Advancing mental health and well-being in schools using data

Format

Individual Presentation

First Presenter's Institution

Authentic Connections

Second Presenter's Institution

Authentic Connections

Third Presenter's Institution

NA

Fourth Presenter's Institution

NA

Fifth Presenter's Institution

NA

Location

Session 4 Breakouts

Strand #1

Heart: Social & Emotional Skills

Strand #2

Health: Mental & Physical Health

Relevance

Our work is focused on helping schools improve community mental health and Social Emotional Learning. In this presentation, we will share findings on over 15,000 students surveyed in 2019, and 15,000 students surveyed during the COVID pandemic, with special attention to groups of minority status based on their race/ ethnicity, and gender identity. These findings will help attendees understand the top modifiable aspects of school climate that impact well-being in school communities generally, and also specifically for different at-risk groups.

Brief Program Description

As the COVID pandemic disrupted school communities, addressing mental health concerns has become a top priority; to be effective, interventions must be guided by rigorous data on challenges and opportunities within each school, specifically. Learn more about the most important, modifiable aspects of life that can be used to foster well-being, and understand how to promote best practices among underrepresented groups within your own community.

Summary

Prioritizing and attending to mental health in schools has never been more important. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound and far-reaching impact on wellbeing, as have events involving victimization of people of color -- most notably, the killing of George Floyd. Children across the country are unsettled and stressed about the future, as are their parents and adults at school; what is needed is sound science-based directions on how best to foster resilience. In particular, it will be important for schools to deliberately attend to the needs of subgroups of at-risk students who have been disproportionately affected by school closures and national events involving racism.

It is also critical that any school-based initiatives launched are firmly grounded in rigorous science. Time is of the essence, as is the need to carefully focus on those areas that have been identified, from a school’s own empirical data, as most needing attention.

This workshop brings together world-class scientific expertise on resilience with cutting-edge approaches to analytics, and innovative ways to best apply the findings. In this workshop, Dr. Suniya Luthar and Nina Kumar will integrate data from over 15,000 students who were assessed in 2019 via the High Achieving School (HAS) Survey, and an additional 15,000 students and 5,000 faculty and staff members assessed by the Student and Faculty Resilience Surveys during distance learning in 2020 following the pandemic. The presenters will highlight the most important, modifiable risk and protective processes that have emerged across these accumulated data, and will describe best practices that schools have implemented to bolster well-being. They will also describe, in detail, important trends and needs identified among under-represented at-risk groups, including youth and faculty of different racial / ethnic minority backgrounds, and gender-nonbinary individuals.

Importantly, the presenters will also illustrate how schools can effectively use data from these rigorous assessments in targeted and specific toward maximally benefiting at-risk groups. Thus, audiences will have a data-driven perspective on how best to foster resilience in school communities generally, as well as concrete illustrations of practices to benefit groups who are at especially heightened risk.

Evidence

The work of Authentic Connections is based on over 3 decades of research on adolescent and adult resilience. Authentic Connections’ surveys have been used in over 100 schools across the country to support student and faculty well-being. Recent selected works by the presenters include:

Luthar, S. S., Ebbert, A.E., & Kumar, N.L. (2020). The Well-Being Index (WBI) for schools: A brief measure of adolescents’ mental health. Psychological Assessment. Online first, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pas0000913.

Luthar, S. S., Suh, B., Ebbert, A.E., & Kumar, N.L. (2020). Vulnerabilities among students in high-achieving schools: Potential ill-effects of pressures to be 'standouts'. Adversity and Resilience Science, 1, 135–147. doi.org/10.1007/s42844-020-00009-3

Luthar, S. S., Kumar, N. L., & Zillmer, N. (2020). Teachers’ responsibilities for students’ mental health: Challenges in high achieving schools. International Journal of School & Educational Psychology, 8, 119–130. https://doi.org/10.1080/21683603.2019.1694112

Luthar, S.S. & Mendes, S.H. (2020). Trauma informed schools: Supporting educators as they support the children. International Journal of School & Educational Psychology, 8, 147–157.

Luthar, S. S., Kumar, N. L., & Zillmer, N. (2019). High Achieving Schools connote significant risks for adolescents: Problems documented, processes implicated, and directions for interventions. American Psychologist. Online first: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/amp0000556

Other publications can be found here: http://authconn.com/research.html

Learning Objectives

  • Understand the psychological impact of COVID-19 on well-being in school communities
  • Discover important trends and needs among specific at-risk groups of students and faculty
  • Learn how to prioritize intervention goals using rigorous, evidence-based school assessments to target the factors most directly impacting community well-being
  • Explore practices and strategies to promote student and faculty emotional connectedness to the school community, with focused attention to the specific needs of groups that are underrepresented based on their race/ ethnicity and gender identity.

Biographical Sketch

Suniya Luthar is professor emerita at Columbia University’s Teachers College and co-founder and chief research officer of Authentic Connections, a science-based organization committed to maximizing well-being in school communities. Her research involves vulnerability and resilience among various populations including children and families in poverty, and youth, parents and educators in high-achieving, stressful communities.

Nina Kumar is CEO and co-founder of Authentic Connections. She completed her undergraduate degree in Computer Science and Psychology at Williams College. Prior to co- founding Authentic Connections, Nina worked in user experience and product management at IBM Watson Health. At AC, Nina steers the organization’s data science and analytics efforts. She has published several peer-reviewed papers in leading scientific journals, as well as chapters for scholarly audiences and the lay public. Nina is also active in advocacy for underrepresented groups in STEM disciplines, and served as a founding member of the Women of Watson Health chapter in Cambridge, MA during her time at IBM.

Keyword Descriptors

Well-being, resilience, SEL, mental health, students, racial/ ethnic minorities, non-binary

Presentation Year

2021

Start Date

3-9-2021 10:05 AM

End Date

3-9-2021 11:05 AM

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Mar 9th, 10:05 AM Mar 9th, 11:05 AM

Advancing mental health and well-being in schools using data

Session 4 Breakouts

As the COVID pandemic disrupted school communities, addressing mental health concerns has become a top priority; to be effective, interventions must be guided by rigorous data on challenges and opportunities within each school, specifically. Learn more about the most important, modifiable aspects of life that can be used to foster well-being, and understand how to promote best practices among underrepresented groups within your own community.