It has been said that you cannot have a positive life with a negative mind. Learning environments are crafted to be nurturing centers of growth and knowledge, yet myriad blockers inhibit students’ sense of connectedness in school. Proactive intervention is an effective strategy to get ahead of reluctance and disengagement in K-12 schools. With foresight and an actionable student monitoring plan, PASS’ traffic-light reports cut through the noise to highlight where intervention is needed before academic achievement and student wellbeing are adversely affected.
Proactive Over Reactive: The Benefits of Student Monitoring
Educators are accustomed to the strengths of a proactive approach to classroom management. It makes sense: proactive strategies are intended to eliminate problems before they arise. Similarly, proactive intervention in the realm of student wellbeing and overall achievement is aimed at addressing negative perceptions about self and school, roadblocks to learning and sources of frustration before they manifest into chronic issues.
Study after study shows that teachers and the learning environments they create are the biggest contributors to academic achievement. For any number of reasons, sometimes things don’t go as planned, or unforeseen obstacles detract from learning and learner empowerment. Proactive intervention strategies target three domains connected to wellbeing and academic success: connectedness, self-efficacy and motivation.
The Importance of Connectedness For Academic Achievement and Student Wellbeing
Do students have positive relationships with at least one member of school staff? Do they have positive relationships with peers? It can be tempting to focus strictly on the curriculum, but how fruitful can the best lessons and activities be without healthy minds and positive attitudes about school? Connectedness lies at the core of student wellbeing. Academics define connectedness as achieved when an individual experiences a sense of social relationship and integration. The truth is that it’s complicated, and varies from one individual to another.
As many teachers and administrators have witnessed, trends (and leaps) towards online learning have negatively impacted student connectedness. It’s an observation that’s being noted around the globe. There’s never been a more important time to implement periodic assessments of student perceptions towards school, especially feelings of connectedness. PASS is an effective, accessible screener that identifies trouble areas, highlights how individuals schools are doing well, and even shines light on next steps with a resource-packed intervention guide.
Self-Efficacy: Do Students Know Their Worth?
Perceived learning capability can make or break more than academic achievement. In fact, decades of research has found that simply believing in one’s ability to succeed flips a challenge on its head. Studies find that when students demonstrate positive self-efficacy, they perceive obstacles as challenges to overcome rather than barriers to success.
What might be traditional indicators of a lack of positive self-regard? Poor academic performance? Acting out in frustration? Lack of extracurricular involvement? Sadly, these indicators are generally detected after the fact, when it may be too late to implement effective interventions. The PASS screener is specifically designed to detect student feelings towards self-efficacy so that proactive measures can be taken to uplift and inspire every learner before negative outcomes surface.
Proactive Measures to Address Learner Motivation
Motivation is a tricky thing for anyone to pick up, but even more so for our primary and secondary students. The most important action that teachers and school leadership can take to begin down a path towards motivation is to assess, monitor, and support. Educators grow and sustain motivated learners when students perceive the relevance of their learning, and feel empowered by their fellow students and staff. The only way to take a snapshot of where every individual student, class and cohort lies within the spectrum of motivation is through valid, objective-minded screening.
Tragically, many quiet student’s motivational struggles go unnoticed. Our partners consistently tell us that PASS has identified students they would never have suspected of being in need of further support. Early detection opens a window of opportunity for proactively addressing student needs.
Screening Opens the Door to Proactive Intervention
Student wellbeing goes hand in hand with academic achievement. Take the guesswork out of student wellbeing monitoring by implementing purpose-driven screeners in class, no matter whether in a virtual or in-person learning environment.. Educators, counselors and school administrators trust PASS’ accuracy in measuring highly subjective and sensitive issues. Learn more about how PASS has helped educators to identify student needs proactively with these real-world case studies.
Our sample reports and additional resources provide tangible insights of what to expect from PASS implementation, including key features and how to interpret the results. The PASS Intervention Guide provides a research-based strategies and best practices for implementing the best path forward for your students and teachers.
Our team of support staff is ready to help you bring academic-focused student wellbeing monitoring to your classroom. Get in touch with the PASS team today to learn more about how PASS can support your students in their achievement.