Client Progress Monitoring and Feedback in School-Based Mental Health

Research in children's mental health has suggested that emotional and behavioral problems in are inextricably tied to academic difficulties. However, evidence-based programs implemented in school-based mental health tend to focus primarily on treatment practices, with less explicit emphasis on components of evidence-based assessment (EBA), such as progress monitoring and feedback. The current paper describes two studies that incorporated standardized assessment and progress monitoring/feedback into school-based mental health programs. Barriers to implementation are identified, recommendations for clinicians implementing EBA in the school setting are provided, and examples of mental health and academic indicators are discussed.