As part of our ongoing approach to addressing and supporting the needs of our students, we will be implementing a social-emotional screener, the Behavior and Emotional Screening System (BESS), for the first time this school year. Similar to our approach in identifying the academic strengths and needs of our students through screening tools like Star, the BESS will serve as our social-emotional and behavioral screener.
The BESS provides a brief snapshot of a child’s behavioral and emotional functioning, allowing us to quickly identify those who might be in need of additional support. For students in grades PreK-5, the classroom teacher will be completing the teacher form; for students in grades 6-12, the students will complete the student form. The BESS provides a comprehensive overview of social-emotional strengths and needs, and at an individual level, it can help identify factors that may be interfering with a student’s academic or social success.
We are excited to begin implementing this screener across the district in order to better serve our students. We will be completing the BESS two times this school year with the first screening period occurring September 26 – October 14, 2022. Information regarding your child’s BESS results will be shared with you after our screening period. The BESS will be administered again during our spring window for grades PreK-12. As a parent or guardian, you may be contacted about a variety of school and/or community supports available to assist your child.
Please reach out to Kat Romero ([email protected]) or one of your student’s building administrators with any questions.
If you would like to opt your student out of the BESS screening process, please complete this Opt Out form for EACH student.