Statement on the Effects of Law Enforcement in School Settings

School-based law enforcement (SBLE) have become increasingly common in U.S. schools over recent decades despite the controversy surrounding their presence and lack of consensus around their associated benefits and harms. Drawing on the history and evidence base regarding SBLE, we advocate for an end to SBLE programs. Grounding our argument in principles of Community Psychology and positive youth development, we outline how the presence and actions of SBLE negatively affect individual students as well as school systems, with particularly harmful outcomes for students with minoritized and marginalized identities. Research on SBLE and school crime does not provide consistent evidence of positive impacts, and many studies find null effects for the relationship between SBLE and school crime or increases in crime and violence in schools. Though funding for SBLE is often prompted by high-profile acts of gun violence in schools, evidence suggests that SBLE neither prevents these incidents, nor lessens the severity when they do occur. Thus, we advocate for removing law enforcement from school settings and redirecting resources into inclusive, evidence-informed responses that are generally safer and more effective than SBLE. We close by outlining the policy landscape governing SBLE programs and ways communities can lobby for change

Patterns and Outcomes of Parent Participation in Flexible Paraprofessional-Led Services

This longitudinal open trial draws on data from a prevention and early intervention service model to enhance school engagement for children in prekindergarten through third grade and their families. The service model was implemented by four social service agencies in communities of concentrated poverty utilizing a paraprofessional workforce to provide school- and home-based services. This study examined parents’ participation in services over the course of eight months, i.e., a full school year, across four service formats – parenting groups, home visits, case management, and individual contacts. We also explored whether the amount of parent participation in different service formats was associated with changes in parental involvement in their children’s schooling. Results indicated that 39.1% of parents were reached through parenting groups and 42.2% through home visits, and families attended 3.15 parenting groups and received 2.18 home visits on average. In comparison, 82.1% of parents participated in at least one case management contact, and 99.2% were reached through individual contacts, with mean number of each type of contact approaching 10 and 15, respectively. Bivariate correlations and multi-group regression models revealed considerable agency differences in the amount parents participated in each service format, as well as in associations between participation in services and changes in parent involvement across three self-reported domains: Home Based Learning, Home School Communication, and School Based Involvement in schooling. Differences across agencies highlight the unique context-specific opportunities to engage individuals and support their wellbeing, and the value of a paraprofessional workforce to identify and capitalize on those opportunities

A Multidimensional Examination of the Measurement of Treatment Engagement: Implications for Childrens Mental Health Services and Research.

OBJECTIVE: The gap between rates of childrens mental health problems and their participation in services highlights the need to address concerns related to engagement in mental health services more effectively. To identify, understand, and resolve engagement concerns appropriately requires effective measurement. In this study, we employed a multidimensional conceptual framework of engagement to examine the measurement of engagement in intervention studies focused on improving childrens and/or families engagement in services. METHOD: We coded 52 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of interventions designed to enhance treatment engagement published between 1974 and 2019 to examine what engagement constructs have been measured, how these constructs have been measured, who has provided information about engagement, and when and why engagement measures have been administered. RESULTS: Attendance was measured in 94.2% of studies, and 59.6% of studies measured only attendance. Furthermore, most studies (61.5%) measured only one engagement dimension. One hundred twelve unique indicators of treatment engagement were used (61.6% measuring attendance). Infrequent measurement of youth (19.2% of studies) or caregiver (26.9%) perspectives was apparent. About half (54.7%) of measures were completed on one occasion, with 53.7% of measures completed after treatment was concluded. CONCLUSIONS: Results highlight how the fields measurement of engagement has focused narrowly on attendance and on interventions that improve attendance. We consider promising new directions for capturing the multidimensional, dynamic, and subjective aspects of engagement, and for leveraging measurement in research and practice settings to feasibly and effectively identify, monitor, and address engagement challenges

Usual Care for Clinicians, Unusual Care for Their Clients: Rearranging Priorities for Children’s Mental Health Services

Garland et al.’s comprehensive review of the state of clinic-based community-based mental health care for U.S. children highlights many recent advances in usual care (UC) while also describing the continued gap between need and service provision, the limited effectiveness of services provided, and a number of other obstructions and dilemmas ranging from perceived stigma on the part of families to limited fiscal resources on the part of service providers. Based on these long-standing concerns, the review summarizes research on three foci for change and offers future directions for each: Enhanced engagement strategies to retain families in services, improved training and support to increase the use of evidenced based practices, and expanded measurement and feedback systems to monitor services in real time. Unaddressed, however, is whether these changes are sufficient to reform children’s mental health care. Even if enacted extensively and outstandingly – a feat we imagine that nobody familiar with UC would realistically expect – will unmet need for care improve and effective services be available to the large number of children in need of mental health services