Momentous Institute and Center for BrainHealth Report Highlights Positive Long-Term Economic Impact of Mental Health-Informed Education

Alumni of the nationally acclaimed Momentous School outperform their peers from low-income schools, achieving a 24:1 ROI and generating an estimated $157M in lifetime earnings.

DALLAS, Aug. 25, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Momentous Institute, a leading mental health organization dedicated to providing children and families with evidence-based mental health services, education, and training, in partnership with Center for BrainHealth®, a cognitive neuroscience translational research center at The University of Texas at Dallas, released a joint report highlighting the immense value of integrating proactive, mental health-informed brain skills into early education. The findings show significant academic and economic gains for alumni and point to the importance of prioritizing mental health and brain health from an early age.

Momentous Institute's nationally acclaimed laboratory school, Momentous School, integrates mental health and neuroscience-based practices into its curriculum, emphasizing social-emotional learning alongside academics. Starting as early as age three, students learn tools to understand and regulate their brains, emotions, and relationships. Serving PreK-3 through 5th grade, Momentous School primarily supports students in underserved communities, with nearly 80% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch.

CASE STUDY FINDINGS
The Brainomics^® team at Center for BrainHealth and the Momentous Institute research team explored the long-term benefits of teaching children about mental health and brain-based skills starting at age three. The study followed 73 alumni from Momentous School six years after high school graduation, revealing impressive outcomes compared to national low-income students:

• 97% of Momentous School alumni graduated high school (vs. 78% of their peers)
• 79% of Momentous School alumni pursued higher education (vs. 43% of their peers)
• 48% of Momentous School alumni earned a college degree (vs. 12% of their peers)

Beyond academics, the group's lifetime earnings are projected to reach $157 million, delivering a remarkable return on investment of up to 24-to-1 compared to students from low-income schools. These projected student earnings are:

• 26% more than students from low-income schools in the U.S.
• 15% more than average-income students in the U.S.
• 9% more than students from high-income schools in the U.S.

"Graduates of Momentous School are achieving far above expectations," explained Dr. Jessica Gomez, Executive Director and psychologist of Momentous Institute. "We know that academic success translates into significant economic impact, and the results show Momentous School Alumni are projected to earn 15% more than the national average students. This demonstrates that our model is successful because we focus on the whole person and integrate neuroscience with all aspects of mental health and wellbeing. No one regrets, or forgets, learning about how their brain works and how mental health is critical to overall health."

Notably, the study shows that Momentous School's curriculum achieves these outcomes at a per-student cost comparable to the average cost of public education in Texas, proving that their educational model does not require a higher baseline investment to implement. Further, the school is deeply committed to each student's long-term success, investing in everything from daily essentials like nutritious meals to future opportunities such as college scholarships. On average, this comprehensive support adds up to an estimated $19,200 investment per student.

"The numbers are quite extraordinary, confirming that investing early in brain health pays off and delivers both education and economic returns," said Dr. Andrew S. Nevin, inaugural director of the Brainomics Venture at Center for BrainHealth. "Our analysis shows that Momentous School alumni are not only more likely to graduate from high school and earn college degrees, but also to achieve higher lifetime earnings compared to their peers."

The findings highlight the profound impact of incorporating mental health informed brain strategies into education at an early stage. By adopting a curriculum rooted in mental health and neuroscience, Momentous School is equipping students with the tools to achieve measurable, lifelong success.

Report Methodology 
To understand the long-term economic implications of this kind of early investment in brain and mental health, the Brainomics and Momentous Institute team analyzed academic achievement six years after high school graduation for 73 alumni from Momentous School's 2016-2018 graduating cohorts. Researchers then projected their lifetime earnings and compared outcomes to three comparison groups¹:

• Students from low-income schools in the U.S. (representing the likely alternative path for Momentous School alumni)
• Students from average-income schools
• Students from high-income schools in the U.S.

About Momentous Institute
Momentous Institute is a leading non-profit mental health organization working at the heart of education and mental health to help young people and families live happier, healthier lives. Momentous Institute is the first organization to integrate a mental health-based curriculum into elementary schools and the only non-profit with an operating elementary school in Dallas, Momentous School. Momentous Institute has trained more than 45,000 professionals and implemented mental health-informed education and trauma-informed strategies in more than 5,000 classrooms across 32 states and 7 countries. Through a team of bilingual licensed therapists, they provide quality mental health services to 5,500 children and their families each year who would otherwise not have access.

About Center for BrainHealth
Center for BrainHealth^®, part of The University of Texas at Dallas, is a translational research institute committed to enhancing, preserving, and restoring brain health across the lifespan. Major research areas include the use of functional and structural neuroimaging techniques to better understand the neurobiology supporting the continual growth of cognition, well-being and social connections in health and disease. This leading-edge scientific exploration is translated quickly into practical innovations to improve how people think, work and live, empowering people of all ages to thrive and unlock their brain potential. Translational innovations leverage 1) the BrainHealth Index, a proprietary measure that uniquely charts one's upward (or downward) holistic brain health trajectory whatever their starting level; and 2) Strategic Memory Advanced Reasoning Tactics (SMART™) brain training, a strategy-based toolkit developed and tested by BrainHealth researchers and other teams over three decades.

Brainomics^® is a new, multi-disciplinary field that joins cognitive neuroscience, health, economics and policy science, among others. It examines the exponential economic impact when interventions to improve brain health and performance are scaled up.

¹ 2017, 2018, and 2019 High School Benchmarks Reports. National Student Clearinghouse.

SOURCE Momentous Institute