The National Center for School Mental Health, a technical assistance and training center with a focus on advancing research, points out connections between pandemic-related impacts for students' mental health and increases in behavioral outbursts, aggression, and fights. 

Muriel Sarmiento was brought to the United States as a teenager with her immigrant family from Venezuela. She struggled in high school as she grappled with a new language and culture, keeping to herself because she was afraid of others making fun of her heavy accent. Her school experience in the U.S. changed dramatically when she enrolled in Miami Dade College’s dual-language program, one of the few of its kind in the nation.

Supporting student success is complex goal. Every student faces different challenges: first-generation dynamics, lack of resources, debt, housing and transportation, disability, mental health issues, social and pandemic-related issues, even neurodiversity. Florida State University is taking note.

Tallahassee Community College overhauled its advising model, adopting individualized academic plans that make registering for future semesters a one-click deal—and now students are now less likely to stop out.