Dive Brief:
- A new provision under the Every Student Succeeds Act allows children from military families to be tracked with unique ID numbers as they move between schools as part of an effort to better gauge academic progress, and the state of California is already putting a new system in place.
- According to The Washington Times, kids from military families move 6-9 times before graduating.
- Formal guidance on tracking has not yet been released by the U.S. Department of Education, and ESSA does not take effect until the 2017-18 school year, but the move by California lawmakers is also part of a proactive effort to address the higher suicide rate for military kids.
Dive Insight:
The Washington Times reports that the California Healthy Kids Survey, in which 390,000 high school students participated, found the rate of teens from military families having considered suicide was 12% — slightly higher than the 7% rate for students from non-military families.
The availability of mental health services or the presence of a licensed clinical social worker in K-12 schools can make a huge difference. A therapist has training that goes beyond a school guidance counselor, typically a Master's degree in mental health counseling combined with hours of observation and on-the-job training.
California isn't the only state that has been proactive about helping students tackle mental health issues. In Texas, the state's legislature passed a measure in 2013 that adds mental health-specific training to the requirements for a teaching certificate.
