FAQ
Navigating SHAPE Accounts
There are six account types on SHAPE: individual, school, district, entity, preschool, and state.
Anyone can open an individual account. This account type is a great way to gain access to resources and explore the site. You can always join a school, district, pre-school, entity, or state team.
Members of a school or district account typically include employees of a school or district, as well as community providers who work closely with a school or district. Students and families can also be part of a school or district account. To open a school or district account, you must be employed by the school or district.
Members of a preschool account typically include employees of a school, early childhood care center or program, as well as community providers who work closely with the school, early childhood care center or program. Families can also be part of the preschool account. To open a preschool account, you must be employed by the preschool, early childhood care center, or program.
Members of an entity account typically include individuals who work at organizations (such as a regional or intermediate educational unit) that provide support to schools, districts (or other grouping of schools) to enhance their school mental health programming.
Members of the state account generally include state employees. Some states include program evaluators in the SHAPE account. To open a state account, you must be employed by a child serving state agency/organization.
Depending on their role, SHAPE users may be part of multiple account types.
A: Yes. Click the hyperlink next to “Is your school, district, entity, or preschool missing” at the registration page. This link will take you to a form where you can enter the missing information. Your account request will be reviewed by the National Center for School Mental Health within two weeks.
A: To open an account for a school, district, or state, you must be employed by the school, district, or state. If you indicate that you are not employed by a school, district, or state in the registration process, you will be redirected to an individual account. We recommend contacting a school, district, or state employee who you work with and encourage them to open a SHAPE account.
- Once an account is open and you are approved for the account by the account administrator, any School Mental Health Quality Assessment (SMH-QA) data entered in the School Mental Health Quality Assessment in the individual account will be moved over to the school or district account.
A: In the top right corner of your individual SHAPE account, select “Join a Team.” From there, select the school, district, entity or state team you would like to join. Your request will be sent to the account administrator, if an account already exists If you are employed by the school/district/state, you will automatically be added to the account. If you are joining an entity account, you will automatically become a part of the SHAPE account.
A: If someone has sent a request to join an account and an administrator does not respond within a week, they can send a message to [email protected].
A: Yes. After opening an account, click “My Account” to the left of your email address on the top right of the page, which will lead to a page listing the accounts that you are part of. In the top right, under the blue banner there is a “Join Another Team” button. When you click that, you will go through the same set of questions that you went through to create your first account (school/preschool/district). From there, you will be able to open another account/request to join another team. The “My Accounts” page is also where you can toggle between the different accounts.
A: As a third-party person that is not employed by the school/district, you will not be able to open an account as an administrator. Instead, you will be redirected to an individual account until someone employed by the school/district opens an account. We recommend contacting a school/district employee who you work with and encourage them to open a SHAPE account.
- If you are registering with a school or district, data entered in the individual account moves to school or district account when you are approved for the account. There are no data entered in the individual account that moves to a state account.
A: We do not have a way of verifying employee status. However, if someone in the account notices a person who is in the account and should not be, they can contact the NCSMH and we can decide how to proceed.
- Note That school, district, preschools, and state accounts may have people that are not employees of the school, district, preschool, or state in the account, but those who open the account should be an employee of the school, district, preschool, or state.
A: On the “My School Account,” “My District Account,” “My Preschool Account,” “My Entity Account,” or “My State Account,” Admins can also invite other people to join the SHAPE account as an admin or a team member.
- When you click “Add Admin” or “Add Team Member”, a pop-up window will appear to enter an email and first and last name. When adding a team member, you will be prompted to check or uncheck “Share data with the school/district/preschool/entity/state.” When inviting an admin, you will also indicate whether you want this person to get email notifications when someone requests to join the account.
A: An admin account user can access all data entered by all users in their school/district/preschool/entity/state account. In addition to creating aggregated summary reports of all data entered in the different assessments, except for the School Mental Health Profile and the State Mental Health Profile.
A: Yes, individuals employed by entities, mental health centers, education service agencies, or contracted evaluation companies can create an entity account. This account type allows organizations that support schools and districts to access data entered by the schools/districts to provide more hands on technically assistance. Entities can also complete assessments. See our entity account how to video for more details (https://youtu.be/L3w4R9uFXGY).
A: On the “My Entity Account” tab there is an option to add schools and districts to your entity account. Under the “Entity Schools/Districts” tab you will select “add district/school” a pop-up window will open, and you will select the state and district from the dropdown menu. Your districts/schools will need to approve your request to share their data with the entity.
A: Tribal communities have the option to create an entity account. See our entity account how to video for more details (https://youtu.be/L3w4R9uFXGY).
