California Safe and Supportive Schools

Grounding Community Schooling in a Love Ethic (Oakland Unified School District)

Belonging and Connectedness

Grounding Community Schooling in a Love Ethic (Oakland Unified School District)

by

As a part of Oakland Unified School District’s efforts to implement full-service community schools, the District launched an Office of African American Male Achievement (AAMA) to create structures, programs, and practices that support success for all African American male students in OUSD. In this audiocast, you’ll hear about how AAMA’s King Care program aims to empower “kings” and their families by focusing on academics, literacy, and transformative social–emotional learning.
View the transcript
Download the brief
Participants:
  • Jerome Gourdine, Director of Targeted Strategies, OUSD
  • Tiago Robinson, Program Manager, AAMA
  • Omoaghe Kevin Akhidenor, Teacher, AAMA
  • Jamal Muhammad, Program Manager / Student Leadership Advisor, AAMA

Creating Empowering, Peer-led Spaces on Campus (Humboldt Independent Practice Association)

by

In Humboldt County, the Humboldt Independent Practice Association partnered with 10 school sites to establish school-based wellness centers. Following widespread social isolation due to COVID-19 lockdowns, Humboldt IPA created youth Empowerment Groups, recognizing the role that belonging plays in student wellness. In this audiocast, you’ll hear about the peer mentorship model these groups are based on.

View the transcript

Download the brief

Participants:

  • Vanessa Vrtiak, School Based Wellness Center Program Director, Humboldt Independent Practice Association
  • Sky, Peer Educator, Sunny Brae Middle School
  • Charlotte, Peer Educator, Arcata High School

Evidence in Action: Learning Together and Growing Change

by

Participants will consider how to establish routines that provide opportunities for young people, families, community partners, and system leaders to learn together about what is working and what is not as change ideas are carried out. Rooted in principles of continuous improvement, this involves cocreating meaningful and practical measures of change and working together to iterate and scale change approaches over time.

Watch the session recording:

View the recording transcript.

View the session resources:

Presenters:

Erica Boas, PhD (she/her) serves as a Core Contributor for the California Center for School Climate. Erica is a Senior Improvement Specialist with the Improvement Science team at WestEd. Using improvement science methods, she supports K-12 schools and districts as well as university-based teacher preparation programs in their equity-centered improvement efforts. She holds expertise in qualitative methods, educational equity, K-20 pedagogies, and improvement science methodologies. Erica has served as a K-5 teacher, faculty member in teacher preparation programs, and most recently worked in a county office of education to support districts and schools in their continuous improvement efforts. In this role, she served as lead author for the California Ways 2 Equity Playbook, a resource to help guide schools, districts, and county offices in their equity efforts.

Shazia Hashmi (she/her) serves as a Technical Assistance Provider for the California Center for School Climate. As a Program Associate at WestEd, Shazia translates and applies research on equitable, developmentally appropriate strategies to support state education agencies, district leaders, and educators in serving communities. She supports research and technical assistance projects that focus on improving practices in social–emotional learning, school climate, and community engagement. She currently develops professional learning to build statewide capacity for authentic, meaningful community partnerships as a part of CCEE’s Community Engagement Initiative.

The Art of Connecting: Strategies for Authentic Partnerships

by

In this recording, viewers will learn about building community and relational trust, which are essential for meaningful, lasting change to happen within school communities. This involves creating opportunities for interpersonal connections and shared spaces that center on belonging.  

Watch the session recording:

View the session slides and resources.

View the recording transcript.

Session One Presenters: 

Krystal Wu: Krystal Wu (she/her) serves as Technical Assistance Provider for the California Center for School Climate. Krystal is also a Program Associate with the Resilient and Healthy Schools and Communities team where she delivers technical assistance, designs professional learning, and develops evidence-based resources to cultivate safe and supportive learning environments. With expertise in culturally responsive and sustaining education, co-design, and school climate, Krystal centers the voices and experiences of community members in all of her work, especially those who have been kept furthest from opportunity. She currently leads the Safe and Supportive Learning Environments Deep Dive professional learning courses focused on racial equity and belonging through the California Center for School Climate and the Center to Improve Social and Emotional Learning and School Safety.

Amy Rovai Gregory: As an educator in San Juan Unified School District for the past 22 years, Amy Rovai Gregory has worked in a wide-range of roles—from classroom teacher, instructional coach, English Learner specialist, district TOSA for professional learning, vice principal, principal, to now serving as the director for the district’s family engagement and partnership development team. Amy has a passion for building relationships with students, families, colleagues and community by creating effective and innovative practices around culturally responsive, equity-driven outreach that is centered on ways to help reduce barriers and increase access, opportunities, and outcomes for those whom she serves. Amy has had the honor of being recognized as an Administrator of the Year, ACSA Silver Star, Paul Harris Fellow, and has received recognition for her educational leadership, community service, and family and community engagement initiatives in several publications and national conferences.

 

The Power of Collaboration in Data-Informed School Climate Improvement

by

The California Center for School Climate and the California Department of Education hosted a webinar that highlights data use in action to drive school climate improvement and collaboration.

Sweetwater Union High School District (SUHSD) in Chula Vista and San Diego County Office of Education have been on a data-informed school climate improvement journey. Leaders in the district have operationalized data use as part of ongoing inquiry and improvement efforts, and have forged strong relationships with partners, including their County Office of Education, school site leaders, and service providers, to collectively improve the experiences of students and school staff.

In this recording, leaders from SUHSD and San Diego County Office of Education discussed the role of data in shaping their collaborative work, and also the importance of adaptive elements like trust, open communication, and mutual regard. Viewers will leave with tips and strategies for engaging in collaborative, data-driven improvement in their own schools or districts.

Watch the webinar recording:

View the recording transcript.

View the session resources:

Speakers:

Luis Lopez is a Teacher on Special Assignment for supporting classroom and systemic change in the adoption of equity initiatives, climate & culture improvements, and social emotional learning within the Sweetwater Union High School District. With 24 years of classroom and central office experience, he is passionate about innovating programs, practices, and platforms that braid academic rigor, positive behavior strategies, and social-emotional learning to create classrooms and schools where the adults and the whole child thrive.

Melissa Rains is a Teacher on Special Assignment for Sweetwater Unified High School District, supporting the district’s Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) framework. Rains was named a 2022-23 San Diego County Teacher of the Year while she was working at Castle Park Middle School as a science and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Resource Teacher.

Melissa Spadin is the Director, System of Supports at the San Diego County Office of Education where she supports LEAs in LCAP development, Differentiated Assistance, MTSS, SEL implementation, assessment literacy, and measurement design. She has worked on NAEP, state assessments, classroom task development, and formative assessment. She currently contributes to the ISTE Assessment Culture Advisory group, was selected as an inaugural CASEL Fellow, and served on the National Task Force for Assessment Education and The CCSSO FAST SCASS. She began her career in education as a high school English and Theatre teacher, forensics coach, and Theatre Director at Gaithersburg High School in Maryland.

Centering the Experiences and Perspectives of Educational Partners: Five Considerations for Schools and Districts

by

This resource highlights how the importance of centering the experiences and perspectives of all educational stakeholders, especially students and families, is essential for cultivating an effective and cohesive school climate. This resource provides valuable perspectives from high school students and recent graduates on how sharing and centering their experiences is fundamentally important to the overall climate of the school. Educational leaders, including school site administrators, district administrators, and other staff dedicated to improving school climate, can select, adapt, and implement the ideas in this resource to strengthen their efforts in building connections and gathering insights from those they aim to serve.