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.
Safety and Wellness
A Community-Based Approach to Student and Family Well-Being (Pajaro Valley Unified School District)
School districts that implement whole-community supports incorporate the needs of families and caregivers in their approach to student well-being. In this audiocast, you’ll hear about how Pajaro Valley Unified School District prioritizes community voice to provide responsive supports that promote multi-generational wellness through their Family Engagement and Wellness Center.
Featured Speakers:
- Dr. Michelle Rodriguez, Superintendent
- Christine (Christy) MacLane, Coordinator of Counseling Programs and Coordinator of PVUSD Family Engagement and Wellness Center
View the transcript for this audiocast.
Download the Pajaro Valley brief.
Post-Disaster Mobilization Toward Healing & Recovery (Paradise Unified School District)
School districts and county offices of education are crucial in responding to the numerous, fluctuating needs that appear in communities experiencing trauma. In this audiocast, you’ll hear about district and countywide response efforts to the tragic wildfire that devastated the small town of Paradise in 2018. These efforts were grounded in a multi-tiered system of support approach to ensure that all school community members had access to counseling and other essential recovery services.
Featured Speakers:
- Carrie Dawes, Administrator on Special Assignment
- Scott Lindstrom, Trauma Response & Recovery Coordinator
View the transcript for this audiocast.
Download the Paradise brief.
School Mental Health Matters: Strengthening Local School Mental Health Systems
Now more than ever
Featuring Dr. Elizabeth Connors:
Dr. Elizabeth Connors is an assistant professor at Yale University in the Division of Prevention and Community Research and at the Child Study Center. She also collaborates with the University of Maryland National Center for School Mental Health, where she is the Director of Quality Improvement and a developer of The SHAPE System. Dr. Connors received her Ph.D. in clinical child and community psychology, and her work focuses on improving access to high-quality mental health promotion and prevention and intervention services and supports for underserved children, adolescents, young adults, and their families in critical access points such as schools.
Hosted by the CA Center for School Climate and Project Cal-Well.
Watch the Webinar Recording
Highlighted Resources
Addressing Mental Health: The Role of Mental Health and Wellness Data in Shaping Student Supports
Stress, anxiety, and chronic sadness increased for students in California during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given this, how can schools use available mental health data to better support students? This recording address this question by discussing the newly released California Department of Education Health Indicator Report, which is available for all districts that administer the California Healthy Kids Survey. Presenters described several of the mental health and wellness indicators that districts can use to strengthen their support services. To highlight what this looks like in practice, staff from Paradise Unified School District shared their experiences using data to educate and support the mental health and well-being of students through the personal and collective trauma associated with the Camp Fire, which destroyed four schools and damaged several others, impacting the entire community.
Watch the recorded webinar
Highlighted Resource:
Presenters
Michael Furlong, PhD is a research professor and a distinguished professor emeritus of school psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He coedited the Handbook of Positive Psychology in Schools: Supporting Process and Practice (2009, 2014, 2022) and collaborates with colleagues on Project Covitality www.covitalityucsb.info, supporting schools’ efforts to foster all students’ social-emotional development.
Tom Hanson, PhD (he/him) serves as a Senior Advisor for the California Center for School Climate. Tom is a Senior Managing Director at WestEd. He has extensive experience in developing and validating survey instruments designed to measure school climate and other outcomes. He is the Director of the California School Climate, Health, & Learning Survey (CalSCHLS), a comprehensive youth risk-behavior and resilience data-collection service available to all California local education agencies. He has served as a principal investigator of multiple large-scale randomized controlled trials and has been lead methodologist for several studies examining the impacts of education interventions.
Scott Lindstrom is co-coordinator of trauma response and recovery for Butte County Office of Education (BCOE) and an advanced trainer of the Nurtured Heart Approach (NHA). He currently coordinates the school-based mental health response to the Camp Fire disaster. Prior to his work with BCOE, he served 30-plus years as a school psychologist and coordinator of student support programs for the Chico Unified School District. In this role, he led the development of a sustained, multitiered support system that served students with school climate; social-emotional learning; restorative practices; positive behavioral interventions and supports; student interventions; and parent supports. For 20 years, Scott served as a trainer and consultant to the California Department of Mental Health for the Early Mental Health Initiative. In addition to his work at BCOE, he offers training and coaching for educators, parents, and mental health professionals in NHA, program development, and trauma-responsive supports.
Carrie Dawes is a 17-year Paradise Unified School District employee in Northern California. The majority of her time has been spent in administration, including as a school principal at the elementary, middle, and high school levels (both comprehensive and continuation). She was the administrator for student services the morning of November 8, 2018, when the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California’s history swept through the town of Paradise and surrounding areas. With her efforts, along with all of the PUSD teachers and staff, 3,401 students were successfully evacuated off the Ridge that morning. The trauma of that day has manifested itself in so many ways for staff, students, and families in the area. After the fire, Carrie became an administrator on special assignment to collaborate with county mental health agencies and to write grants to provide necessary services for the school community. She is honored to be a part of Paradise Unified School District’s commitment to staff and student mental wellness in the aftermath of this disaster.
Harassment and Bullying
How can school communities make sure their environments are free from all forms of aggression and victimization, including harassment, violence, and bullying? This What Works Brief provides school staff with suggestions, including how to:
- Be visible, active, and interested
- Implement and advocate for clear, consistent, and fair behavior management policies, practices, and programs
- Encourage student and community involvement
- Provide conflict resolution education
Developed through the California Safe and Supportive Schools (S3) Grant, What Works Briefs summarize best practices, strategies, and programs for improving school climate. Based on research and grounded in experience, each brief provides practical recommendations for school staff, families, and community members. They are organized into three sections:
- Quick Wins: What Teachers and Adults Can Do Right Now
- Universal Supports: Schoolwide Policies, Practices, and Programs
- Targeted Supports: Intensive Supports for At-Risk Youth
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