Advancing Measurement-Based Care in School Mental Health E315

Course Summary

Practice Level: Intermediate

Schools are a key setting for children and adolescents to receive mental health services. For students receiving early intervention or treatment, clinicians need practical ways to understand whether care is helping and when to adjust it. Measurement-based care (MBC) uses brief, repeated measures of symptoms, functioning, or treatment goals to support those decisions in partnership with students and families. The purpose of this course is to introduce MBC in school mental health practice for school social workers, school counselors, school psychologists, and community-based mental health clinicians who provide services in schools.

This course examines the evidence for MBC, its potential value in school-based care, and the steps involved in collecting, discussing, and using progress information. It also addresses factors that affect implementation, including student and family engagement, clinician training, school workflows, and coordination between education and behavioral health systems. After completing the course, participants will be better prepared to use progress measures collaboratively to monitor students’ response to care and make informed treatment adjustments.

Course Format

This course contains downloadable online lessons (PDF) and a practice test. When you’re ready, purchase the course by clicking the “Add To Cart” or “Enroll” button. This will let you take the test, complete the course evaluation and receive your certificate for CE credits.

Learning Objectives

1. Describe the core components of measurement-based care, including the routine collection, sharing, and use of student-reported progress measures.
2. Explain how measurement-based care can support school mental health interventions and summarize the evidence for its use with children and adolescents.
3. Select culturally responsive strategies for engaging students and caregivers in goal setting, progress monitoring, and treatment decisions.
4. Identify clinician, school, and system factors that affect implementation of measurement-based care and strategies that support its use over time.

Course Syllabus

• Abstract
• Highlights and Recommendations
• Introduction
• What Is Measurement-Based Care?
• The Value of Measurement-Based Care in Schools
  • Evidence for Measurement-Based Care
  • Evidence for Measurement-Based Care in Schools
• Considerations for MBC Implementation in Schools
  • MBC Best Practices Specific to School Mental Health Care
  • Student and Family Factors
  • Clinician Factors
  • School Contextual Factors
  • School Mental Health System Examples of MBC Implementation
• Policy Implications to Promote Implementation and Sustainability
• Conclusion
• Appendix: PHQ-9 Modified for Adolescents (PHQ-A)
• References

Author

Elizabeth H. Connors, PhD

Elizabeth H. Connors, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine and Director of Training for its Doctoral Internship in Clinical and Community Psychology. She leads Yale’s Partnerships for Research and Implementation in School Mental Health team. Her research focuses on improving access to quality school mental health services, including culturally responsive measurement-based care for adolescents and strategies to help schools implement it.

Sharon Hoover, PhD

Sharon A. Hoover, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. She was Co-Director of the National Center for School Mental Health from 2010 to 2025. Her work focuses on comprehensive school mental health systems, trauma-informed schools, and putting effective mental health interventions into practice. She co-developed the school-based CBITS and STRONG interventions.

Accreditation Approval Statements

CE4Less.com is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. CE4Less.com maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

CE4Less.com, provider #1115, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 08/08/2024–08/08/2027. Social workers completing this course receive 1 clinical continuing education credits.

Level Education Group, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors #MHC-0355.

Level Education Group, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0835.

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