Welcome Families and Caregivers

Support your child by helping them develop the skills that will guide their success through their K-12 education and beyond.

This year, a child in your care will be assessed by their teacher using the DESSA, a suite of research-based screening tools and assessments used for students in grades K-12.

The DESSA will measure your child’s grasp of important skills that will help them succeed during their school years and even after they graduate from high school. Specifically, behavioral skills that include things like working well with others and the ability to thrive in new and challenging situations.

The skills measured by the DESSA can easily be taught and learned by students of all ages. Keep reading to learn more about the skills measured by the DESSA and how you can work with your child on each one.

Jump to:

→ What does the DESSA measure?
→ Why do we measure these skills?
→ Why we start with strengths

Question: How often did the student speak positively about their future potential

Optimistic Thinking

Question: How often did the student speak positively about their future potential

Relationship Skills

Question: How often did the student show an awareness of their personal strengths?

Self-Awareness

Question: How often did the student persist to achieve a goal?

Self-Management

Why These Skills?

These skills are important because they have been found to have a strong relationship with success in academics and positive engagement in school activities. They are also some of the top skills that colleges and employers are looking for as they recruit.

The DESSA gives teachers and counselors an understanding of which of these skills are strengths for your child, and which ones they need further instruction in. They can then tailor their instruction to your child to help them build the skills they need support in.

We Start With Strengths

One unique feature of the DESSA is that it is one of the only strength-based assessments. It is meant to highlight positive social and emotional behaviors, help students identify things they are already good at, and help them leverage their strengths to grow in other areas. For example, if a student rates high in Responsible Decision Making but low in Relationship Skills, teachers can help students use their decision making skills to improve their relationship skills.

Why a strength-based approach matters:

Welcome Families and Caregivers

The DESSA Measures These Skills

Why These Skills?

We Start With Strengths