SHAPE the Future of School Mental Health!

The School Health Assessment and Performance Evaluation (SHAPE) system is a public-access, web-based platform that offers schools, districts, entities, and states a workspace and targeted resources to support school mental health quality improvement. 

SHAPE houses the School Mental Health Profile and national performance measures to document the school mental health system components, assess the comprehensiveness of a SMH system, prioritize quality improvement efforts, and track improvement over time.

Schools, Districts, and Entities can use SHAPE to:

• Evaluate strengths and identify areas of growth 
• Document mental health services across tiers of support
• Engage their school mental health team in meaningful, data-driven, strategic quality improvement
• Use a robust resource center and quality guides to guide school mental health quality improvement efforts

States can use SHAPE to:

• Learn more about the quality of school mental health in schools and districts in the state
• Monitor progress in school mental health across districts and schools in the state
• Use the State School Mental Health Profile to assess several school mental health indicators including: infrastructure, technical assistance and training, state policies, financing, staffing, and emerging SMH issues.

The SHAPE User Guides linked below explain how to create and navigate different accounts in the SHAPE System. Each document links to videos of detailed walk-throughs of the account.

• School Account
• District Account
• Entity Account
• Preschool Account
• State Account

The resources linked below can be used to share information about the SHAPE System.

• SHAPE Informational Flyer
• What is the SHAPE System? This document clarifies how the SHAPE system is designed to help teams document key features of their school mental health system, prioritize quality improvement efforts, and track improvement over time.
• Who Should be on Your SHAPE Team? School mental health and SHAPE teams can come in many shapes and sizes depending on staffing, location, existing team structures, needs, and other system characteristics. SHAPE teams should represent a diversity of perspectives, roles, and experiences related to school mental health. This document provides guidance on who should open and serve as administrator on all SHAPE account types and examples of team members.
• How States are Helping Schools and Districts get into SHAPE! This document highlights Connecticut, Indiana, and Massachusetts on how they engaged with schools and districts in using the SHAPE System.
• Step-by-Step Guide for School Mental Health Quality Improvement This step-by-step guide summarizes how to use free tools and resources in the School Health Assessment and Performance Evaluation (SHAPE) System to develop and implement a structured quality improvement process tailored to your local context.
• SHAPE Recruitment Letter for Districts
• SHAPE Recruitment Letter for States

The SHAPE System offers many tools to improve school mental health systems! This document outlines a recommended order of completion for assessment accessible through individual, school, district, and entity accounts. Additionally, it highlights assessments available to state/territory and pre-school accounts.   

To access and complete assessments, create a SHAPE account. Registration is free and simple!  

Create a SHAPE Account

Below is a brief description of the assessments available on SHAPE. The linked documents provide a quick snapshot of the content of the assessments.

• The School Mental Health Profile is available in individual, school, district, and entity accounts. It collects information related to multi-tiered services and supports (MTSS), staffing, financing, and data systems. 
• The School Mental Health Quality Assessment (SMH-QA) is available in individual, school, district, and entity accounts. It assesses the comprehensiveness of school mental health systems across seven key domains.  
• The Trauma-Responsive Schools Implementation Assessment (TRS-IA) is available in individual, school, district, and entity accounts. It is evidence-informed self-assessment quality improvement tool developed by the NCTSN Treatment and Services Adaptation Center for Resilience, Hope, and Wellness in School and the National Center for School Mental Health. 
• The Organizational Well-Being Inventory for Schools (OWBI-S) is available in individual, school, district, and entity accounts. The OWBI-S assesses the quality of organizational well-being. Responses to the OWBI-S are submitted anonymously. 
• The Culturally Responsive, Anti-Racist, and Equitable Schools Quality Assessment (CARES-QA) is available in individual, school, district, and entity accounts. It is designed to assess CARE practices and to identify priority areas for improvement.   
• The School Mental Health Family Engagement Quality Assessment (SMHFE-QA) is available in individual, school, district, and entity accounts. It assesses family engagement and partnerships in school mental health systems.
• The State School Mental Health Profile is available in state accounts. It helps states assess several state-level school mental health indicators including infrastructure, technical assistance and training, policies, financing, staffing, and emerging school mental health issues.
• The Preschool School Mental Health Quality Assessment (SMH-QA-PS) is available in individual and pre-school accounts. It helps preschool teams assess their mental health services and supports and identify priority areas for quality improvement.