So schools plan rather than get surprised.
How many students
High Risk generally runs well under 10 percent, typically between 2 and 5. Plan for 10.
Across SAFER's 2026 screenings, High Risk came in at 2.4 percent in spring and 1.8 percent in autumn. Moderate Risk ran around 10 percent, 11.4 percent in spring and 7.4 percent in autumn.
Per 1,000 students screened, expect roughly 75 to 115 Moderate and 20 to 50 High.
Rates vary by school, by season and by how well the on-ramping worked. A school with strong participation will find more students than a school where half the room clicked through, and that is the program working rather than a worse result.
Which grades
The intuition that risk rises with age does not survive contact with the data. Oregon's own survey has 8th graders reporting more past-year attempts than 11th graders, two years running. SAFER's own screening data has 10th grade highest for High Risk. Plan accordingly, and do not assume seniors are the priority.
Spring and autumn
SAFER screens twice a year. Spring runs higher. If you screen once, screen in spring; if you screen twice, expect the spring numbers to be worse and do not read that as a program failure.
What the day feels like
- Day one is the biggest. In one recent four-day week: 215, then 145, 111, 144. Staff for day one, not for the average.
- Most students finish in five to ten minutes.
- Participation will not be 100 percent. One recent week screened 379 of 489 enrolled. Absence, opt-outs and scheduling account for the rest. See Module 3.7.
- Around one in six students will opt out and complete the feedback survey instead. That is a normal, healthy number and it produces useful data. See Module 4.4.
- The students who need you will arrive in clusters, because a whole grade screens at once. The queue will be empty at 9:10 and have four names on it at 9:40.
Critical Reflection. If four students appeared on your board in the same ten minutes, who goes first? Decide the rule before the morning, not during it.
What is promised and what is not
Every student who screens High Risk is seen the same day, within two hours. That is the floor and it does not move.
Moderate is not a same-day promise. Every Moderate student gets resources and 988, and is routed to groups by their anxiety and depression scores. A school with capacity may choose to see Moderate students sooner, and that is a local decision recorded in the work plan rather than a SAFER commitment. See Module 5.2.
