Standardized test scores
and uniform curriculum
mandates dominate
America’s education
agenda. But evidence is
mounting that making
mental health care
available in the
nation’s elementary and
secondary schools could
help close the
achievement gap between
black and white
students—and between
U.S. kids and the rest
of the world.
In a survey released
last Monday,
the nation’s top
teachers said family
stress and psychological
problems are two of the
biggest impediments to
their students’
achievement. That
same day, students in
Compton, California—a
hardscrabble Los Angeles
neighborhood with a
reputation for crime and
gang violence—sued the
city school district,
saying they lack badly
needed mental health
services and support.
As if on cue, a new
report published in The
New England Journal of
Medicine found that most
kids who need
psychological help
struggle to get it,
especially African
American boys. Yet,
there aren’t many clear
policies on how to make
that happen,
particularly in
underserved,
cash-strapped districts
where there’s often the
most need.
“We know kids need
mental health,” says
Eric Rossen, director of
professional development
for the National
Association of School
Psychologists. Feeling
safe, secure, and
emotionally healthy, he
says, “is one of the
biggest factors” of
success in the
classroom.
But too often, schools
make room for mental
health services only
“when the budget allows
for it,” says Rossen, a
former practicing school
psychologist who worked
in classrooms before he
entered the policy
realm.
That’s despite the
report showing that
more than half of all
severely troubled kids
don’t get any help at
all.
Researchers analyzed
mental disability in
53,622 youngsters ages 6
to 17 based on ratings
provided by parents,
according to the report.
The parents scored their
children on a so-called
impairment scale,
evaluating their answers
on whether they were
feeling happy or sad,
and their overall mood.
Although the overall
trend showed that mental
health is improving
among young people, the
journal reported, about
56 percent of kids most
in need of mental health
services—young people
suffering from
depression, anxiety, and
other psychological
disorders—weren’t
getting the help they
needed, at school or at
home.
That mirrors the Compton
lawsuit, in which
students who have
suffered from violence,
verbal or sexual abuse,
or other trauma say it’s
impaired their ability
to learn. Decades of
research shows that kids
who have suffered
serious trauma are at
higher risk of repeating
a grade, face school
suspension, and have
behavioral and
attendance problems.
“If you really want to
do something about the
achievement gap,
childhood trauma is the
place to start,”
Mark Rosenbaum, the
attorney whose firm
co-filed the lawsuit,
told the Los Angeles
Times.
But Rossen says getting
school administrators to
see mental health on par
with reading, math, or
standardized test scores
is “an uphill battle.”
Moreover, he says,
who should be
responsible for
providing the services
to kids in need is an
open question.
Teachers are students’
primary point of
contact, but many
already feel
overwhelmed,
unsupported, and under
constant stress from
mandates to bring
struggling students up
to speed. Private
insurance is an option,
but many students’
families lack health
insurance, which also
requires a specific
diagnosis of an illness
before treatment is
approved.
The best option, Rossen
says, is to make mental
health services
available on school
campuses, including
screening and counseling
services as well as
“just someone to talk
to” if kids feel
overwhelmed. Though some
administrators might
argue that’s a luxury
compared with science or
reading, he says, “the
truth is, it pays for
itself” compared with
the expense of a lawsuit
like the one in Compton.
Meanwhile, most school
officials continue to
see better test scores
as more important than
whether a student feels
good and is ready to
learn. “There isn’t a
benchmark that can be
judged against,” says
Rossen. “Most of the
people who work with
kids are in agreement.
But it is not being
done.“
Few educators, he adds,
would choose “a kid
being good in math over
being healthy and well.
When kids feel good they
do better in school.”
He’s optimistic that the
evidence from the report
may prompt changes, “but
there’s still a lot of
work to be done.”