Schools face an unprecedent demand for mental health services. Student mental health problems can be addressed via a continuum of mental health evidence-based practices (EBPs) integrated within school-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). However, integrating mental health interventions with PBIS can be challenging. The…

COVID-19 has had tremendous effects on all aspects of society. In the intervening years, there have been issues with finances, health, and education (Duraku & Hoxha, 2020; Harris, 2020; ODE, 2020; Safi, et al., 2020; Terada, 2020; Whittaker, 2020). The purpose of this study was to understand the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the job…

Adolescent suicide is a critical problem in the United States. Identification and reporting of warning signs is a suicide prevention practice that is particularly important in schools, where adolescents spend the majority of their time. Though it is necessary to consider both risk factors and warning signs when evaluating an individual's suicide…

Teaching youth how to self-regulate is a focus of a trauma-informed school approach. Peace Spaces, including Peace Corners and Peace Rooms, are a trauma-informed intervention used to teach self-regulation skills to students. The current study used a Consensual Qualitative Research design to identify and describe the thoughts, concerns, and…

Nearly all states and the District of Columbia have policies requiring schools to address prevention of alcohol or drug use and abuse in high school health education curricula, according to National Association of State Boards of Education's (NASBE's) State Health Policy Database. But with the added concerns about the pandemic's impact on youth…

Background: The Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS) is administered biennially to adolescents; it covers knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors about risk and protective factors. Purpose: This study explored 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students' attitudes and beliefs about current trends regarding drugs, alcohol, and mental health. Methods: We asked…

The Pennsylvania Department of Education's (PDE's) Office for Safe Schools partnered with REL Mid-Atlantic to conduct a study using data from PDE's school climate survey. This survey, which is available on a voluntary basis to any school in the state, provides a way to track school climate and identify schools that need additional support to…

These are the appendixes for the full report, "Changes in School Climate during COVID-19 in a Sample of Pennsylvania Schools." The REL study analyzed changes in scores from a pre-pandemic year (2018/19) to the 2020/21 and 2021/22 school years, both of which were affected by COVID-19 and related policy changes. These technical appendixes…

Teachers are responsible for delivering academic instruction, facilitating student learning and engagement, and managing classroom behavior. Stress may interfere with performance in the classroom, however (Tsouloupas, Carson, Matthews, Grawitch, & Barber, 2010), and recent studies suggest that stress is quite common among today's educators. In…