Joni W. Splett

The Critical Role of School Psychology in the School Mental Health Movement.

School mental health (SMH) programs are gaining momentum and, when done well, are associated with improved academic and social-emotional outcomes. Professionals from several education and mental health disciplines have sound training and experiences needed to play a critical role in delivering quality SMH services. School psychologists, specifically, are in a key position to advance SMH programs and services. Studies have documented that school psychologists desire more prominent roles in the growth and improvement of SMH, and current practice models from national organizations encourage such enhanced involvement. This article identifies the roles of school psychologists across a three-tiered continuum of SMH practice and offers an analysis of current training and professional development opportunities aimed at such role enhancement. We provide a justification for the role of school psychologists in SMH, describe a framework for school psychologists in the SMH delivery system, discuss barriers to and enablers of this role for school psychologists, and conclude with recommendations for training and policy.

Effective School Teams: Benefits, Barriers, and Best Practices

As a result of federal mandates such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA) as well as the increasing use of methods such as Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS) and Response to Intervention (RtI) for providing necessary school services to students, interdisciplinary teams have become the norm rather than the exception in schools (Algozzine, Newton, Horner, Todd, & Algozzine, 2012; Nellis, 2012). School-based teams operate under a variety of names (student assistance teams, pre-referral teams, peer intervention teams, instructional consultation teams, teacher assistance teams, school improvement teams) and have an array of functions, including student referral and evaluation, planning service delivery, implementing evidence-based practices, and achieving systems change (Bahr & Kovaleski, 2006; Bahr, Whitten, & Dieker, 1999; Nellis, 2012).

Best Practices for Teaming and Collaboration in the Interconnected Systems Framework.

ABSTRACT The Interconnected Systems Framework (ISF) blends school mental health practices, systems, and resources into all levels of a multitiered system of supports (e.g., positive behavior interventions and supports). The ISF aims to improve mental health and school performance for all students by emphasizing effective school-wide promotion and prevention; early identification; and social-emotional, behavioral, and mental health intervention. Teaming is 1 of 3 foundational components of quality ISF implementation at school, district, and state levels. After introducing the ISF, the authors highlight the core implementation components (i.e., teaming, data-based decision making, and evidence-based practices) and then elaborate on characteristics of well-functioning ISF teams. The authors provide a case example to illustrate each characteristic and review 5 measures teams may consider using to evaluate their functioning and SF implementation.

Exploring the impact of a pre-service interprofessional educational intervention for school mental health trainees

Abstract With collaborative interprofessional teams integral to school mental health (SMH) service delivery, pre-service educational strategies are needed to promote interprofessional collaboration among SMH trainees. The current study evaluated the effectiveness, feasibility, and acceptability of a pre-service, interprofessional SMH educational intervention focused on promoting the cross-disciplinary competencies essential for SMH practice. Eight SMH trainees participated in the study. Using a mixed-method design, quantitative pre/post competency data were collected via trainee self-report. Qualitative data were collected through a focus group and reflection journals. Results indicate that the intervention promoted competency in all areas, with significant growth in the provision of learning supports to youth. Key factors influencing intervention feasibility included time/scheduling, changing school team composition, and project coordination. Trainees’ perceptions of the educational intervention were related to buy-in, clinical experience, and role flexibility. Implications for the design of pre-service interprofessional SMH education strategies are discussed.

An Empirical Examination of the Resiliency Wheel

The Resiliency Wheel is one of the most cited interventions by school personnel in the United States today. The current study examines the six components of the Resiliency Wheel using data from the Advanced Questionnaire (Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2007) for both high-risk and low-risk schools on the communication arts test (speaking, writing, reading and evaluating English) of the Missouri Assessment Program. Confirmatory factor analysis followed by exploratory factor analysis revealed only one empirical factor. This resiliency factor was found to be associated with increased communication arts scores for high-risk but not low-risk schools. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Student, teacher, and classroom predictors of between-teacher variance of students’ teacher-rated behavior.