Using SHAPE Assessments
A: The School Mental Health Profile collects information related to multi-tiered services and supports, staffing, financing, and data systems in your school/district/entity school mental health system.
A: After completing the School Mental Health Profile, we recommend you review and update it at least annually. Any new data entered will overwrite previously entered data. If you would like to keep previously entered data, we recommend downloading a summary report (by clicking “Summary Reports” in the “School Mental Health Profile” tab) or the excel file (by clicking “District Profile Data” in the “School Mental Health Profile” tab) before entering new data.
A: The School Mental Health Quality Assessment is designed for teams to assess the comprehensiveness of their school mental health system and to identify priority areas for improvement. The Quality Assessment comprises seven domains (Teaming, Needs Assessment/Resource Mapping, Screening, Mental Health Promotion, Early Intervention and Treatment, Funding and Sustainability, Impact).
A: After completing the School Mental Health Quality Assessment, we recommend you review and update it at least annually. Data entered for the School Mental Health Quality Assessment can be entered by both admins and team members. If your team decides to monitor progress more regularly, you can report on the last month, quarter, or six months, for instance.
Your team can also choose to focus your quality improvement efforts on a specific domain. However, you must update your reporting period each time you are updating your data to avoid overriding previously entered information.
- Note: For ongoing quality improvement, be sure to update your reporting period to reflect the changes over time. For example, if you completed the Quality Assessment for last year (reporting period 09/18-06/19) and track changes using the quality assessment you will have to update the reporting period the next time you enter data so both the baseline and the change can be captured.
A: We recommend starting with the School Mental Health Profile if you have a school/district/entity account.
A: We recommend using the Strategic Planning Guides at the end of the domain or Summary Reports to prioritize domains and create an action plan for the improvement process. In addition to the Strategic Planning Guides, teams should also use the Resource Library to assist with their action planning.
A: The Trauma Responsive Schools Implementation Assessment (TRS-IA) is a quality improvement tool developed by the NCTSN Treatment and Services Adaptation Center for Resilience, Hope, and Wellness in Schools and the National Center for School Mental Health. The TRS-IA is an evidence-informed self-assessment that comprises the eight key domains (Whole School Safety Planning. Whole School Prevention Planning, Whole School Trauma Programming, Classroom Strategies, Prevention/Early Intervention Trauma Programming, Targeted Trauma-Informed Programming; Staff Self Care, Family and Community Engagement).
A: Like the School Mental Health Quality Assessment, there are Strategic Planning Guides at the end of each domain of the TRS-IA, as well as Summary Reports after all domains are completed. Both the guides, as well as the Resource Library can help guide your team’s action planning.
A: After completing the Trauma Responsiveness Implementation Assessment, we recommend you review and update it at least annually. Data entered for the TRS-IA can be entered by both admins and team members. If your team decides to monitor progress more regularly, you can report on the last month, quarter, or six months, for instance.
Your team can also choose to focus on a specific domain. However, you must update your reporting period each time you are updating your data to avoid overriding previously entered information.
- Note: Be sure to update your reporting period to reflect the changes over time. For example, if you completed the TRS-IA for last year (reporting period 09/18-06/19) and track changes using the assessment you will have to update the reporting period the next time you enter data so both the baseline and the change can be captured.
A: Each question includes a list of Best Practices that should be used as a general guide for answering the question. Many of the answer options are on a scale of Never to Always. Selecting “Always” suggests that a team is implementing many best practices with a high frequency. Some questions are open ended.
A: The School Mental Health Quality Assessment – Preschool (SMHQA-PS) is designed for preschool teams to (1) assess their mental health services and supports and (2) identify priority areas for quality improvement. The SMHQA-PS covers six domains, which include: (1) Family Partnerships; (2) Teaming; (3) Screening; (4) Mental Health Promotion; (5) Services and Supports; and (6) Kindergarten Transition.
A: After completing the School Mental Health Quality Assessment, we recommend you review and update it at least annually. Data entered for the Quality Assessment can be entered by both admins and team members. However, you must update your reporting period each time you are updating your data to avoid overriding previously entered information.
Your first assessment should always report on the last year and report on all domains. If your team decides to engage ongoing improvement initiatives with a specific domain you can monitor progress more regularly and report on the last month, quarter, or six months, for instance. Your team can also choose to focus your quality improvement efforts on a specific domain.
- Note: For ongoing quality improvement, be sure to update your reporting period to reflect the changes over time. For example, if you completed the Quality Assessment for last year (reporting period 09/18-06/19) and track changes using the quality assessment you will have to update the reporting period the next time you enter data so both the baseline and the change can be captured.
