Kids鈥� mental health is suffering鈥攁nd it鈥檚 having profound impacts on beleaguered teachers struggling to figure out how to respond.
More than half of teachers say that the current state of students鈥� mental health is hurting their ability to learn and socialize, as well as stressing educators鈥� capacity to manage their classrooms. Potentially, it is also contributing to teachers鈥� own feelings about their work: More than a third of educators say they are dissatisfied with their jobs.
Those findings come from the second annual Merrimack College Teacher Survey, commissioned by the college鈥檚 Winston School of 91制片厂视频 and Social Policy and conducted by the EdWeek Research Center.
While sobering, the survey results also show signs of improvement.
Thirty-one percent of teachers said in the survey that their students鈥� mental health and wellness has improved since the beginning of the 2022-23 school year, while 43 percent said it has remained about the same. And a little more than a quarter of teachers rated their students鈥� current mental health and wellness status as helping their academic and social-emotional learning.
However, a quarter of teachers still say that their students鈥� mental health has deteriorated over the course of this most recent school year.
And that tracks with the steady drumbeat of data and warnings about the state of schoolchildren鈥檚 mental health. Most recently, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control biannual survey Youth Risk Behavior Survey of high school students found that 42 percent said they experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness during the past year鈥攁 50 percent increase from 2011. And the U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called kids鈥� declining mental health the 鈥渄efining public health crisis of our time.鈥�
鈥淚t absolutely affects the academics,鈥� said Angela Burley, a 6th grade teacher at Dr. Frederick Douglass Todd Senior Middle School in Dallas. 鈥淚 am a 23-year veteran. I am familiar with the kids and I love them, too. I understand a lot of the acting out and the behavior problems are products of the experiences of their life.鈥�
Students exhibit a range of needs
Burley, who said she prioritizes making her classroom a place where students feel safe, said that many of her students are being raised by relatives or are in foster care. Some are grappling with the trauma of losing loved ones to violence. On top of that, Burley said, their community lacks a lot of basic necessities鈥攍ike access to pharmacies, mental health services, and markets that sell fresh fruit and vegetables鈥攃rucial to keeping students healthy and ready to do their best in school.
The experiences teachers described in open-ended survey responses and in interviews with 91制片厂视频 Week run the gamut from students struggling to readjust to school routines after the pandemic to those dealing with more traumatic experiences.
鈥淲e are told to be aware of students鈥� trauma, but do not have the training or skills to assist the students in dealing with trauma,鈥� said one survey respondent.
Said another: 鈥淲e have school psychologists and school social workers that are spread thin between seven elementary schools.鈥�
Second grade teacher Morgan Mercer told EdWeek that on a 10-point scale, her students鈥� mental well-being has improved from a four to a six or seven over the course of the school year.
But, she said, it depends on the day.
鈥淭here are some days where you walk in and you are like, wow, these kids have grown so much, you鈥檝e seen such an increase in maturity,鈥� Mercer said of her students at R. Clem Churchwell Elementary in Lakeland, Fla. 鈥淎nd there are other days where you walk in and you are like, 鈥極h my goodness, what has happened? They have forgotten everything I have ever taught them and they have no idea how to even get a pencil.鈥欌��
Alex Parker, a teacher at Cossitt Avenue Elementary School in La Grange, Ill., said his students are doing mostly fine, but they have low stamina. His 4th graders are running out of steam much earlier in the school year than his students in previous years.
鈥淭his is their first full, non-masked, no COVID restrictions year since kindergarten,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o, this is their first full-out elementary school year where they鈥檙e doing all the testing, all the assemblies, all the field trips. [鈥 I haven鈥檛 had as many of them getting COVID so a lot of them have been here for 150-something school days.鈥�
Teachers say they need more support鈥攁nd less pressure
In the survey, many respondents said they see the need to support students鈥� mental health in order to pave the way for their academic and social-emotional learning. But they warned that they鈥檙e not equipped with the resources, support, or know-how to meet students鈥� needs.
鈥淪tudents鈥� needs are outpacing the services that we provide,鈥� said Eugene Pinkard, the director of K-12 91制片厂视频 of the Aspen Institute 91制片厂视频 and Society Program, a division of the Washington-based think tank. All students need social-emotional learning, and some will need more intensive supports, he said.
