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Table 39. Percentage of public schools reporting that their efforts to provide mental health services to students were limited in a major or minor way due to specified non-school-level factors, by selected school characteristics: School year 2015–16

 
School Characteristic Inadequate access to licensed mental health professionals1   Inadequate funding   Potential legal issues for school or district2   Lack of parental support in addressing their children's mental health disorders3   Lack of community support for providing mental health services to students in your school   Written or unwritten policies regarding the school's requirement to pay for the diagnostic assessment or treatment of students   Reluctance to label students with mental health disorders3 to avoid stigmatizing the child  
All public schools 63.9   74.7   40.6   71.2   44.5   40.0   43.8  
                             
Level4                            
Primary 66.8   75.9   40.8   72.2   45.4   40.3   47.6  
Middle 60.8   72.1   42.1   69.8   42.9   40.6   40.2  
High school 58.6   72.6   40.5   68.2   41.8   38.9   37.8  
Combined 60.1   76.2   35.3   73.3   46.5   38.6   35.7  
                             
Enrollment size                            
Less than 300 68.1   76.2   38.7   70.1   39.8   35.4   40.9  
300–499 63.2   77.8   39.4   71.8   46.7   40.3   42.9  
500–999 63.1   72.7   41.5   72.6   45.7   41.7   46.5  
1,000 or more 60.5   70.0   44.7   66.4   43.7   42.7   42.4  
                             
Locale                            
City 66.6   77.5   39.3   72.1   48.2   42.1   46.6  
Suburb 56.3   68.1   39.2   69.1   40.0   41.1   41.9  
Town 72.5   83.8   46.8   78.7   53.5   42.7   46.7  
Rural 66.3   75.5   40.5   69.2   41.8   35.2   41.9  
                             
Crime level where students live5                            
High 61.8   70.6   39.3   77.2   50.6   36.5   55.1  
Moderate 72.5   81.8   49.0   80.1   52.9   44.8   49.0  
Low 62.8   74.1   39.1   68.7   42.6   40.7   42.1  
Mixed 56.3   68.7   34.1   63.5   34.9   31.1   35.2  
                             
Percent combined enrollment of
Black, Hispanic, Asian, Pacific
Islander, and American Indian/
Alaska Native students, and
students of Two or more races
                           
Less than 5 percent 69.9   79.4   38.0   72.0   48.3   36.2   32.6  
5 to less than 20 percent 63.3   79.4   38.4   72.8   46.6   41.1   43.0  
20 to less than 50 percent 65.1   72.9   40.3   69.3   41.5   39.6   38.6  
50 percent or more 62.7   72.3   42.4   71.3   44.5   40.1   49.2  
                             
Percent of students eligible for
free or reduced-price lunch
                           
0–25 percent 53.8   65.9   38.2   62.6   36.7   42.9   46.4  
21–50 percent 66.2   78.3   37.4   67.6   40.2   37.7   36.2  
51–75 percent 65.5   77.2   44.8   75.0   46.2   39.3   44.7  
More than 75 percent 66.2   73.8   41.0   76.2   51.7   41.2   49.0  
                             
Percent of students below 15th
percentile on standardized tests
                           
0–5 percent 60.5   70.0   36.5   64.6   39.0   38.2   41.6  
6–15 percent 64.0   75.3   43.2   71.1   44.5   38.5   39.5  
More than 15 percent 66.5   77.5   40.7   76.2   48.7   43.0   50.4  
                             
Percent of students likely
to attend college
                           
0–35 percent 69.4   76.9   42.7   76.0   48.9   40.1   50.0  
36–60 percent 70.0   79.0   44.2   75.5   49.1   40.9   41.9  
More than 60 percent 59.3   72.0   38.2   67.6   40.9   39.5   42.5  
                             
Percent of students who consider
academic achievement very important
                           
0–25 percent 62.1   69.3   35.8   75.0   46.0   39.1   52.2  
26–50 percent 71.9   77.4   46.2   75.4   51.5   38.7   44.3  
51–75 percent 68.4   80.1   46.1   76.2   50.8   42.6   46.0  
More than 75 percent 58.9   71.2   35.9   66.4   38.2   38.9   41.4  
                             
Percent male enrollment                            
0–44 percent 59.9   66.9   42.2   66.1   39.2   38.2   53.0  
45–55 percent 63.3   75.2   40.6   71.4   45.5   40.9   42.8  
More than 55 percent 72.4   76.8   38.7   73.5   40.3   33.8   45.3  
                             
Student-to-FTE ratio6                            
Less than 12 students 59.0   69.6   40.4   67.3   40.8   32.6   39.0  
12–16 students 64.8   73.9   38.0   72.7   44.2   42.7   44.1  
More than 16 students 64.6   76.6   42.3   71.2   45.6   40.1   44.9  
                             
Number of classroom changes7                            
0–3 changes 66.5   71.9   42.9   69.0   47.5   39.8   44.8  
4–6 changes 65.0   77.0   40.8   73.6   44.1   40.2   46.5  
More than 6 changes 60.5   73.7   38.5   69.5   42.7   39.8   39.3  
                             
