Last week, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a law mandating mental health screenings for students attending the state's public schools. The bill orders that students be screened at least once per year, starting in third grade, though it did not specify what the screenings would consist of.
"Mental health is essential to academic readiness and lifelong success," Illinois State Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders said in the Thursday press release. "Too often, we only recognize a student's distress when it becomes a crisis. With universal screening, we shift from reaction to prevention. The earlier we identify a need, the better support we can provide to that student to help them thrive—in school and in life."
However, there's good reason to be skeptical of claims that mental health screenings actually help prevent student mental health crises. In fact, there's some evidence that attempting to increase mental health "awareness" among children can actually make things worse.
