As the covid-19 pandemic worsened a mental health crisis among America's young people, a small group of states quietly withdrew from the nation's largest public effort to track concerning behaviors in high school students.
Florida education officials said they plan to gather more state-specific data using newly created questionnaires. But they haven't designed a new survey, and it's not clear what questions will be asked or what data will be captured.
Some advocates say dwindling state participation is an “enormous loss” that will make it harder to track signs of poor mental health like drug and alcohol misuse and suicidal ideation among teens.
Florida education officials said they plan to gather more state-specific data using newly created questionnaires. But they haven't designed a new survey, and it's not clear what questions will be asked or what data will be captured.