The current study examined between-teacher variance in teacher ratings of student behavioral and emotional risk to identify student, teacher and classroom characteristics that predict such differences and can be considered in future research and practice. Data were taken from seven elementary schools in one school district implementing universal screening, including 1,241 students rated by 68 teachers. Students were mostly African America (68.5%) with equal gender (female 50.1%) and grade-level distributions. Teachers, mostly White (76.5%) and female (89.7%), completed both a background survey regarding their professional experiences and demographic characteristics and the Behavior Assessment System for Children (Second Edition) Behavioral and Emotional Screening System–Teacher Form for all students in their class, rating an average of 17.69 students each. Extant student data were provided by the district. Analyses followed multilevel linear model stepwise model-building procedures. We detected a significant amount of variance in teachers’ ratings of students’ behavioral and emotional risk at both student and teacher/classroom levels with student predictors explaining about 39% of student-level variance and teacher/classroom predictors explaining about 20% of between-teacher differences. The final model fit the data (Akaike information criterion = 8,687.709; pseudo-R2 = 0.544) significantly better than the null model (Akaike information criterion = 9,457.160). Significant predictors included student gender, race ethnicity, academic performance and disciplinary incidents, teacher gender, student-teacher gender interaction, teacher professional development in behavior screening, and classroom academic performance. Future research and practice should interpret teacher-rated universal screening of students’ behavioral and emotional risk with consideration of the between-teacher variance unrelated to student behavior detected.

Improving Multitiered Systems of Support for Students With “Internalizing” Emotional/Behavioral Problems:

A recently defined interconnected systems framework (ISF) provides explicit guidance on steps to align positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) and expanded school mental health (SMH) within the multitiered system of support (MTSS). As PBIS and SMH strategies align, there are opportunities to expand and improve effective programs and services for students at all tiers of the MTSS. A prominent need is to improve programs and services for students presenting “internalizing” disorders such as those related to trauma, depression, and anxiety. In this article, we discuss relevant issues involved in improving multitiered systems/interventions for students presenting internalizing problems and provide guidance for this work in dimensions of cross-system collaboration (with major emphasis on effective teams), implementing evidence-based practices, and data-based decision making/quality improvement. The article concludes with recommendations for practice, research, and policy to improve MTSS for students presenting internalizing problems.

Comparison of Universal Mental Health Screening to Students Already Receiving Intervention in a Multitiered System of Support.

Despite schools increasingly adopting multitiered systems of support (MTSS) for prevention and intervention of mental health concerns, many are slow to adopt universal mental health screening (UMHS), a core MTSS feature, due to concerns about their limited capacity to meet the needs of all identified. In this study, we examined differences in the number and characteristics of students who would be identified for intervention services when UMHS in an MTSS were added to those students already receiving social, emotional, and behavioral supports. In a sample of 3,744 students in Grades 1 to 5 from six schools, 679 (18.1%) additional students were identified by screening, representing a 180.1% increase in students identified with behavioral risk or need for mental health interventions. Using a series of stepwise logistic regression analyses, we identified significant predictors of newly identified students including gender, number of office discipline referrals, and externalizing, internalizing, and adaptive behavior ratings. Findings are discussed in relation to opportunities for prevention and the systems needed in an MTSS to meet the needs of newly identified students.

Differences between teacher reports on universal risk assessments

Abstract Some universal behavioural screening processes require classroom teachers to complete a risk assessment measure on each student in their class, leading to a possible, but unexplored, problem: risk assessment scores may be influenced by the teacher completing the measure. The current study investigated whether teacher-reported risk assessment scores systematically differ between teachers and whether they differ across both deficit- and strengths-based risk assessment measures. Results from this study indicated that between 7.7 and 20.5% of the variance in risk assessment scores was attributable to between-teacher differences. These findings underscore the need to account for and control between-teacher differences in teacher-reported risk assessments.

Factor analytic replication and model comparison of the BASC-2 Behavioral and Emotional Screening System.

We conducted this study to add to literature of previous conflicting factorial examinations of the BASC-2 Behavioral and Emotional Screening System (BESS), Teacher Form—Child/Adolescent. Data were collected by an urban school district in the southeastern United States including 2,228 students rated by 120 teachers in Fall 2014 and 1,955 students rated by 104 teachers in Spring 2015. In both samples, we replicated and then conceptually and statistically compared factor models to examine the (a) 4-factor structure from which the BESS Teacher Form was developed, and (b) existence of a general factor currently being used. Previous studies examined the 4-factor and bifactor structure of the BESS Teacher Form on separate samples. Our model comparison results support a multidimensional interpretation. We recovered similar fit statistics and standardized factor loadings as previous factor analyses. However, measures of variance accounted for by the general factor were below recommended thresholds of a unidimensional construct. We recommend advancing a factorial model that represents a weighted combination of general and specific factors, but do not support continued use of a unidimensional total T score. Limitations and implications of the study are discussed.