What's a Tier 1 move I can defend?
Strengthening the four positive-environment items in the school-climate snapshot — especially 'teachers praise hard work' — is well-supported and low-cost.
Audience
For schools and districts
A path through the Explorer for principals, counselors, and school board members — focused on the items schools can actually act on.
Bring climate work into the same room as mental health
The strongest leverage at the school level is treating belonging, bullying, and mental health as one strategy, not three.
Your path through the Explorer
1. Mental health snapshot
Sadness, suicide indicators, and where students turn for support.
Open2. School climate & safety
Belonging, engagement, bullying, and the climate items most under your control.
Open3. Screens and digital wellbeing
Phone access, social media, gaming — and the policy levers schools have.
Open4. Substance use, in context
Past-30-day use, lifetime exposure, perceived risk by grade.
Open5. Run a 30-min board briefing
Three slides, three decisions — built for time-pressed leadership.
Open6. Tier 1/2/3 your response
Map each priority to universal, selective, or indicated supports.
OpenCommon school-leader questions
How do we talk to parents about screens?
Pair the screen-time page with the parent-night discussion guide. Lead with norms, not fear.
How do we connect distressed students to help?
Only 7.3% of distressed students currently talk to an adult at school. Building those bridges is the highest-leverage Tier 1 mental-health work.