This article highlights some of the new funding for social and emotional learning (SEL) and mental health in schools, trends in staffing to support student wellness, and resources to better understand and address health and safety issues in our schools and communities to improve student success.

The Annual Induction and Mentoring Report is intended to provide a broad understanding of the induction and mentoring activities in place to support educators across the Commonwealth. Reports are required of traditional school districts, Horace Mann charter schools, and educational collaboratives, and are optional for Commonwealth charter schools.

Utilizing data from the Annual Report helps to understand the state of induction and mentoring programs in the Commonwealth and to identify opportunities for additional support related to induction and mentoring. In past years, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has also aggregated the data from each district and publish a brief annual report to highlight trends and promising practices in induction and mentoring programs across the state.

The Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Survey (MYRBS) was developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to monitor priority health risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death, disease, injury, and social problems among youth. The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) — in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) — conducts the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) in randomly selected public high schools in every odd-numbered years.

The Massachusetts YRBS (MYRBS) focuses on the major risk behaviors that threaten the health and safety of young people. This anonymous survey includes questions about tobacco use, alcohol and other drug use, sexual behaviors that might lead to unintended pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease, dietary behaviors, physical activity, and behaviors associated with intentional or unintentional injuries. Since 2007, the MYRBS has been conducted jointly with the Massachusetts Youth Health Survey (MYHS) developed by DPH.