Our assessment portfolio provides educators with invaluable insights to inform personalized instruction, equitably place students and identify gaps in student potential and performance.
The DESSA System
Build Student Resilience for Learning and for Life
Get a complete picture of every student with The DESSA System. Identify strengths, address barriers to academic success and mental well-being, and uncover the skills they need to thrive, and build lasting resilience through data-driven instruction.
The DESSA System uses trusted, evidence-based assessments and screeners to measure students' critical resilience skills, identify strengths, and support growth with data-driven instructional resources.
Screeners and Assessments
Identify students who are 4.5x more likely to have a serious behavioral referral that school year, allowing educators to address student needs before they interfere with academic progress. DESSA's evidence-based assessments bring research-backed, valid, and reliable data into your MTSS, PBIS, or other behavioral support program.
DESSA Mini
Universally Screen in Less than 1 Minute Per Student
Proactively identify with 95% accuracy which students need behavioral skill support rather than waiting for negative patterns to emerge.
DESSA
In-Depth Understanding of Strengths and Needs
Get competency level data on student strengths and areas of need with data-driven recommendations to address areas of support.
DESSA Student
Support Student Self-Awareness and Growth
Center student voice and agency in the assessment process. Students see their strengths immediately and use those insights to set meaningful, self-directed growth goals.
DESSA SIER
Preventing Risk, Promoting Resilience
Proactively identify internalizing and externalizing mental well-being risk factors to inform a data-driven approach to build student resilience.
Get a Customized Demo From Our Expert Advisors Riverside Insights' expert advisors are available for customized demos to solve the specific challenges facing your school or district.
Turn student data into meaningful action with research-based strategies and targeted interventions designed to build resilience and support academic success. Quickly identify student needs and deliver the right support at every level—from whole-class instruction to small groups and individualized plans. Integrate behavioral strategies with core academic subjects or plan for dedicated behavioral lessons for universal, small group, and one-on-one instruction.
Make Tiered Instructional Decisions with Confidence
With over 600 K–12 strategies and structured Tier 2 intervention programs, educators can confidently implement tiered, strength-based instruction that improves social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes while saving time on data analysis. With The DESSA, explore:
Research-Based Universal Strategies: Seamlessly integrate behavioral instruction throughout the school day with strength-based activities.
Data-Driven Recommendations: Customized data analysis to steer tiered instructional decisions in seconds.
Tier 2 Intervention Programs: Sequenced, engaging programs to develop student resilience skills. 20 grade-banded, multi-week Tier 2 Intervention Programs aligned to DESSA competencies.
Launch your DESSA program with confidence, scale student supports with ease. The DESSA Success Team assists with strategic planning, ongoing implementation guidance, and recommendations based on real-time data to achieve your top-priority district goals.
Personalized Implementation Support Every Step of the Way
Practical Training Programs for Educators: Train, screen, assess, drive instructional decisions.
Secure and Seamless Data Integration: Sync your rosters and integrate with existing data platforms for simple management and visibility.
DESSA Success Managers: Expert program guidance and onboarding for your team.
Self-Paced DESSA System Training: Prepare your team with flexible on-demand learning.
Live Virtual Professional Learning: Customized training sessions to meet your team’s priorities.
DESSA Second Step Assessments are the only research-based assessments fully aligned to the Second Step curricula for Grades K-8. DESSA Second Step Assessments are nationally normed, standardized, and entirely strength-based to promote an accurate understanding of each student’s growth opportunities in the foundational skills included in the Second Step curricula.
Educators have the flexibility to complete DESSA Second Step progress monitoring assessments throughout the school year to ensure instructional plans are up-to-date and focused on skills students need most.
Elementary School Teacher-Completed Assessment
Aligned to Second Step Elementary Digital Program and Classroom Kits.
Quickly and reliably assess Second Step competence in 3-5 minutes per student. Insights are directly aligned to Second Step skills and behaviors to inform interventions.
Middle School Teacher-Completed Assessment
Aligned to Second Step Middle School Program
Seamlessly integrate behavioral instruction throughout the school day with strength-based strategies.
Middle School Student Self-Report
Capture student voice and promote goal-setting skills.
Assessments completed in 5 minutes or less per student. Results are incorporated into DESSA System reports to provide critical insights into the skills students need most.
“When you’re a teacher, your students’ emotional needs are at the center. What you are teaching them is simply a vehicle to reach them. Those relationships should be the core of what we do.”
Carla Truttman Director of School-based Mental Health & Wellness programs, Siskiyou County Office of Education
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