Advancement · School Operations

Do your students feel
they belong here?

Students who feel they belong come to school more and stay with hard work longer. A short pulse with the same items each time, plus one question about a trusted adult, tells a school where to act. Print the survey from your items, enter the percent agreeing when it is back and the tool shows the belonging average, what moved and which students need someone to reach out.

Add a belonging pulseWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the School operations toolkit, $49 for 56 items.

Belonging pulses

The worked example is made up: a ninth-grade pulse where feeling noticed fell, a sixth-grade pulse after an advisory change and a small newcomer group. Saved on this device only.

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What you get

Advancement · School OperationsAlso for Enrichment · Wellbeing$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
A record per belonging pulse: students asked and answering, how many named a trusted adult, each item’s percent agreeing now and last time, and five design and follow-up checks. Prints the student survey with a trusted-adult question and the 988 line; works out the response rate, belonging average, change on repeated items and the number of students to reach; flags items under 70% and drops of 10 points.
Who it is for
School leaders, counselors, advisory and wellness teams and teachers who run student surveys.
Format
Browser tool with a saved record per pulse. Prints the student survey, one pulse’s results, every pulse in a table or a blank form; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); exports and imports a file.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the School operations toolkit ($49) and the Advancement Suite pass ($99), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The School Operations space in Caveat Advancement; also listed in the Wellbeing space (where belonging and school connection tools sit for students and families).
Support
Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Write eight items or fewer.
  2. Print the survey for advisory.
  3. Enter percent agreeing and the adult count.
  4. Read the low and falling items.
  5. Plan who reaches each unconnected student.

Add a belonging pulse

What belonging surveys measure

From a pulse to a connection1Ask a few honest itemsEight or fewer, in advisory2Ask who they trustOne open question at the end3Read the low and falling itemsUnder 70%, or down 10 points4Reach the unconnectedA named adult for each student5Share back with studentsWhat you heard, one change6Pulse againSame items, a few months onFrom a pulse to a connection1Ask a few honest itemsEight or fewer, in advisory2Ask who they trustOne open question at the end3Read the low and falling itemsUnder 70%, or down 10 points4Reach the unconnectedA named adult for each student5Share back with studentsWhat you heard, one change6Pulse againSame items, a few months on
The count of students with no trusted adult is often the most useful number the survey produces.

Why belonging

A sense of school belonging, feeling accepted, respected and noticed by others at school, is linked with attendance, motivation and wellbeing in many studies. Having at least one adult at school a student trusts is one of the strongest protective factors named in public health research on young people. A pulse turns both into numbers a team can act on.

Using the items well

Write your own short items in plain words, or use a published scale with its permissions. Keep core items worded the same so pulses compare. Percent agreeing is easy to share with students. Names written in the trusted-adult box belong with the counseling team only; this tool stores counts, never names.

Sources

  1. Goodenow, C. (1993). The psychological sense of school membership among adolescents: scale development and educational correlates. Psychology in the Schools, 30(1), 79 to 90.
  2. Gillen-O’Neel, C., and Fuligni, A. (2013). A longitudinal study of school belonging and academic motivation across high school. Child Development, 84(2), 678 to 692.
  3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. School connectedness and adolescent health (cdc.gov/healthyyouth).
  4. Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, 20 U.S.C. 1232h: notice and consent for certain student survey topics (studentprivacy.ed.gov).
  5. 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (988lifeline.org).

The worked example is made up. The 70% and 10-point thresholds are working rules stated on the page. This tool is for planning; it does not screen individual students. Follow your district’s rules on surveys and student privacy. Nothing you type is sent to Caveat. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.