
• % of students with adequate health, housing, food
• % of students who have experienced trauma
• % of students with relationship with at least 1 adult

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Tier 1 Team

• % of staff who feel connected
• % of staff who meet attendance requirements
• % of staff who feel like they can manage their workload
• % of staff who feel like they have skills to manage student academic and social emotional behavior needs.

Are the basics in place?�Creating an ecosystem where everyone thrives�If not, how do make decisions about what we need?

True or False

ALL teachers in your school employ basic classroom evidence-based practices.

• A warm welcome is provided to everyone
• Behavior Specific Praise statements to error correction is at least 5:1 and classroom system does not promote teacher attention to student errors
• Wait time is 4 seconds
• OTR rate. Teacher talk should be no more than 40-50% of instructional time.
• New material: a minimum of 4-6 responses per minute with 80% accuracy.
• Review of previously learned material: 8-12 responses per minute with 90% accuracy.
• Routines and procedures defined and explicitly taught across year
• Social skills explicitly taught in context with behavior examples
• Pre-correction is used prior to transitions.
• Active Supervision used in classroom (and non classroom) areas.

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Incorporate Wellness Practices

Skill of the Month�One Pagers…Coming soon…

What happens when District MTSS Create Systems of Support to Install Positive Classroom Practices?�

District MTSS Drivers for Classroom Level Success

These Tier 1 Classroom Level Systems, Data & Practices are a part of our Larger District Level Systems that Ultimately make them Sustainable

Decrease in ODRs for SWD

Decrease in Risk Ratio for ODR’s for Race/Ethnicity Elementary 22-23 SY

97% decrease in Risk ratio for Black/African American Population

Decrease in Risk Ratio for ODR’s for Race/Ethnicity Multi- Years Elementary

2020-2021 SY When we gained fidelity with PBIS and began MTSS ISF

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Yellow line (Internal Equity Gap criteria)

Red Line (State Equity Gap criteria)

Decrease in Suspensions

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37.5% decrease

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Time Gained from Decrease in ODR’s

Tier 2-3 Effectiveness Outcomes

Improvements in % of students making progress, ready to fade/graduate to less intensive tier/supports

Effectiveness of Tier 2 and Tier 3 Interventions

Tier 2 N=66 as of March 23rd

Tier 3 - N= 24 as of March 23rd

SWD Drop Outs

Graduation Rates

Exceeded Goals for Reduction in Spec. Ed Referrals

Special Education referrals will be reduced by 10% annually EXCEEDED GOAL (-47%)

Correlative Outcomes from DIP 18-21

PBIS Introduced

Improved Teacher Retention

Where to start?

Connection Matters

In its 85 years and counting, the Harvard Study of Adult Development has found that personal connections are the most important factor in long-term health and happiness.

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https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/10/85-year-harvard-study-found-the-secret-to-a-long-happy-and-successful-life.html

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Are all students feel connected? Do they have a trusted an adult in school? How do you know? How can you find out?

PBIS

Connect, Learn about your students �Uncover strengths and needs. �What do you know about your students? How do we track information? How do we adjust? How do we ask for assistance?

Teachers Level: Build a Routine

• Daily checks
• Weekly reviews
• Monday adjustment

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School Level: Build a Routine

• Provide prompts and supports for staff
• Check in with staff
• Use fidelity checks and outcome data to celebrate

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• Research indicates that students are twice as likely to fail a class in 9^th grade than in any other grade.

FICTION – 3-5 TIMES MORE LIKELY

• In a large multi-school study, 15% of students performing in the top quartile of their 8^th grade class were found to be off track by the end of their 9^th grade year.

FICTION – 25% OF HIGH ACHIEVING STUDENTS

• The national SWIS dataset demonstrates that 9^th grade behavioral infractions in high schools across the country dramatically outnumber those of students in the upper grades.

FACT

• Lower attendance during the first 30 days of 9^th grade is a stronger indicator that a student will drop out than any other 8^th grade predictor, including test scores, other indicators of academic achievement, and age.

FACT

• Students who fall behind in 9^th grade have a graduation rate 30% lower than that of student who are able to stay on track during the 9^th grade year.

FICTION – 59% LOWER GRAD RATE IF OFF TRACK AS FRESHMEN

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District Community

Ensure WELLNESS is central component and evident in … Strategic Plan-Evaluation Plan- Implementation Plan-School Improvement

Explicitly connecting to the Strategic Plan

Mental Health

Teaching and Learning

Suicide Prevention Planning Team

Threat Assessment

District Equity Team

Superintendent and Admin

Midtown Community Partners

SEL Team

Climate and Culture Workgroup

Safety Committee

District MTSS Leadership Team

District PBIS Leadership Team

Inclusion Committee

Attendance Team

District Discipline Team

District Whole Child Committee

Restorative Practices

UDL

Current Teams

Doing Great work, but….

Cabinet

Superintendent, Assistant Superintendents, Executive Directors

Executive Functions

Implementation Functions

District Community Leadership Team

Assistant Superintendents, Executive Directors, Community Partners (Agency, Families, Students, First Responders)

Directors, Wellness Coordinators

Elementary Implementation Team

Secondary Implementation Team

Workgroup 1: SEL Adoption (Wellbeing)

Workgroup 2: Data Dashboard (Accountability)

Workgroup 3: Threat Assessment (Safety)

Workgroup 4: ESA roles and functions (Wellbeing)

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WELLBEING-ACADEMIC SUCCESS-SAFETY-COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT-ACCOUNTABILITY

Midtown School District Goal 1: Creating a Culture of Wellness

Suspensions do more harm than good…�So why are we continuing that practice?

“The findings underscore that suspending students does little to reduce future misbehavior for the disciplined students or their peers, nor did it result in improved academic achievement for peers or perceptions of positive school climate. Plus, the more severe the exclusionary discipline, the greater its negative effects were on a student’s future academic performance, attendance, and behavior.”

An Empirical Examination of the Effects of Suspension and Suspension Severity on Behavioral and Academic Outcomes

Christina LiCalsi, David Osher, Paul Bailey American Institutes for Research AUGUST 2021

https://www.air.org/sites/default/files/2021-08/NYC-Suspension-Effects-Behavioral-Academic-Outcomes-August-2021.pdf

Do No Harm

How do policies impact wellness?

• Vaping- Marketing-Addiction- ???
• Attendance and Tardy
• Exclusionary Discipline

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“Social problems are not solved by individuals; they require collective action, collective thinking and collective courage. ”

-BELL HOOKS

Susan Barrett�sbarrett@dragonflyforward.org