Topline
Teachers play a key role in supporting student well-being, but it takes a toll.
Young people face significant mental health challenges, and teachers are increasingly on the front lines. Schools often lack adequate access to counselors and other mental health professionals, and classroom teachers have stepped into the gap—checking in on students, building social and emotional skills, connecting families to services, and more.
RAND researchers drew on a nationally representative survey of 829 kindergarten through 12th-grade public school teachers to examine how teachers support student mental health and well-being, the school- and teacher-level characteristics associated with teachers’ provision of supports, and the consequences for teachers’ work environment and well-being.
Key Takeaways
Nearly all teachers provide student supports.
A majority of teachers said that they checked in on students’ mental health and well-being and helped students build empathy and peer relationships at least weekly.
High school teachers face more challenges related to student well-being.
High school teachers were more likely than elementary school teachers to report such challenges as student apathy and absenteeism. Yet, they were less likely to regularly provide well-being supports.
Supporting student well-being takes time and emotional energy.
Teachers spent about eight hours per week on providing student supports. Those who provided more supports were significantly more likely to report that teaching was emotionally draining.
Difficulty supporting student well-being was associated with poor teacher well-being.
Teachers who said that it had become harder to support student well-being since fall 2024 were more likely to report poor well-being themselves, such as increased burnout and frequent job-related stress.
Recommendations
For mental and behavioral health program providers:
- Develop age-appropriate curricula targeting adolescents’ interpersonal skills, emotional regulation, and executive functioning to help secondary school teachers address well-being challenges.
- Frame these skills in terms of workforce competencies, such as communication and collaboration, to build broad support among educators and school leaders.
For districts:
- Adopt community schools or similar strategies that provide wraparound services, such as mental health care, food assistance, and housing support, to reduce barriers that impede students’ readiness to learn.
- Engage community-based organizations as an alternative where full community school implementation isn’t feasible.
Methodology
RAND researchers analyzed data from the 2026 State of the American Teacher survey, a nationally representative survey of 829 kindergarten through 12th-grade public school teachers. The survey asked about the types and frequency of well-being supports that teachers provided, the time spent on these activities, changes in the difficulty of providing supports since fall 2024, and teachers’ well-being. Where relevant, researchers compared teacher responses with those of 498 similar working adults surveyed through the American Life Panel. The research team also analyzed open-ended responses from 686 teachers to learn how supporting students’ and/or families’ well-being has changed since fall 2024.
Topics
Document Details
- Copyright: National Education Association
- Publisher: RAND Corporation
- Availability: Web-Only
- Year: 2026
- Pages: 24
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.7249/RRA4404-6
- Document Number: RR-A4404-6
Citation
RAND Style Manual
Woo, Ashley, Elizabeth D. Steiner, and Sy Doan, Difficulty Supporting Student Mental Health Strains Teacher Well-Being: Findings from the 2026 State of the American Teacher Survey, RAND Corporation, RR-A4404-6, 2026. As of October 21, 2026: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA4404-6.html
Chicago Manual of Style
Woo, Ashley, Elizabeth D. Steiner, and Sy Doan, Difficulty Supporting Student Mental Health Strains Teacher Well-Being: Findings from the 2026 State of the American Teacher Survey. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2026. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA4404-6.html.
This publication is part of the RAND research report series. Research reports present research findings and objective analysis that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors. All RAND research reports undergo rigorous peer review to ensure high standards for research quality and objectivity.
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