Parent Consent Resources

Overview

This article compiles helpful resources that can be used to align with local district and school policies around parental consent for the DESSA. 

Is parent/guardian consent needed for the DESSA-mini or DESSA?

Each school adopts policies on what sorts of activities require parent/guardian permission and, in doing so, shape the norms that parents come to expect. The best answer to this question will come from your local administration. We recommend checking with your school leaders to ensure that you are adhering to parental consent policies.

In general, we find that most school policies do not require parent consent for Tier 1 screeners in an RTI framework or for curriculum-based measures in the context of universal social and emotional instruction. Thus, many schools do not require specific consent for the DESSA-mini or DESSA when used for these purposes, just as they would not require parental consent for screening and assessment in other curricular areas (e.g., math, reading). Although consent is not required, many schools share information and resources with parents/guardians about their school’s social and emotional instruction and use of the DESSA. We have created several resources below that can be downloaded and shared for this purpose.

Alternatively, a minority of schools do seek parental consent for matters of routine practice and/or when they are using the DESSA for other purposes (e.g., as part of a comprehensive evaluation being conducted on an individual student or a subgroup of students, as part of a research study or enrichment activity rather than existing educational practice). In addition, several states have recently mandated some form of parental consent be collected for the use of screeners and/or assessments. For schools requiring parental consent, the type of consent may vary. Some schools require passive consent, in which parents/guardians are informed of the use of the DESSA and only need to take action if they do NOT want their child to participate. Other schools require active consent, in which parents/guardians are informed of the use of the DESSA and then need to opt their child in to participate. Parents can also opt their child out. Regardless of what the parent decides for their child, they must take some kind of action for active consent.

We have developed several templates you can modify to align with your local school policies and how your school plans to use the DESSA. Ensure that it is consistent with your school and district policies prior to sending it to parents/guardians.

Resources

The Downloads section of this article includes some helpful resources:

Informational Letters (no consent required): 

• Parent Letters Describing the DESSA 
• Parent Letter explaining SSR (Student Self-Report) and the reasoning behind their child's completion of it.
• Parent Letters Promoting Social and Emotional Learning at Home 
• Frequently Asked Questions for Parents
• If a paper copy of the assessment forms needs to be included with the parent letters, those pdfs can be found in our DESSA Forms for Parents article. 

Passive Parent/Guardian Consent (opt-out required): 

• Parent Letter template to give the option to opt-out

Active Parent/Guardian Consent (opt-in and out required): 

• Parent Letter template to allow parents/guardians to chose opt-in or opt-out

Downloads