School-wide screening – answers to the questions that matter most.

School-wide risk screening can present unique challenges. But it also offers a unique opportunity to get answers to the most important questions a school can ask.

Some of the benefits of school-wide screening – such as the opportunity to identify and intervene with at-risk youth in need – are obvious.  School-wide screening also increases coordinated referrals for healthcare & mental health services. It enables schools to capture population risk demographics to deliver more informed programming and secure grant funding. Simply stated – school-wide screening can uncover undisclosed risks and save lives.

“School-wide screening identified two students who were not on anyone’s radar. One was having suicidal thoughts, had access to a gun and had a plan. The other shared previously unreported sexual abuse in the home. Without using RAAPS to ask the important questions, we may not have been able to step in and offer the help these young people needed.”

RAAPS has been successfully used by schools for risk identification and reduction for over a decade. Based on this experience we have developed an effective process to overcome the barriers and challenges of school-wide screening.  RAAPS offers schools: 

  • Short-format screening that is validated as effective in identifying risky behaviors in youth – including depression and mental health issues – but can be completed in just 5 minutes 
  • Brief, automatically tailored health education & pre-approved resources that ensure all youth receive evidence-based interventions – without requiring expertise or adding burden to school support staff  
  • Screenings that can be customized by state, region, or community to address unique funding or legislative requirements 
  • Support materials and best-practice standards that make it easy to communicate with parents and manage the administration of school-wide screening 

But most importantly, RAAPS delivers outcomes and the critical data that can drive decision making. This data can be used to highlight need, identify highest risk students, show effectiveness, justify or apply for grant funding, and to tailor programs to your population.    

“The RAAPS assessments gave us a better understanding of how to help our students because we had a full view of the issues impacting them, not just the issues we were traditionally accustomed to identifying. It’s one thing to have an assumption; it’s another thing to have the actual data – that makes it clearer.”

Learn more about the best practices and benefits of school wide screening. Watch our short 20-minute “BOOST” webinar featuring a case-based presentation from the PATH program at Pender County Schools. Or check out the case studies on school-wide screening on our resources page.