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Downingtown presents student‑well‑being update; universal behavioral screener shows 87% low risk in grades 3–9
Summary
District staff reported completion of a two‑year ASCA training for counselors, rollout of a K–12 guidance (Chapter 339) plan and fall universal behavioral screener results showing roughly 87% of surveyed students in grades 3–9 fell in the low‑risk category.
Kristen Welk, identified in the meeting as the district supervisor of pupil services, and Doctor Berrios presented the district’s student well‑being update, which covered counselor training, a K–12 guidance plan under Chapter 339 and the fall universal behavioral screener administration.
Welk told the board the district completed a two‑year American School Counselor Association (ASCA) training for school counselors and that counselors work on academic planning, college and career guidance and social‑emotional development across grades K–12.
Nearly 7,000 students in grades 3 through 9 completed the universal behavioral screener this fall, Welk said. On the districtwide emotional and behavioral risk index the district recorded 87% of students in the green (the target range of about 80–85%), with yellow (elevated) and red (high‑risk) students in smaller percentages. "Anyone's social or emotional health varies day to day," Welk said, noting the screener supplements routine teacher referrals and building‑level monitoring.
Welk described procedures for following up: parents receive a notification letter before screening; students who screen in the red meet with a pupil‑services staff member the same day and staff contact parents that day; students in the yellow are seen within a week and families are contacted by phone or email, she said. Parents may opt a child out of the screener, and the district staggers administration windows so pupil‑services staff are available to respond when students screen as elevated.
The presentation listed several program expansions and partnerships: three new emotional‑support teachers at the elementary level, training provided by the May Institute, and continued partnerships with Devereux, Communities That Care and Cartwheel. The district also said two schools—DMS and Bradford Heights—are participating in a School Mental Health Collaborative run by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia consortium.
On follow‑up outcomes, Welk said interventions typically include individual or small‑group counseling conducted by prevention specialists or counselors. Teams administer brief pre‑ and post‑measures for group interventions and track session attendance; staff also make community‑agency referrals when appropriate. She said the district can readminister the screener to measure change and that improving systematic measurement of outcomes is an area of continued growth.
