In partnership with the Center for Health and Health Care in Schools at The George Washington University, we are researching and implementing best practices to help schools develop high-quality, comprehensive school mental health systems that support students’ social and emotional well-being. Taking a public health approach, these systems emphasize prevention and early identification of mental health and substance abuse concerns, not just treatment of them.
A weekly social skills lesson at DC Prep’s Anacostia campus (banner photo and middle photo above) is part of our effort to help children be successful academically, socially and emotionally. A community of practice (top and bottom photos above) allows representatives from our partner schools in D.C. to learn and work together to improve school mental health practices and outcomes.
Every week at DC Prep’s Anacostia and Benning campuses, teachers and students in pre-kindergarten through third grade engage in a social-skills lesson. These interactive sessions allow students not only to learn about but also to practice skills in areas ranging from self-regulation to the identification of feelings to constructive communication. It’s part of a comprehensive approach the school takes to ensure that its students are prepared academically, socially and emotionally for a successful future. And it’s why DC Prep has been a valuable partner in our school mental health work from the very beginning.

After conducting a needs assessment of mental health supports and services for children in the District, the Foundation — in collaboration with the Center for Health and Health Care in Schools (CHHCS) at The George Washington University — established learning partnerships during the 2015/2016 school year with two public charter schools, including DC Prep. That experience helped shape the next phase of our work, beginning in the 2017/2018 school year. We established a community of practice (COP) with four charter schools (DC Prep, DC Scholars, Eagle Academy Public Charter School and Monument Academy), designed to strengthen universal prevention efforts; integrate academic and social/emotional data for decision-making; and coordinate resources between school, families and community as each school implements best practices that fit its unique needs, and then evaluates outcomes. Through the COP, the Foundation team and CHHCS are providing intensive training and technical assistance to the staff at each school over three years.

According to Laura Maestas, Chief Executive Officer of DC Prep, the school is founded on a belief that cognitive and noncognitive development — including character development — go hand in hand. While the school already had been committed to social/emotional development, working with the Foundation provided the opportunity to sharpen its vision for Tier 1 supports (which promote positive social/ emotional and behavioral skills and overall well-being for all students) and enhance integration across all levels of support. At the same time, DC Prep will continue providing Tier 2 supports, which are focused on early intervention for students identified as being at risk for mental health concerns, and Tier 3 supports, which include targeted interventions for students with serious concerns that impact daily functioning.

DC Prep is a public charter school that aims to bridge the educational divide in Washington, D.C. Now in its 17th year of operation, all five of the network’s elementary and middle school campuses across northeast and southeast D.C. received Tier 1 rankings in the DC Public Charter School Board’s 2018 School Quality Reports.

“We believe in the importance of a strong school community, and that necessarily requires that you pay attention to the mental well-being of all members — adults and kids — and the relationships among them,” Ms. Maestas explains.

Michelle Hess, Senior Director of Student Support at DC Prep, says that while schools can’t handle student mental health needs alone, “the value of providing services in school is that you get to know the children and how they learn and how they interact with adults. Then you can tailor the supports to help kids grow, and you can equip staff to better support kids in the classroom.”

Working with the Foundation and CHHCS has provided tangible benefits to both students and staff. “It’s changed how we think about school mental health,” Ms. Hess says. “We know that strong mental health habits start before the need for clinical help. It helps us see how all the pieces of our programs align to support mental health. We now can target the support where it’s most needed and make the overall school physically and emotionally safe.”

Ms. Maestas notes that school mental health has even become a central focus of the school’s strategic planning. “There is alignment across our strategic recommendations,” she says. “Each recommendation is rooted in mental health and the importance of relationships.”

Other 2018/2019 Highlights

  • We convened school mental health stakeholders (practitioners, researchers, policymakers and school administrators) from across the District of Columbia to examine the current state of school mental health in D.C. and begin identifying key areas for improvement.
  • We collaborated with experts nationally — including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), National Center for School Mental Health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Center for Health and Health Care in Schools at The George Washington University, School-Based Health Alliance, and many others — to produce a report that, for the first time, captures best practices and recommendations for wide-scale adoption of comprehensive school mental health systems. The report, released in September 2019, is being widely disseminated to build knowledge and encourage action in the field.
  • We convened more than a dozen D.C.-area funders that support work in child mental health to share funding priorities, identify gaps in funding and determine how to most effectively work together.
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