Report 2015-112 Recommendation 15 Responses

Report 2015-112: Student Mental Health Services: Some Students' Services Were Affected by a New State Law, and the State Needs to Analyze Student Outcomes and Track Service Costs (Release Date: January 2016)

Recommendation #15 To: Mt. Diablo Unified School District

To better understand the effectiveness of the mental health services in its special education program, Mt. Diablo should use the six performance indicators we identified to perform analysis annually on the subset of students receiving mental health services.

1-Year Agency Response

The district has submitted a document through the secure portal that indicates the process by which we will monitor the six indicators outlined in the audit report: graduation rate, drop out rate, statewide assessment results, suspension and expulsion rates, participation in general education classes and post-school outcomes.

The process outlines that annually district administrators will request data from both reporting systems and then use that data to compare the results of each indicator comparing student who received mental health services with students who did not receive such services.

While it is possible to identity conclusions such as "students who receive mental health services are employed at lower rates than their peers who did not receive mental health services, it is not possible to draw causality as there are many factors that are beyond the district's control such as ongoing mental health needs and educational and employment goals the district does use the information to guide discussions regarding provision of mental health services and identifying potential other supports our students may need to assist them achieve success once they leave the K-12 system.

in addition to the document outlining the process, the indicator results from the past school year and the analysis have been submitted through the secure portal. This process will be repeated at the end of each school year.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Fully Implemented

6-Month Agency Response

The district is in the process of compiling year end CASEMIS and CALPADS reports which are in the process of being filed and are not yet due. Once these reports are compelted the District will review the data and analyze the six performance indicators identified to determine effectiveness of programs.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

60-Day Agency Response

MDUSD will add Mental Health Services to its current practice of reviewing student outcomes by site. this is done annually using end of school year data for graduation and drop out rates.

In addition, we will add analysis of the six performance indicators identified in order to determine effectiveness of each program in student outcomes.

This process will occur during summer 2016 and occur annually thereafter.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

All Recommendations in 2015-112

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.