The purpose of this brief is to define school climate, identify its domains which provides a framework for identifying strategies, and practices; and provides recommendations for assessing school climate.
Environment
Calming Spaces in Schools and Classrooms
As the places where young people spend a significant amount of their lives, schools have an immense opportunity to attend to the social, emotional, and mental health needs of students on a regular basis. Calming spaces can be integrated as part of a school’s comprehensive strategy to provide nurturing environments that foster positive student development and prevent harmful and persistent distress.
This brief describes calming spaces and the potential positive impacts that offering such spaces in schools or classrooms can have on students’ mental health and learning. It features several examples of calming spaces and related resources from California and beyond, provides an explanation of how calming spaces align with other initiatives for supporting student well-being, and offers practical guidance for educators to consider when setting up their own calming spaces.
Co-Designing Culturally Responsive Pedagogy with Tribal Partners (Shasta County Office of Education)
Culturally responsive and sustaining curricula that are by and about historically marginalized ethnic or racial groups are a powerful tool to engage students of color while combating deficit narratives found in mainstream curricula. School leaders can work with local community members in developing learning materials and sharing decision-making to improve school climate while affirming the value of all school community members. In this audiocast, you’ll hear about how Shasta County Office of Education has worked with local tribal members to form an American Indian Advisory group that co-creates lesson plans that celebrate and honor the history, culture, and continuing contributions of Native Americans.
Featured Speakers:
- Judy Flores, Superintendent of Schools
- Kelly Rizzi, Director of School & District Support
- Cindy Hogue, Wintu of Northern California Tribal Member and American Indian Advisory Cultural Consultant, Happy Valley School District 8th Grade Teacher
View the transcript for this audiocast.
Download the Shasta County Office of Education brief.
The Role of Restorative Practices in School Transformation: Centering Relationships and Connection
Restorative practices hold significant promise for school transformation. These practices are characterized by proactive relationships, connection, and community transformation. As such, effective implementation of restorative practices rests not merely on getting the technical aspects right, but far more on attending to the often overlooked adaptive and relational elements that are necessary to achieve authentic, meaningful, and sustainable implementation. This webinar recording will provide educators, school leaders, and district administrators with the strategies, tools, and structures they need to successfully implement restorative practices. The session focused on mindsets, values, social capital, and structural supports that bind and hold together restorative practices and that transform schools into strong communities.
Watch the recorded webinar
Highlighted Resource:
Presenters
Lauren Trout (she/they) is a Program Associate in WestEd’s Resilient and Healthy Schools and Communities content area. Lauren works with schools, communities, and larger education and justice systems to provide training, coaching, and technical support around equity, climate and culture, conflict resolution, and harm prevention. A restorative justice practitioner by profession, Lauren uses restorative theory to shift trauma-informed practice, social-emotional well-being, and relationship-centered learning from being siloed programs into being paradigms, collective values, and guiding principles that inform and are embedded in structures and organizational culture. Lauren specializes in using a restorative justice paradigm to transform systems of power, helping to create climates that are inclusive, safe, and anti-oppressive.
Sandra Azevedo, MA, PPS, is a Coordinator of Continuous Improvement for Butte County Office of Education. She has worked in education for over 25 years supporting special education, Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS), Social & Emotional Learning (SEL), equity efforts, and a leadership network. Sandra has contributed to a number of guides and publications, including Social and Emotional Learning in CA: A Guide to Resources Wiki Wisdom/Beyond Differences report, Advancing SEL Amid a Pandemic and National Awakening to Systemic Racism and the Guidebook for Thrive’s Children’s Resilience Initiative. Sandra is a trainer for Restorative Practices after receiving training through the International Institute of Restorative Practices (IIRP), and she is a steering committee member for her local healing center, ACEs Collaborative, as well as for a multi-county regional ACEs Collaborative.
Toby Espley (she/her) is the Restorative Practices Coordinator at the Orange County Department of Education in Learning Support Services. The focus of her work consists of Restorative Practices, Social Emotional Learning (SEL), Early Childhood Education, and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) within the California Multi-Tiered System of Supports (CAMTSS). With over twenty years of experience in education, Toby continues to bring current research and best practices to support professional development for the PK–12 continuum. She holds a master‘s degree in education and a bachelor’s degree in child development.
Beyond Heroes and Holidays: Expanding Understanding and Practices of Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Approaches
Research shows that culturally responsive and sustaining practices (CRSP) strengthen students’ social and academic well-being. CRSP offer similar benefits for adults’ well-being and performance when the practices are woven into the culture of the school district and school community. Although the importance of belonging and connection is widely known, there is often a disconnect in how these states of mind are actualized through practices and behaviors and how they are experienced by students and staff of color. The absence of feeling valued and heard is one of the primary reasons students feel unsupported and staff of color choose to leave the education field. This session explored asset-based approaches—both at the individual and system levels—that contribute powerfully to a school community in which everyone feels valued, connected, and successful.
Watch the recorded webinar
Highlighted Resources:
Presenters
Erin Browder (she/her) is a Senior Program Associate with WestEd’s Talent Development and Diversity content area. She provides technical assistance and project design for K–12 initiatives related to trauma-informed topics, school improvement, leadership development, social-emotional learning, and culturally responsive and equity-centered approaches that foster safe and supportive schools. Erin brings a diverse skill set to her work, helping schools, districts, and state systems create sustainable change and positive outcomes for students, families, and staff members. She has demonstrated success as an educator and nonprofit leader, creating funding and partnership opportunities among education agencies, healthcare systems, community organizations, and nonprofits across the country.
Alexis Patterson Williams, PhD, is an associate professor in science education at the University of California, Davis, School of Education, who is focused on the intersection of equity studies, social psychology, social justice, and science education. Previously, she worked as an assistant director of an after-school program, a middle school science teacher, and an intervention instructor at an elementary school in Oakland Unified School District. Alexis is passionate about supporting teachers in creating equitable and just classroom and school environments in order to eliminate the disparate experiences students have as well as to reduce the harm students experience at school.
Subscribe to the California Safe and Supportive Schools Newsletter to receive updates on the latest research, resources, policies, and practices related to school climate, safety, and well-being.