Regular use of security staff8                            
Regular use 61.9   73.6   41.8   73.8   47.1   42.0   44.4  
No regular use 66.6   76.2   39.0   67.9   41.1   37.4   43.1  
                             
Number of serious
discipline problems9
                           
No problems 62.6   73.0   39.1   68.7   42.7   37.6   42.6  
1 problem 64.7   81.2   46.1   80.1   47.0   45.9   46.1  
2 problems 74.5   81.6   42.1   80.5   57.4   52.5   49.6  
3 or more problems 76.7   81.7   54.7   84.4   58.9   56.2   56.2  
                             
Transfers as a percentage
of enrollment10
                           
Less than 6 percent 60.3   71.4   39.8   65.8   42.0   37.6   44.3  
6 to less than 11 percent 70.8   79.9   45.7   77.2   43.8   40.9   47.7  
11 to less than 21 percent 62.6   72.6   39.2   69.5   46.1   40.2   41.4  
21 percent or more 63.2   76.2   38.0   74.1   46.3   41.9   42.2  
                             
Prevalence of schoolwide disruptions11                            
No disruptions 64.2   74.9   40.3   71.1   44.7   39.6   44.2  
Any disruptions 60.9   72.5   43.2   72.0   42.5   44.4   39.7  
                             
Percent of students
absent on a daily basis
                           
0–2 percent 55.8   71.4   41.7   62.1   33.3   42.4   43.3  
3–5 percent 64.2   74.8   40.3   70.6   44.3   39.8   43.0  
6–10 percent 65.8   76.5   41.8   76.1   48.9   39.3   43.3  
More than 10 percent 66.4   71.2   36.3   69.9   44.6   41.1   53.6  
                             
Prevalence of violent incidents12                            
No violent incidents 60.3   69.7   41.1   64.7   41.5   38.1   41.0  
Any violent incidents 65.6   77.0   40.3   74.1   45.8   40.8   45.1  
1 Mental health services are provided by several different professions, each of which has its own training and areas of expertise. The types of professionals who may provide mental health services include psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric/mental health nurse practitioners, psychiatric/mental health nurses, clinical social workers, and professional counselors.
2 Examples of legal issues include malpractice and insufficient supervision.
3 Mental health disorders are collectively, all diagnosable mental disorders or health conditions that are characterized by alterations in thinking, mood, or behavior (or some combination thereof) associated with distress and/or impaired functioning.
4 Primary schools are defined as schools in which the lowest grade is not higher than grade 3 and the highest grade is not higher than grade 8. Middle schools are defined as schools in which the lowest grade is not lower than grade 4 and the highest grade is not higher than grade 9. High schools are defined as schools in which the lowest grade is not lower than grade 9 and the highest grade is not higher than grade 12. Combined schools include all other combinations of grades, including K–12 schools.
5 Respondents were asked, "How would you describe the crime level in the area(s) in which your students live?" Response options included "high level of crime," "moderate level of crime," "low level of crime," and students come from areas with very different levels of crime.
6 Student-to-FTE ratio was calculated by dividing the total number of students enrolled in the school by the total number of full-time-equivalent teachers and aides. The total number of full-time-equivalent teachers and aides is a combination of the full-time and part-time teachers and aides, including special education teachers and aides, with an adjustment to compensate for the part-time status.
7 Respondents were asked, "How many classroom changes do most students make in a typical day?" Responses exclude morning arrival and afternoon departure.
8 Regular use of security staff includes full- or part-time school resource officers, sworn law enforcement officers, or security guards or security personnel present at school at least once a week.
9 Serious discipline problems include student racial/ethnic tensions, student bullying, student sexual harassment of other students, student harassment of other students based on sexual orientation, student harassment of other students based on gender identity, widespread disorder in classrooms, student verbal abuse of teachers, student acts of disrespect for teachers other than verbal abuse, and gang activities. If a respondent reported that any of these problems occurred daily or weekly in their school, each was counted once in the total number of serious discipline problems.
10 Transfers as a percentage of enrollment combines the number of students who were transferred to a school and the number of students who were transferred from a school divided by the total number of students enrolled in the school.
11 Schoolwide disruptions include actions that disrupted school activities such as death threats, bomb threats, and chemical, biological, or radiological threats. Respondents were instructed to exclude all fire alarms, including false alarms.
12 Violent incidents include rape or attempted rape, sexual assault other than rape (including threatened rape), physical attack or fight with or without a weapon, threat of physical attack with or without a weapon, and robbery (taking things with force) with or without a weapon.
NOTE: Respondents were asked to rate the level of limitation in their school's efforts to provide mental health services to students for each factor. Survey response options included "limits in major way," "limits in minor way," or "does not limit." The estimates in this table represent only those schools that reported limitations in a major or minor way. Responses were provided by the principal or the person most knowledgeable about crime and safety issues at the school.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2015–16 School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS), 2016.