That doesn鈥檛 mean that schools are鈥攐r should be鈥攁sking teachers to act as counselors or mental health professionals, he added. But teachers can foster an environment in their classrooms that underpins students鈥� overall well-being and social-emotional learning.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e asking the teacher to create a classroom where students feel a sense of belonging, you鈥檙e asking a teacher to create a space where students feel safe, feel celebrated,鈥� he said.
So, what steps can school and district leaders take to help improve students鈥� mental state? The survey put that question to teachers, and they had a few ideas:
Bolstering parents鈥� work. Fifty-seven percent said that helping parents support their children鈥檚 mental well-being at home was a good start. That was the most selected answer.
Talking to parents about how they can better support their children鈥檚 mental health at home has the potential to be a fraught topic. But if handled with care, it can be done, said Pinkard, a former school administrator.
鈥淭here is sometimes a deficit-oriented approach that suggests that parents aren鈥檛 doing it or don鈥檛 know how to do it, and we have to be careful about that because that鈥檚 how you鈥檙e going to wind up disengaging parents,鈥� he said.
Teachers should discuss the expectations for students鈥� social emotional learning like they do in academic subjects, Pinkard said. 鈥淧arents are our most important partners. And they should understand, 鈥榟ere鈥檚 what your student should be reading when they come home, and here鈥檚 what we鈥檙e going to be doing in class with reading, and here鈥檚 what we鈥檙e doing in class to teach them how to be good members of our school community.鈥欌��
Hire more mental health support staff. Fifty percent of teachers said schools need more mental health support staff such as counselors, psychologists, and social workers.
While many schools and districts have used federal COVID-19 relief aid to help boost their ranks of mental health support staff, their numbers remain far below what the major associations representing school psychologists, counselors, and social workers recommend as appropriate. Part of the problem: there just aren鈥檛 enough mental health support professionals to go around.
Reduce social media exposure. Teachers also pegged social media and exhaustive testing as other causes disrupting students鈥� well-being. Forty-nine percent of teachers said they think banning or reducing students鈥� access to social media during the school day would improve their mental health, and 47 percent said less testing would also be beneficial.
Mercer, the elementary school teacher in Florida, said she has seen a major shift in the amount and types of media that her students watch since the pandemic, and it鈥檚 affecting their behavior.
鈥淭hese kids have a lot more unsupervised internet access,鈥� she said, and that spills over into the classroom and recess.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a game that鈥檚 like and they draw these elaborate pictures of creatures with really sharp teeth murdering people or with weapons. So, we have had conversations in the class like, 鈥榯hat is not school appropriate,鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淎nd they will say, 鈥榖ut I get to play or watch it at home. Why can I do it at home and not at school?鈥欌��
Mercer said she thinks that families haven鈥檛 reset the screen habits developed during the pandemic even as school, work, and other activities have returned to normal.
Minimize testing. Standardized tests can be a source of anxiety for both students and teachers, said Burley, the teacher in Dallas.
鈥淏ecause we are teaching in a high-need, low-performing school, there are so many mandates and pressures,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he pressure that is being put on teachers is then being put on the students.鈥�
Teachers also indicated that daily physical activity, mentoring for students, social-emotional learning, and improvements to the SEL already offered are other steps schools and districts can take to improve students鈥� mental well-being.
鈥淭he range of responses is really educators indicating how complex a human is, and therefore, how holistic and multifaceted our response needs to be,鈥� said Pinkard.
There鈥檚 one other important facet to students鈥� well-being, said Parker, and that鈥檚 teachers鈥� own mental health. Stressed-out students lead to stressed-out teachers, who can in turn further stress students, creating a downward spiral. Any comprehensive solution also has to look at what schools can do to better support teachers鈥� mental well-being, he said.
In the Merrimack College survey, more than half of teachers surveyed鈥�56 percent鈥� said that the mental health and wellness of teachers in their school had gotten worse over the course of the 2022-23 school year.
鈥淚f we have students who are struggling with the emotional challenges that come with learning through a pandemic, I think the piece that comes with that is that teachers need support,鈥� Parker said. 鈥淏ecause if teachers are stressed out or burnt out it鈥檚 really hard for them to provide students with what they need.鈥�
Data analysis for this article was provided by the EdWeek Research Center. Learn more about the center鈥檚 work.
