Update About the DESSA Screening Tool

March 5, 2025

Dear Rush-Henrietta Families and Students in Grades 7-12,

Social-emotional skills play a significant role in shaping student success now and in the future. Working well as a member of a group, making good decisions, demonstrating self-control, and persisting at challenging tasks are skills that are necessary for children to develop to enjoy a successful life.

Rush-Henrietta is committed to prioritizing mental health and supporting our strategic-plan goal to increase the social-emotional competence of our students. Several months ago, the district shared a new benchmarking opportunity called the DESSA universal screener. You may read the original letter in your preferred language by clicking here.

Our goal is to have 80 percent of students take part in this benchmarking twice each school year - once in November and March. We are happy to report we exceeded that number during the fall. We are preparing to offer the DESSA screening tool for a second time this school year between March 10 and April 11. 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. Parents and guardians, you can opt-out your child by emailing your building principal but we hope as many students as possible will participate!

Example 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?

This type of feedback about and from our students is very helpful. Members of Rush-Henrietta’s School Health Assessment and Performance Evaluation System (SHAPE) team review the results and identify ways we can provide students with more support. We are able to compare results for individual students from the fall and spring to determine how to shift the support we provide. Team members also are creating a sustainability plan to make sure these efforts can continue in the future.

If you have questions, please contact your building principal or me. I can be reached at jjackson@rhnet.org. Thank you for your support of this useful tool. 

Sincerely,

Joseph Jackson
Director of Wellness and Equity

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