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Today's schools face growing concerns around student emotional wellbeing. CDC data shows that 40% of high school students experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in 2023, highlighting the need for proactive support.
One important starting point is cultivating a positive school culture where students feel safe, respected, and connected. Understanding how school culture influences wellbeing can help educators create stronger learning environments.
Within every educational setting or institution lies a shared set of values or beliefs that guide both students and teachers. This is guided by school-specific practices and traditions, which help students rally around a common identity. Known as the school culture, this foundation helps students feel connected while still allowing them to embrace their unique qualities.
Many factors influence student wellbeing, and while home environments have a definite impact, there's no denying that students are heavily influenced by their teachers and peers. Research shows that positive perceptions of school culture are closely tied to student outcomes — not just academics, but also health and behavior. Simply put, students are happier and better able to focus when they believe they are supported and respected.
This shows up in what students value and how they relate to their peers. Consider the school in which inclusivity and empathy are clearly prioritized. The more students are exposed to this mindset, the more likely they are to adopt it themselves. Collectively, these qualities create a sense of belonging, limiting the alienation at the core of so many mental health challenges. Meanwhile, a culture that prioritizes respect and consistency limits anxiety through predictability. These students feel more confident because they know what to expect.
Supporting wellbeing in schools works best when it is integrated into everyday practices rather than reserved for moments of crisis. Preventive, school-wide approaches can help students build emotional skills, develop supportive relationships, and access help before challenges escalate.
Positive learning environments help students feel supported and respected, even as they deal with academic or social challenges. These settings are intentionally designed to remove barriers that might otherwise prevent students from fully embracing the academic and social dimensions of school life.
The journal Learning Environments Research describes three key dimensions that contribute to positive learning environments: personal development, relationships, and institutional culture. Measures that support these dimensions include student choice in projects (to improve autonomy), active listening among faculty (to strengthen trust), peer mentoring (to foster belonging), and student recognition (to build pride). These efforts must be accompanied by transparent policies that improve consistency.
Student wellbeing programs in schools may include social-emotional learning, positive behavioral supports, wellness activities, and other school-wide initiatives. The strongest programs are typically integrated into everyday routines rather than treated as isolated activities.
These approaches can help students build coping skills, strengthen relationships, and develop healthier ways to respond to academic and social challenges.
The effort to improve student wellbeing should be proactive and holistic. The goal is to establish a strong baseline, so that students develop the skills and confidence needed to overcome any emotional challenges that inevitably emerge. Students should also be aware of available resources so that they can get the support they need early on, rather than suffering until full-blown crises occur. True support also means noticing when students are struggling and stepping in to help, rather than forcing them to navigate resources on their own.
No one teacher or administrator can singularly build a culture of respect and inclusion. Yes, individual classrooms can thrive under the guidance of emotionally aware educators, but true strength lies in school-wide initiatives that help all students feel supported.
This is an all-hands-on-deck effort, requiring consistent support from educators along with help from administrators, support staff, parents, and students. That being said, different teams and professionals will naturally take on different roles, as clarified below:
While there can be a grassroots element to building school culture, the most lasting and impactful changes emerge at the leadership level. This begins with identifying core values along with the obstacles that negatively impact both broad-based culture and wellbeing among individuals.
Core values are then built into policies and practices, sparking a critical shift from abstract ideals to everyday expectations. From multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) to grading policies and student recognition practices, all efforts must be culturally responsive and culturally aligned.
Professional development sets the stage by equipping all teachers with the skills and knowledge needed to build identified values into their classrooms. Leaders provide additional support by regularly reviewing policies to confirm cultural alignment — and by establishing feedback loops so teachers understand opportunities for improvement.
In the classroom, wellbeing emerges as educators set aside time for simple, yet powerful moments of connection. Again, structure is critical, for, amid fast curriculum pacing and significant testing demands, it can be easy for emotional learning to be left by the wayside.
