School Mental Health Resources are Working, Report Indicates

Increased mental health and intervention resources at schools across the country over the past few years may be the catalyst for a reduction in bullying incidents at schools, based on numbers reported in the School Survey on Crime and Safety: 2021–22 report released this month from the National Center for Education Statistics.

Some of the findings include:

·       90 percent of all public schools reported they increased social and emotional support for students in response to the coronavirus pandemic

·       49 percent of all schools provided diagnostic mental health assessments to evaluate students for mental health disorders

·       Thirty-eight percent of all schools provided treatment to students for mental health disorders

·       65 percent of all public schools reported having a threat assessment team (54 percent in rural schools, 64 percent in town schools, 69 percent in suburban schools and 71 percent in city schools)

·       28 percent of middle schools reported bullying at school at least once a week, compared to 15 percent of high/secondary schools and 10 percent of elementary schools

·       Cyberbullying at school or away from school at least once a week was reported by 37 percent of middle schools and 25 percent of high/secondary schools, compared to 6 percent of elementary schools

·       Only four percent of schools reported at least one physical attack or fight involving a weapon during the 2021-2022 school year.

Schools were also asked about the extent to which certain factors limited their efforts to provide mental health services to students. The two factors reported most often as limiting these efforts “in a major way” were inadequate access to licensed mental health professionals and inadequate funding (39 percent each). Licensed mental health professionals may include psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric or mental health nurse practitioners, psychiatric or mental health nurses, clinical social workers, and professional counselors.

Schools also reported on the different types of security staff that were present at school at least once a week. This included School Resource Officers (SROs), which are sworn law enforcement officers with arrest authority, who have specialized training and are assigned to work in collaboration with school organizations, as well as other sworn law enforcement officers who are not SROs and other security officers or security personnel that are not sworn law enforcement.

·       About 46 percent of traditional public schools had an SRO present at school at least once a week, compared with charter schools at 18 percent

·       In contrast, a higher percentage of charter schools reported having security officers or security personnel (35 percent) compared to traditional public schools (25 percent)