Rachel Letts

Dr. Bodaski

CAS 138T

3.24.23

 

Prioritizing Student Health: 

Providing Curricular Flexibility for Student Health Emergencies

 

Introduction

 

Successful education, especially as it is on the collegiate level, requires well rounded environmental development. That means the anticipated expansion of knowledge and development of analysis skills. However, that also includes the physical and mental wellbeing of the students we are educating. At present, while The Pennsylvania State University strives to provide resources to aid students in supporting their health, they are not currently attacking the problem from all the necessary angles. My policy strives to tackle an unresolved problem in the Penn State community: access to curricular flexibility that accommodates mid-semester student health emergencies. 

While we currently have policies that hope to accommodate any individualized physical or mental health struggles in the classroom, what our current strategies lack are systemic resolutions for unforeseeable emergencies. That is, there is no system currently in place to help a student preserve the work and money they have already put into a semester should they need to take leave for a psychiatric or medical emergency. As a result this de-incentivizes students stepping away from academics when it may be the best decision for their health. Likewise it could cause students’ academic timeline to be pushed back, and could result in them losing large sums of work and money that they had already put into their semester. It is important to recognize that this is not a problem that is localized to the Penn State community and is rather one that touches on collegiate experiences nationally. My goal, however, is to tackle this problem within the Penn State community at present.

Understanding the impact of this problem goes beyond the individual experience. Failing to provide sufficient academic flexibility for students in need consequently has impacts on the cost of education, student health, and the overall accessibility of education. I am presenting this problem to Penn State University’s administration, and more specifically the registrar, in hopes that a change can be implemented to support the physical and emotional wellbeing of Penn State students. 

Existing Policy

As previously stated, it is important to acknowledge that there are existing policies to support students whose mental or physical health has impacts on their educational experience. The problem, however, is that in certain circumstances, these policies fail to address the root of the problem for many students. The two main nuances of existing policies that are hindrances to the true root of the problem are the requirement for prior knowledge of there being a health concern, as well as only offering short term solutions. At present policy states that instructors are required to provide students the opportunity to make up work for emergency absences “within reason”. What this policy fails to acknowledge is emergent scenarios wherein a student may need to leave for an extended period of time, that does not encompass the rest of the semester in its entirety. Likewise, current policies mention the ability of SDR to make attendance, due date, or scheduling accommodations for students who need it. As stated previously, what this policy fails to consider is students for which these alterations are not enough, or students who are unable to foresee their emergency and so cannot request these accommodations ahead of time. While these existing policies are indubitably vital to have, they neglect to cover an equally important aspect of health concerns. As made clear in the infographic below, high percentages of college students suffer from mental health struggles. Only 21%, however, reach out to a professional for help. While the problems are clearly widespread in collegiate settings, the solutions are not. For this reason, I’m proposing the addition of a new policy.

Policy Proposal

My policy proposal is modeled after an existing emergency leave policy at University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine. This policy is put into effect by the student first filling out a rudimentary form for approval by the dean. The application requests contact information, date of leave, and reason for leave with some form of relevant professional sign off to confirm that a leave is the best course of action for this student. This form is submitted to the dean for approval in order for the student to officially enter emergency leave. Cases where it appears that the student is applying for emergency leave to avoid bad grades or other alternatives that are not reflective of a true emergency, are to be denied by the dean. It is important to note that having flexibility around the time frame in which the form needs to be submitted and the amount of information provided is vital. This information should be submitted on a case to case basis. The reason for this being that because the application is to be submitted by those experiencing emergencies, a certain level of incapacitation to complete these forms is to be expected in some cases.

Once approved, this emergency leave would be implemented for a mandatory 30 day period. During this time taking any classes, at any institution would be prohibited so as to disincentivize any abuse of the system. In order for the student to return from leave the process would look much like it does to apply for leave. This includes indication from a relevant medical professional that they believe the student to be ready to return. Should they believe the student to be unable to return after those 30 days, a mandatory second 30 day period will be incurred.

The other side of this issue, of course, is how to maintain each students’ academic progress after their 30 day absence. This policy calls for that to be addressed, in part, ahead of time. Each department would be asked to come together and determine, on a course to course rather section to section basis, what the core takeaways of their course are. Should the department feel that there is genuinely no way that student could miss 30 days of a course and still catch up, they would be asked to determine that any student who may require an emergency leave of absence would be automatically asked to retake the class another semester. Alternatively, should the department be able to conclude the core takeaways of the course, those would be listed in the syllabus such that students considering a leave of absence has the information for consideration ahead of time. After returning from their leave, students in these courses would be asked to work one-on-one with their respective professors to conceptualize an individualized abridged curriculum through the rest of the semester that would allow these students to articulate an understanding of these core principles to their professor. This could look like a paper, a speech, a presentation, or anything deemed fit by the student-professor pair. Successful completion of these tasks would mean that that student would receive full credit for the respective course without being asked to pay for it again or take the course again. In the event that more than two consecutive 30 day leaves are required by one student, they would not be eligible for these aforementioned academic plans and instead would be asked to start the semester over when they are ready.

Impact

It is important to note that the concept of emergency leaves of absence is not a new one, and that rather the goal is to make them accessible when they come about suddenly. Notably, a study published by the Journal of College Psychotherapy followed eleven college students who returned to college after taking emergency leave. The study found that students are likely to seek help for mental health struggles once it is too late to avoid taking emergency leave. However, they found that with sufficient aid during and after their leave, the University can greatly aid the students to have successful transitions back to school. Likewise, the infographic below articulates the high percentages of teens who require prolonged absences from school due to mental health struggles. It’s important to note that 50% of high school students dropout of high school because of mental health struggles. The findings of these statistics emphasize the point that while having mental health resources available to students is important, urgent and sudden mental health crises will still occur. The best way to keep students in the classroom and avoid statistics like this one is to offer them sufficient support. In order to best foster the success of the student body we need to be able to accommodate them in emergent situations. 

Conclusion

The goal of this policy is to incentivize students to seek help when it is needed, and for that help to be conducive with being a student. That is, also preserving as much of the time and money that students have already dedicated to their studies. The hope is to keep students both learning, and healthy, and helping those things to coexist.

 

Resources

EAB. “How Can Schools Support 7 Million Students in Crisis?” EAB, EAB, 12 Feb. 2020, 

https://eab.com/insights/infographic/district-leadership/districts-k-12-mental-health-care-providers/. 

Le, Brian, et al. “College Student Mental Health Infographic.” Scholars’ Bank, 2020. 

National College Health Assessment, and Association for University and College Counseling 

Center Directors Survey. “Infographics.” Anxiety and Depression Association of America, Anxiety and Depression Association of America, 2023, https://adaa.org/educational-resources/from-adaa-experts/infographics. 

PennState Educational Equity. “Consideration / Flexibility Accommodations.” PennState 

Educational Equity, Educational Equity, 2023, http://equity.psu.edu/student-disability-resources/accommodations/consideration-flexibility-accommodations. 

Story, Anne E, et al. “Mental Health Leaves of Absence in College and Therapy: A Qualitative 

Study of Student Experiences.” Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, vol. 33, no. 1, 15 Feb. 2018. 

University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine Council. University of Missouri-Kansas

 City School of Medicine, Kansas City, Missouri, EMERGENCY LEAVE OF ABSENCE POLICY AND PAPERWORK ~UMKC SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, COUNCIL ON EVALUATION~.