Presence of school mental health staff by student body racial and ethnic composition

This report describes the level of mental health staffing in majority-minority schools (more than half of the students are racial or ethnic minorities) and other schools (at least half of students are White and non-Hispanic). During the 2015-16 school year, 94 percent of both majority-minority and other schools had at least one type of mental health staff member (counselor, psychologist, or social worker) employed on at least a part-time basis. Among schools with any type of mental health staff (counselor, psychologist, or social worker), both majority-minority and other schools had a student to mental health staff ratio of 260 students per staff member For schools with counselors and schools with psychologists, the student to staff ratio was higher in majority-minority schools than in schools where at least half of students were White and non-Hispanic.