As a division of Devereux Center for Resilient Children (DCRC) our school-age initiative strives to conduct research to provide the evidence base for our resources, advance the state of knowledge in our field, and to provide information that will contribute to advocacy efforts for student’s social and emotional health.
The Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA) is a 72-item, standardized, norm-referenced behavior rating scale that assesses eight social-emotional competencies that serve as protective factors for children in kindergarten through the eighth grade.
The DESSA-mini is comprised of four 8-item parallel forms which are designed to be used on a universal (i.e. school- or program-wide) basis to determine the need for social-emotional interventions. The four 8-item forms are standardized norm-referenced behavior rating scales that screen for social-emotional competencies which serve as protective factors for children in kindergarten through the eighth grade.
For summary and technical information of all DCRC assessment tools, click here.
Comparing pre-test and post-test scores across the Devereux Assessment Tool Continuum, click here.
Considering the use of the DESSA to measure outcomes for individual children, groups of children, and/or for program improvement purposes? Download a document that provides the rationale for examining outcomes along with providing specific approaches for measuring outcomes. View document.
