Terrace Metrics

The School Board of Broward County, in partnership with Terrace Metrics, Inc. is proud to provide an innovative behavioral health screener to students and families. This screener is designed to measure students' resiliency and behavioral health. The schools who will be participating during the 2023-24 school year are: Boyd H. Anderson High School, Coral Glades High School, Cypress Run Education Center, Deerfield Beach High School, Dillard 6-12, Hallandale Magnet High School, Henry D. Perry Education Center, J.P. Taravella High School, Lanier James Education Center, Margate Middle School, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Monarch High School, New River Middle School, Olsen Middle School, Pembroke Pines Elementary School, Pine Ridge Education Center, Sawgrass Elementary School, Tropical Elementary School, Western High School, Wilton Manors Elementary School. 

What are the Benefits of the Survey?

Research shows that schools play an important role in raising healthy children through the measurement and teaching of resiliency skills. Data from this comprehensive screener gives us the ability to identify students who may be in need of support. In addition, the data will help us design, implement and evaluate small group interventions that address specific student needs, as well as opportunities for students to enhance their personal strengths. Most importantly, this tool allows us to examine the needs of the whole student to support their learning and well-being. 

What Should I Know as a Parent or Guardian?

• First, parents must provide their consent for their child to take the screener. What this means is that if you wish to have your child participate, you must complete a consent form provided by your child's school.  Consent forms will be sent either electronically or sent home with your child.  If you do not complete the consent form, your child will not be able to take the screener.
• Second, the data is de-identified, which means that all scoring and coding of data is done using student ID numbers. Your child will not enter any personal information when completing the assessment.
• Third, only designated members of our school’s response team will have access to your child’s individual report. Teachers will not have access to individual data.
• Fourth, the screener is not a diagnostic tool nor an evaluation, and no information from this screener will be placed into your child’s education file. The purpose of this service is to inform us of how each student is functioning within specific resiliency/risk indicators.
• Fifth, you will receive a customized, easy to follow report of your child’s results, along with specific recommendations that correspond with the findings. You will receive this report via the email that is attached to your child’s Clever account.
• Sixth, the school will not allow the collection, disclosure, or use of personal information collected from students for the purpose of marketing or for selling that information (or otherwise providing that information to others for that purpose).
• Finally, the tool itself is brief (approximately 15-20 minutes). It will be administered by a mental health professional who will remain in class until all screeners have been completed.

What Are the Indicators Measured In the Screener? 

The following indicators are included in the screener for high school aged and middle school aged students:

• Global Life Satisfaction: Overall assessment of feelings and attitudes about one's life at a particular point in time, ranging from negative to positive.
• Positive School Experiences: Assessment of a student’s experiences with their learning, as well as their overall interactions with school personnel.
• School Victimization Scale: First presents a definition of bullying so that students understand what/what does not meet criteria. The student is then asked if they have been victimized or have victimized others during the current school year. The scale assesses the frequency of different types of victimization (e.g., physical, social).
• Social Ostracism Scale: Items reflect the degree of perceived social isolation. The scale measures two forms of ostracism: ignoring (paying no attention to the student) or excluding (acknowledging the student but choosing not to interact with them).
• Grit Scale: Assesses the level of commitment (and tenacity) to achieve a long-term goal.
• Generalized Anxiety Scale: 7-item, self-reported questionnaire for screening and severity of anxiety.
• Children’s Hope Scale: Assesses goal-directed thinking in which the student has the perceived capacity to find routes to goals (pathways thinking), and the motivation to use those routes (agency thinking).
• Depression: The scale is a multipurpose instrument for screening and assessing the severity of depression symptoms. The scale also includes an item that assesses thoughts of self-harm.
• Resiliency: This scale assesses the degree to which individuals possess both the intrapersonal and interpersonal resources needed to overcome adversity.
• Personal Standards: This scale assesses the expectations that a student has about their personal abilities.
• Self-Criticism: This scale assesses difficulties in accepting mistakes and overly focusing on one’s perceived faults.
• Trauma Screener: This brief screener asks the students if they have directly experienced or witnessed potentially traumatic events (such as a car accident).  Follow-up questions assess how well the students have adjusted to the experience.
• Substance Abuse Screener: Assessed by first asking the students if they have engaged in alcohol or drug use in the past year, or whether they have ridden in a car with someone who has.  Follow-up questions assess the frequency of use and whether this use has caused problems for them.  

The following indicators are included in the screener for fourth and fifth-grade students (students in third grade and younger will not take the screener):

• Global Life Satisfaction: Overall measurement of feelings and attitudes about one's life at a particular point in time, ranging from negative to positive.
• Positive School Experiences: Measurement of students’ experiences with their learning, as well as their overall interactions with school personnel.
• School Victimization Scale: First presents a definition of bullying so that students understand what does/ does not meet the criteria. The definition has been framed so that students as young as grade 3 can understand. Students are then asked if they have been victimized or have victimized others during the current school year.
• Social Ostracism Scale: Items reflect the degree of perceived social isolation. The scale measures two forms of ostracism: ignoring (paying no attention to the student) and excluding (acknowledging the student but choosing not to interact with them).
• Children’s Hope Scale: Measures goal-directed thinking in which the student has the perceived capacity to find routes to goals (pathways thinking), and the motivation to use those routes (agency thinking).

If you have any further questions, please contact your child's school.