A: Each question includes a list of Best Practices that should be used as a general guide for answering the question. The answer options are on a scale of Never to Always. Selecting “Always” suggests that a team is implementing many best practices with a high frequency.
A: We recommend using the Strategic Planning Guides at the end of the domain or Summary Reports to prioritize domains and create an action plan for the improvement process. In addition to the Strategic Planning Guides, teams should also use the Resource Library to assist with their action planning.
A: The Impact worksheet at the end of the printable version of the SMHQA-PS provides an option for data that could be used to monitor the accessibility and outcomes of your preschool mental health system.
A: The State/Territory School Mental Health Profile will help your state assess several state-level school mental health indicators including infrastructure, technical assistance and training, state policies, financing, staffing, and emerging school mental health issues (including SEL, telepsychiatry, SDH).
A: We recommend completing the Profile annually. Any new data entered will overwrite previously entered data. If you would like to keep previously entered data, we recommend downloading reports (by clicking “Summary Reports” in the “Mental Health Profile” tab) or the Excel file (by clicking “Profile Data” in the “State Mental Health Profile” tab) before entering new data.
A: Once teams complete the State/Territory profile, they can download a report that displays your responses in an easily digestible format. The end of the report includes a strategic planning guide, which includes questions that are designed to prompt further discussion about how to advance and sustain school mental health at the state-level. States can use this report to advance school mental health by identifying strengths and areas for growth.
Accessing your Data
A: There are several ways to do this. There is a printable version of the School Mental Health Profile, other Assessments, and the State Profile. You can complete the paper-pencil version in a team meeting and then enter the data into the system. Alternatively, your team may also decide to enter data straight into the system.
- Note: Data entered into either the School Mental Health Profile or the State Mental Health Profile can only be entered once for the whole team. Previously entered data is not saved and will be overridden. Unlike the SMH-QA where multiple users can enter data, the reporting period must be updated each time new data is entered.
A: Unless you choose to not share your data, the administrator of the account will have access to all team members data in the form of an individual or aggregated report.
You can change the settings for data sharing in the “Permissions” tab under “My School Account,” “My District Account,” “My Preschool Account,” My Entity Account” or “My State Account.”
All accounts are automatically set to have schools/preschools share data with districts and states through individual or aggregated reports; similarly, districts accounts are automatically set to share data with states. Admins of school, preschools. and districts accounts can adjust these settings in the “Permissions” tab. Entity accounts do not have the option to share data with other account types.
Schools and districts may also share data with Entities. When a user opens an entity account, they can request existing school or district accounts to share data; schools and districts will need to approve the request. If an entity requests data from an unopened school or district account, data will automatically be shared with the entity once an account is opened; schools and districts may opt-out of data sharing under the permission tab.
The NCSMH team will have access to all data entered the system. Visit the Privacy Policy page for more information.
A: Unfortunately, no there is not a way for current users to archive data. However, you can create a new reporting period and customize your summary report to exclude previous reporting periods.
A: Yes, under the “my schools/districts tab” on this page there is a matrix of schools/districts, and you will be able to view team reports and csv file for schools and districts that share data.
A: Yes, you can download a csv file of data entered by your schools/districts if they are sharing data. You can also download districtwide and statewide summary reports for the School Mental Health Profile, School Mental Health Quality Assessment and the Trauma Responsiveness Implementation Assessment. You can find these reports in your district, entity, or state account under the “My Schools” and “My Districts” tabs.
These reports aggregate that data of schools and districts that share data with the district/entity/state.
A: We understand your unique concerns to ensure data privacy given the historical misuse and abuse of Tribal data. The data are NOT publicly accessible, but the SHAPE administrators (NCSMH) may use these data in aggregate only to understand school mental health programming across the nation.
Learn More About the SHAPE System and the National Center for School Mental Health
A: All school and district names uploaded in the SHAPE system are pulled from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a federal government website.
A: Yes, please visit the “Learn and Share SHAPE” tab in the SHAPE System to review our demonstration videos, handouts, and other resources for navigating SHAPE.
The NCSMH has developed a number of resources to support your efforts to share information about SHAPE with your networks and colleagues. https://www.schoolmentalhealth.org/SHAPE/
A: For technical issues, please contact the 3C Institute at [email protected] or (919) 535-5057.
A: Visit our website schoolmentalhealth.org to learn about some of our other initiatives. You can also find us on Twitter (@NCSMHTweets) and Facebook.
