By Andrew Kuder / Broadcast version by Mary Schuermann reporting for the Kent State-Ohio News Connection Collaboration.

Over the past few years, mental health issues among teens in the U.S. have skyrocketed. According to the CDC, suicide rates among people ages 10-24 increased by 60% from 2007 to 2018.

Now, experts say the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated many of the issues that caused these trends.

"Now we've seen the effects of children who were isolated - especially those couple of years - having such a hard time adjusting now. And the social isolation, now coming back to school, the depression and anxiety is really increasing," said Karyn Kravetz, Associate Director of the Portage County Mental Health and Recovery Board.

In addition to a rise in depression and anxiety, this also had an impact on students' development. "A lot of the behaviors that are exhibited are exhibited because students are not in a good situation, either physical environment or mental health-wise," said Debbi Bailey, a consultant for one of Ohio's State Support Teams, which are groups of educators who help local school districts improve student experiences and outcomes.

With fewer options to interact with others, many children and teens turned to social media for communication. However, some experts believe that this increase in social media use without a proper school environment had a negative effect on the children's development.

"In our new age of technology and social media apps, being able to teach our students just some of those critical life skills is important," said Krista Allison, a consultant for the Stark County Educational Service Center.

Allison has seen firsthand how technology has changed the way students communicate with each other. "I remember being in a school once, and I was sitting there as the students were getting ready to get on a bus," she said, "And they were texting each other, but they weren't talking, and I remember asking and they said 'Oh yeah, we're talking to each other,' but they weren't communicating like we're communicating."

In a survey by the CDC, 14.9% of the interviewed students reported being electronically bullied, with female students more likely to experience it than male students.

However, that isn't to say that social media does not have its benefits; it can encourage users to be more open about their mental health.

"They see, say, maybe some famous people, some athletes, some other role models who have come out and talked about their struggles with mental illness," said Kravetz. "And that makes them not as embarrassed now to say that they have issues and they see a counselor."

The pandemic brought many changes to the American education system, the effects of which are still being felt two years later. From rising mental health issues in students to children experiencing delays in their social and emotional skills, parents and schools need to adapt to these changes and work harder to provide students with sufficient learning environments. This can apply to children as young as five years old.

"We know that early learning is really, really, a very critical time for children because it is the building of the foundation," said Bailey. "The first five years of a child's life are when they are absorbing the most and forming those attachments."

School attendance has also been an issue. According to the Ohio Department of Education, there was a 3% decrease in pre K-12 enrollment between fall 2019 and spring 2020, which is significantly higher than the 0.03-0.04% of the previous three years. In addition, the department says that chronic absenteeism has also been an issue.

"We're trying to help people to back up and look at: How can we support students in a way that they do want to come to the classroom...able to learn and function in the classroom in a healthy way?" said Bailey.

One way Ohio has worked to solve these issues through the use of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), which is a set of standards for schools to measure how their students are developing. The standards were adopted by Ohio in June 2019.

Some ways Ohio has expanded SEL practices include reaching out to students on platforms like Twitter and providing documents for parents which highlight examples of how to improve their children's social, behavioral, and emotional health, according to a report from the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL).

One way Ohio has worked to solve these issues is through the use of State Support Teams. The goal of the State Support Teams is to work with schools across 16 regions in the state to improve the overall quality of students' education. This includes helping manage each school's meetings and checking students' progress in order to find which areas can be improved.

"We need to really be thinking about, 'How do we create an atmosphere where students can be supported at the education level [in the classroom]?'" said Bailey, who works on a State Support Team based in Canton.

This collaboration is produced in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.


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As the school year ends, Connecticut's teacher shortage seems to have only worsened.

In March, school districts across the state reported having 2,600 vacancies for teachers and paraeducators, leading to increased class sizes, which causes educators to get burned out more quickly.

A 2022 survey from the Connecticut Education Association found 74% of educators are more likely to leave the profession or retire early.

Kate Dias, president of the Connecticut Education Association, noted a problem once affecting higher-need districts is afflicting every district in the state.

"The vacancies are now leading to school closures, and that's where we are seeing sort of an uptick in, 'Well, we can't actually staff our school today,'" Dias observed. "That's a real problem that I don't see getting better without a significant intervention."

Long-term state-level solutions include apprenticeship programs established by the state's Department of Education and Gov. Ned Lamont.

Dias argued barriers to becoming a teacher in the state need to be removed and wages need to be raised for teachers. A 2023 survey showed 65% of voters in the state feel teachers are not paid enough.

One challenge Dias emphasized is making sure funding is spent in the right place to bring about much-needed changes. She noted providing aspiring teachers with some kind of incentive could help alleviate the shortage.

"To solve the problem today is about how do we attract people to this profession, career changers? How do we convince people that this is a really viable and important profession?" Dias asked. "Come here and work. So, it's attracting people from out of state and attracting second-career educators."

She added the state needs to utilize a workforce shift to its benefit in hiring teachers. Other factors leading to a decline in teachers include high college costs. A 2019 Center for American Progress report found growing costs caused enrollment in teacher programs to drop by more than a third between 2010 and 2018.

Navigating college can seem overwhelming for first generation students, but an early outreach program at Arizona State University aims to change it.

The Hispanic Mother-Daughter Program is for middle and high school students going on to higher education. Although the program was created in 1984 to increase postsecondary education rates among Latinas, the university said today, neither gender nor ethnicity are considerations, only whether the student is the first in their family to go on to college.

Stephany Hernandez, a recent high school graduate, said the initiative has provided her the guidance and information she needed to feel more prepared.

"I didn't really know where to start with the college-going process," Hernandez acknowledged. "'Middle school me,' I wasn't very sure where to go. Where should I look? Where should I begin?"

Hernandez explained the program has helped her understand the requirements and steps necessary to be accepted into Arizona State. The Hispanic Mother-Daughter Program is one element leading to the university to be named a Hispanic-Serving Institution last year, meaning at least 25% of the full-time undergraduate student body is Hispanic.

Parents and students attend monthly workshops at the university and work with mentors during the five-year program. Hernandez added the way the program functions has had the side benefit of bringing her closer to her mom, and both are excited about what lies ahead.

"The Hispanic Mother-Daughter Program has impacted my life mostly through bonding more with my mom, so we both can understand what I want for my future and what she wants for my future," Hernandez concluded.

The university said students in the seventh grade are encouraged to apply. Recruitment cycles are open year-round.


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A proposal from the federal government could provide a better path toward student loan debt repayment, but a new survey finds many borrowers don't know about this option.

While the fate of the Biden Administration's debt erasure plan is in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court, income driven repayment plans offer a next best option for former students. Through such plans, people pay based on their income rather than the amount they borrowed.

Lane Thompson, student loan ombuds for the Oregon Division of Financial Regulation, said a proposal from the U.S. Department of Education would make this type of plan even more attractive.

"Let people keep a higher percentage of their earned income, be a smaller percentage of monthly income and allow for forgiveness after 10 years, rather than 20 or 25," Thompson outlined.

However, a survey from New America found the people who would benefit most from income driven repayment plans do not know they exist. According to the report, more than 40% of low income borrowers had not heard of the plans.

Thompson stressed it is a problem.

"It really is an issue that more folks don't know about these," Thompson noted. "I think it would be to the benefit of everybody if we knew more about the income driven repayment plans, as borrowers."

Thompson added borrowers also should know about the Fresh Start program. The temporary program gets people out of default and removes the default from their credit report. Borrowers need to contact their loan provider to access the program.

Loan repayment is likely to begin later this summer.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.


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