Introducing the DESSA Screening Tool

November 5, 2024

Dear Rush-Henrietta Families,

More than two decades of research have helped us understand the important role that social-emotional skills play in shaping each student's success both now and in the future. Making good decisions, demonstrating self-control, persisting at challenging tasks, and working well as a member of a group are examples of skills necessary for children to be successful well into adulthood.

Last year, Rush-Henrietta worked to identify new ways to support the social and emotional health of students and created a directory of community resources. This year, the district is offering a new benchmarking opportunity called the DESSA universal screener.

The district is committed to prioritizing mental health and supporting our strategic-plan goal to increase the social-emotional competence of our students. It is our goal to have 80 percent of students take part in this benchmarking twice each school year - once in November and March.

At the K-6 level, teachers will complete administration of this screener for their entire class. At grades 7-12, students will self-report during the school day.. Here is an example of a DESSA question for older students. During the past four weeks, how often did you:

• think about positive things?

• ask somebody for feedback?

• get along well with different types of people?

Members of Rush-Henrietta’s School Health Assessment and Performance Evaluation System (SHAPE) team will review the results and identify areas where we can provide students with more support. These important conversations will take place at the building level, as well. Our district chose this tool in part because its creator, Aperture Education, respects student privacy. Aperture Education will never share student data with a third party. To view information about the DESSA privacy policy, click here.

We are intent on supporting the mental health and social-emotional development of our students. The first administration of this DESSA tool is between November 7 and December 6. You can opt-out your child by emailing your building principal.

If you have questions, please contact your building principal or me. We will be happy to further introduce you to this intriguing self-assessment tool. 

Sincerely,

Joseph Jackson
Director of Wellness and Equity