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More than four in five high school students scored at or near optimal on district CARES survey, presenters say
Summary
At the May 7 board meeting the district presented baseline results from the CARES student‑wellness screener: 28% of participating high school students fell in the ‘optimal’ band and 54% in ‘near‑optimal,’ with 75% participation. District staff said the tool will be used to guide interventions and will be administered semiannually in grades 6–12.
At the Katonah‑Lewisboro Union Free School District board meeting on May 7, staff presented initial results from the CARES (Comprehensive Assessment of Resilience and Emotional Strengths) student‑wellness survey, saying it will provide actionable, school‑level data to guide supports.
Frank, a district presenter from the high school, told the board that 75% of the high‑school population participated in the pilot and that the distribution of performance bands was: "28% of our students came out in the optimal or the blue range; 54% came out in the near optimal range; 13% came out in approaching optimal; and 5% of our students in the suboptimal or the red," and he urged careful item‑level review before labeling individual students.
The district described the CARES survey as a 27‑item, nationally normed instrument built from work by Dr. Michael Furlong and related to the California Student Wellness Index. Presenters said the tool focuses on well‑being, connectedness and student strengths and is integrated into the Performance Matters platform so educators can pair social‑emotional measures with academic and attendance data.
"The CARES survey allows us to take a proactive rather than a reactive approach," Frank said, framing the instrument as a baseline for trend monitoring and early intervention rather than a diagnostic risk tool.
Presenters acknowledged a data‑quality caveat: the platform currently assigns values to skipped items, which can misleadingly depress a student’s averaged result when a student answers only one of 27 items. Frank said the district will perform item analyses to identify such cases and that counselors and clinicians have protocols to follow up with students appearing in lower bands.
Board members asked about subgroup patterns and whether seniors showed different stress levels; staff said the next phase will allow disaggregation by grade and other groups in Performance Matters so teams can identify targeted supports.
Looking ahead, the district plans to expand the survey to all secondary grades and administer it twice yearly beginning next school year. Presenters described training completed with secondary administrators and wellness teams and said semiannual administration will allow longitudinal tracking and more robust collaborative inquiry during PLC time. The board noted that counseling staff were already prepared to check in with students identified for follow‑up.
The next procedural step is internal: district staff will continue item analyses, boost participation strategies, and bring disaggregated findings back to school teams and the board for planning and resource alignment.
