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In 2022-2024 CADRE researchers partnered with the Colorado Department of Education to evaluate a state grant pilot program. This program emerged from Colorado HB 19-1017, which provided pilot K-5 Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) grants to 14 schools. One central purpose of these grants was to ensure that school health professionals (SHPs) at each elementary school could provide SEL support to all students, while also identifying and matching those with more severe behavioral and mental health needs with community partners to assist them and their families outside of school. Another purpose was to reduce demands on teachers who are often the first ones called upon to provide social-emotional, behavioral, and mental supports to students. The hope is that support provided to students by SHPs hired through this grant will reduce the number of students requiring more intensive interventions.

The schools that participated in this study are located in seven distinct geographical regions across the state of Colorado. Twelve of the 14 schools have a Title 1 designation because over 40% of their student body is eligible for Free and Reduced Lunch. While this grant was intended to be implemented in schools beginning in the 2020-21 school year, the launch of these grants was delayed until the 2021-22 school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

To evaluate the effectiveness of the K-5 SEL pilot and to chart the ongoing SEL work taking place at all 14 sites, we collected and analyzed data for this report using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. We used data collected from the 14 schools to track the extent to which the pilot grants met their intended objectives. These data included surveys of teachers and SHPs, mental health systems assessments, and performance measures that tracked services provided for students. Within the initial 14 schools in the pilot, we conducted an exploratory case study in 2022-24 at four schools. Our goal was to gain an understanding of the context for the implementation work underway. We consulted with CDE staff to select four schools with distinct characteristics and levels of SEL program implementation so that we could learn about the common and unique ways in which SHPs provided students with SEL, as well as other mental and behavioral supports. At these four schools we conducted interviews with SHPs and principals, focus groups with teachers, and observations of both whole class and small group SEL activities. 

Key findings from this report include:  

• SHP hires supported by this grant have lowered the service ratio of mental health professionals to students, and this appears to have increased each pilot site’s capacity to respond to students in crisis and to provide more personalized interventions. Compared to the first year of the grant (2021-22) in which several schools indicated a need to broaden the levels or tiers of behavioral support provided to students, all pilot schools reported in 2022-23 that mental health practices were implemented.  
• Although the COVID-19 pandemic is no longer creating massive disruptions (i.e., closures), a common theme running through selected case study sites is that although teachers indicated spending less time on behavioral management in year 2 compared to year 1 of the grant, behavioral disruptions appear to be persistent.  

The study results point to positive developments achieved by grantees, but also indicate challenges for sustaining this work over time. The grants increased the capacity of schools to address student emotional needs by hiring new SHP or expanding existing SHP roles; this is encouraging. However, personnel at case study sites and the secondary data analyzed both indicate that further resources and support are needed to help mitigate the persisting and growing behavioral and mental health needs at all 14 elementary schools.

This pilot was initiated prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, in response to a reported trend of increased mental-health and behavioral needs in elementary schools. The massive disruptions and closures occasioned by the COVID-19 exacerbated this trend in the schools involved in this study, and likely many others across the state. Negative ramifications from pandemic-related disruptions linger at all 14 schools in this study, indicating the need to continue attending to the behavioral and mental needs of elementary students. 

Our work continues in 2024 as we complete the final report on the pilot program. In addition to ongoing review of secondary data across all of the pilot schools, our case study analysis will explore themes related to improvement to SEL practices and school-wide coordination, the expanded use of SEL screeners in some schools, and communication with families by SEL specialists.