California Safe and Supportive Schools

Growing a District Rooted in Anti-Bias, Anti-Racist Action (Hayward Unified School District)

California Center for School Climate

Growing a District Rooted in Anti-Bias, Anti-Racist Action (Hayward Unified School District)

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Hayward Unified School District passed an anti-racism, anti-bias policy in 2020 to support practices ranging from resource allocation and instruction to professional development that promotes the well-being of students and staff throughout the district. In this audiocast, you’ll hear some examples of classroom strategies that have emerged from this commitment to equity and anti-racism.

Featured Speakers:

  • Candace Cofield, AOSA for Equity
  • Michelle Root, AOSA for Professional Development
  • Myldret, Student

View the transcript from this audiocast

Download the brief

Virtual BeWell Space

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BeWell is a virtual wellness space that offers evidence-based practices, resources, tools, and strategies for education professionals to support their emotional regulation and well-being. Strategies are organized into three categories – calm yourself, activate yourself, and increase your well-being – that users can choose from based on their mental or emotional state. BeWell offers activities for listening, watching, reading, doing and learning that support a calm, centered, and engaged mindset. Bookmark this site and visit any time you need to regulate or learn about how to improve your overall well-being.

Making Data Meaningful in Educator-to-Family Communication

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Schools collect vast amounts of data about students—the sources range from attendance records, classroom activities, and standardized assessment scores to homework completion, behavior, and local school climate surveys. School leaders and educators are becoming increasingly skilled in sharing and using data to make important decisions about programs, interventions, resources, and policies.

This document describes strategies for sharing data and engaging in data-driven discussions with families to improve student and school outcomes. It includes tips for considering how to invite families into data conversations, effectively engaging with families around student and school data, and determining which data to share with families. A vignette from Azusa Unified School District in California illustrates how collaborating with families to make data-informed decisions can build trust and draw on community assets to improve school outcomes.

Perspectives on student mental well-being: Life satisfaction data from the California Healthy Kids Survey

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Student mental health is not just addressing emotional distress but also improving life satisfaction of students. Examining data related to life satisfaction and emotional distress provides context for understanding and supporting the student mental health. This webinar recording examined new life satisfaction and emotional distress items from the California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS). Using survey results from over half a million students from the 2021-22 school year, researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara discussed the importance of assessing student well-being and guiding participants on how to interpret these items.

Watch the webinar recording:

View the recording transcript.

View the session resources and slides.

Presenters:

Michael Furlong, PhD is a research professor and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of School Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara (2021/22 UCSB Edward A. Dickson Emeritus Professorship). He received the 2022 School Mental Health Research Award and provides consultation and support to the California Department of Education and WestEd related to CHKS. A co-editor of the Handbook of Positive Psychology in Schools (2009, 2014, 2022), he collaborates with colleagues on Project Covitality, supporting schools’ efforts to foster all students’ social–emotional development.

Erin Dowdy, PhD is a professor in the department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is a licensed psychologist and a nationally certified school psychologist. Her research career and scholarly publications have focused on universal assessment for social and emotional health and risk. She is focused on equitable screening practices. Dr. Dowdy has a record of past success at disseminating research in peer-reviewed journals and at professional conferences. Her research and collaborative work with schools, state, and community agencies has been funded by various agencies.  

Youth Perspectives on School Safety (CCSC Youth Advisory Team)

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School safety has become an increasing concern for education leaders, especially as recent years have marked record highs for shootings, wildfires, and other emergencies on school campuses.

A few Youth Advisory Team members described how school staff tend to emphasize order, control, and hierarchies in their exchanges with students, which harms their ability to express themselves and build relationships at school. Part two of this two-part brief  examines the role that school safety plays in students’ classroom experiences in addition to the overall well-being of school communities.

Featured Speakers:

  • Alexa Southall, 10th grade student
  • Jubia Chavez, 12th grade student
  • Amiya Farias, 11th grade student
  • Julian Berkowitz–Sklar, 12th grade student
  • Aisha Bilgrammi, 10th grade student

View the transcript from this audiocast

Download the brief

Meaningful Youth Engagement to Guide School Climate (CCSC Youth Advisory Team)

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Partnering with students, caregivers, and community partners is crucial in creating environments that are safe, supportive, and inclusive. School leaders can achieve a higher level of participation by offering students collaborative roles in affecting change based on their critical examinations of learning conditions. Collaborating with students is especially important for secondary students, as creating opportunities for youth to practice decision-making skills aligns with the neurological and developmental needs of adolescents.

The CCSC has prioritized youth engagement through the creation of the Youth Advisory Team (YAT), a group of six high school students who provide input on climate needs based on their lived experiences in public schools throughout the state.

Featured Speakers:

  • Alexa Southall, 10th grade student
  • Jubia Chavez, 12th grade student
  • Amiya Farias, 11th grade student
  • Julian Berkowitz–Sklar, 12th grade student
  • Aisha Bilgrammi, 10th grade student

View the transcript from this audiocast

Download the brief