Session Description: This session is centered on aligning behavioral health metrics with key P–20W milestones (e.g., kindergarten readiness, 9th-grade transition, postsecondary persistence/completion, and early workforce outcomes).
School mental health is often treated as a support function separate from academic outcomes measured in service counts and compliance checkboxes rather than in evidence that moves students forward. This session challenges that framing. Too often, state policy and frontline practice operate with different mental models of what "good" looks like. State agencies optimize for reportable metrics; school counselors and community health workers respond to what they see in the room. This session examines the confidence gap between those two realities and offers a framework for closing it.
Participants will leave with:
- A P–20W indicator alignment map connecting behavioral health measures to key educational milestones
- Practical guidance on reframing mental health data as "barriers to learning" and "bridges to the workforce" for different stakeholder audiences
- Lessons from the field on building data systems that are useful to both policymakers and practitioners — not just one or the other
This session is designed for data strategists, state agency leaders, and district decision-makers who are ready to move beyond counting services and toward using behavioral health data.
