Evaluation of Expanded School Mental Health Programs

Expanded school mental health programs provide a full range of mental health services (assessment, treatment, case management, prevention) to youth in regular and special education, and typically involve close collaboration between schools and community agencies. A major challenge for these programs is documenting that provided services are of high quality and leading to enhanced outcomes for the youth and schools served by them. Dimensions of school mental health evaluations and a step-by-step process for conducting them are presented, using the example of a well established program in Baltimore. Challenges to such evaluation and strategies for overcoming challenges are also presented.