Begin by creating everyday routines that encourage students to show support for one another. This could be as simple as arranging check-in circles, allowing students to briefly voice their feelings. Add opportunities for creative expression, such as collaborative art or storytelling. Students can also privately reflect on various experiences through journaling, and if comfortable, can share select thoughts or passages with their peers.
Families can provide valuable insight into students' strengths, needs, and experiences outside school. Clear communication and shared goals help educators and families coordinate support.
Community organizations can strengthen these efforts by connecting students and families with additional resources and opportunities when appropriate.
Efforts to build emotional wellbeing should be tailored based on the specific challenges and opportunities present within each school and classroom. There should be no question as to whether these practices align with a given school's core values. Certain strategies, however, hold value across diverse school environments, as described below.
Strong relationships help students develop trust, belonging, and connection within the school community. Educators can support these relationships by listening to students, respecting their perspectives, offering encouragement, and modeling positive communication.
Peer relationships also matter, and schools can reinforce respectful interaction through collaborative activities and supportive conflict-resolution practices.
Barriers to emotional wellbeing often seem invisible, but they are no less harmful when they're difficult to distinguish. These are often built into the school's physical environment. Classroom layouts may leave certain students feeling isolated, while issues with lighting or noise levels can trigger anxiety or frustration.
Spaces should be redesigned to encourage both connection and engagement. Evidence-backed options include flexible classroom layouts, green spaces, mindfulness zones, and natural lighting. Other efforts focus on the social experiences that encourage inclusivity. Options include co-created classroom norms and rotating leadership roles that build student confidence.
Teacher intuition can go a long way, but the most impactful wellbeing programs are backed by data. When assessing academic performance, teachers look to formative and summative assessments, but these look a bit different when evaluating social-emotional learning.
Student surveys and self-assessments offer some insight, with many schools implementing check-in apps such as Youhue. These efforts can be complemented by teacher rating scales and feedback from families or counselors. Teachers should examine data over time to reveal trends in student wellbeing, using data-backed insights to guide broad strategies for improving culture and also to address student-specific challenges.
At Neumann University, we are committed to building social and emotional awareness among educators and educational leaders. Beyond this, we want to cultivate actionable skills that allow educators to develop and implement mental health initiatives in schools. To that end, we offer a unique endorsement that can be incorporated into the Master of Science with an emphasis in Social Emotional Learning.
Neumann University's Social, Emotional and Behavioral Wellness of PK-12 Students Endorsement adds a meaningful qualification to your teaching license, but its impact goes much further. Pursuing the endorsement means closely examining emotional and behavioral issues from a culturally relevant lens. The curriculum also details factors that contribute to student challenges, including adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and mental health disorders.
The endorsement's classes include coordinated field experiences that empower you to apply social, emotional and behavioral health concepts within real educational environments. Along the way, you will observe firsthand the powerful benefits that emerge when promoting emotional wellbeing in schools.
Many non-academic barriers have a profound impact on student learning, but educators often struggle to identify or respond to these concerns. Neumann's endorsement clarifies these concerns, revealing what educational experiences look like from the perspective of the abused child and the grieving child.
Graduate-level classes examine how difficult home environments and mental health disorders impact the learning process. Educators also gain practical strategies for addressing these concerns and for building a positive school culture that uplifts all students.
Moving from understanding to impact, Neumann's Social, Emotional and Behavioral Wellness of PK-12 Students Endorsement shows how to improve school culture through strategic and culturally responsive leadership. You'll learn to transform principles into action while gaining the leadership skills needed to drive change, including systems thinking, data-driven decision-making, cultural responsiveness, and emotional intelligence.
Discover what it takes to cultivate positive school environments while supporting students through wellbeing programs. Neumann University empowers you to empower students as you learn how to improve mental health in schools. Explore certification and endorsement options tied to our online Master of Science in Education (MSEd) and take the next step towards living out your vision of transformative education.