Usability and Social Consequences of the Early Identification System as a Universal Screener for Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Risks

The Early Identification System (EIS) was developed to overcome many of the usability challenges of school-based behavior screeners. Several prior studies have documented the technical adequacy of the EIS. The present study expanded this work by examining the use, relevance, values implications, and social consequence of EIS implementation in a sample of 54 K-12 schools and 23,104 students in the Midwestern United States. We found that nearly all schools, teachers, and students completed the EIS as planned. Schools used the data to provide universal, selective, and indicated services to a high percentage of students identified with risks as well as to plan professional development for educators based on the screening data. Seventy-nine percent of schools implemented the EIS system with high fidelity, and fidelity was unrelated to student demographic composition within schools. These findings suggest that the EIS may overcome many of the usability barriers that plague common behavior screeners. Limitations and implications for advancing the science of social consequence evaluation are discussed. Impact and Implications The present findings suggest the EIS is a cost-effective, efficient, and useful tool for screening youth mental health concerns that schools implement with high fidelity. The EIS may overcome many barriers that prevent most schools from conducting ongoing universal screening of youth social, emotional, and behavioral concerns.