SAN DIEGO (CNS) — The San Diego Unified School District will introduce the concept of a new Student Wellness Index at its next Board of Education meeting Tuesday, officials said today.
The index is aimed at identifying a variety of data points that will provide a more holistic evaluation of student wellness, and is being developing in partnership with San Diego State University and the San Diego County Office of Education to target chronic absenteeism.
"Students doing well physically, mentally, and emotionally are better equipped to excel in the classroom, but if they are facing challenges in one or more of those areas, a student's ability to learn suffers,'' SDUSD Superintendent Fabi Bagula said in a statement Sunday.
"We are working to help eliminate or at least minimize the challenges by delivering the support students need," Bagula continued. "Student wellness is not easy to measure, and few districts have chosen to prioritize it like us. We have worked with our students, staff and community to define student wellness, establish goals to strive for, and plan how to incorporate it into the culture of our school communities."
Officials said the index framework will be finalized in the coming months, then a pilot will be conducted and internal supports for all components of the index will be aligned with schools participating in the Student Behavioral Health Incentive Program in the Canyon Hills, Mira Mesa, Mission Bay, Morse and San Diego clusters in order to establish a baseline of data by May 2026.
SDUSD officials say they have made student wellness their top priority since the coronavirus pandemic by providing more on-site social, emotional and mental health services. The district projects that its chronic absenteeism rate will decline by 2.7%, and student sentiments about belonging and establishing caring relationships with teachers have improved by 2.7%.
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