Implementation Science and Practice in the Education Sector Brief by Aaron R. Lyon, PhD for SAMHSA’s Project AWARE grantees. This brief is written for education agency leadership, school administrators, and school mental health staff who are involved in driving the implementation of evidence-based programs (EBPs) and innovative practices. Its purpose is to increase understanding of implementation principles and processes, and how they fit into school mental health efforts. It includes a description of key implementation concepts and strategies and practical guidance for improving use of research evidence surrounding social, emotional, and behavioral interventions in schools.

To help states, districts, and schools advance comprehensive school mental health, as well as engage in a planning process around implementation of services, the MHTTC Network Coordinating Office and National Center for School Mental Health developed the National School Mental Health Best Practices: Implementation Guidance Modules for States, Districts, and Schools (formerly known as the National School Mental Health Curriculum).

The School Mental Health Quality Guide Mental Health Promotion Services & Supports (Tier 1) is one in a series of guides developed by the National Center for School Mental Health (NCSMH) for The School Health Assessment and Performance Evaluation (SHAPE) System. This resource provides guidance to school mental health systems to advance the quality of their services and supports. The guide contains background information, best practices, possible action steps, examples from the field, and resource guidance. In particular, Pages 12- 13 cover best practices for increasing student mental health literacy.

The Selecting Evidence-Based Practices for Schools guide, developed by the National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention in partnership with the National Center for School Mental Health, provides detailed, practical information about EBP selection in schools. It includes worksheets and tools for your team to assess any prospective or current EBP in terms of its relevance to your student population, intervention target, tier of service, mode of delivery, readiness and impact evaluation capacity.

Evidence-Based Module Series (National Center for Healthy Safe Children). The National Center for Healthy Safe Children (NRC) hosts self-paced learning modules and online learning events to support and provide training on a wide range of topics related to mental health promotion, youth violence prevention, evidence-based programs, and collaboration. The online learning events are archived, along with supporting training materials and related resources, following each event.

Technical Guide for Alignment of Initiatives, Programs and Practices in School Districts from the National Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavior Interventions and Support. The purpose of this technical guide is to provide a structured alignment process with concrete steps to assist educational leaders as they examine current practices across educational units and systems (instruction, support, improvement, special education, mental health, justice), consider the extent to which current practices are implemented with fidelity and produce meaningful academic and social/behavioral outcomes, and establish support systems to select install and implement new practices.

The Hexagon Discussion and Analysis Tool helps organizations evaluate new and existing programs and practices. This tool is designed to be used by a team to ensure diverse perspectives are represented in a discussion of the six contextual fit and feasibility factors. The Hexagon Tool can be used at any stage in a program’s implementation to determine its fit with the local context. It is most commonly used during the Exploration stage: the period when a site is identifying possible new programs or practices to implement.

The Interconnecting School-Mental Health and School-Wide PBIS Implementation Guide provides step by step process with examples, activities, and resources for district and school teams to install and implement an Interconnected Systems Framework. ISF is a deliberate application of the multi-tiered PBIS Framework for all social-emotional-behavioral (SEB) interventions. ISF helps teams create a single system of delivery.

Citation:
Eber, L., Barrett, S., Perales, K., Jeffrey-Pearsall, J., Pohlman, K., Putnam, R, Splett, J., & Weist, M.D.(2019). Advancing Education Effectiveness: Interconnecting School Mental Health and SchoolWide PBIS, Volume 2: An Implementation Guide. Center for Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (funded by the Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education). Eugene, Oregon: University of Oregon Press.

The Northwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (MHTTC) and Pacific Southwest MHTC, in collaboration with the Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and the National ISF Leadership Team, developed set of resources that support the ISF Monographs. This set of resources includes ISF Fact Sheets, recorded learning sessions, and commonly used resources to install school mental health within a Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) Framework.