Community Partnerships

Diversifying the school-based mental health workforce

alxbclrk@washington.edu — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 19:26:12 +0000

Diversifying the school-based mental health workforce

November 9, 2023

Recruiting and retaining Black men as school psychologists

A student speaks with a school psychologist or counselor. Image source: Shutterstock.

When it comes to university programs offering degrees and credentials for improving mental health in schools, the UW’s School Psychology program provides something unique. “A lot of school psychology programs focus on assessment rather than mental health,” says UW ��ߺ�� Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Janine Jones, Ph.D. “Some are also situated in psychology departments rather than being in Colleges of Education like ours.”

At a time when the mental health of young people is top of mind across the nation, that means they are well-positioned to increase the number of practitioners providing mental health supports in schools.

“Our School Psychology Program offers excellent training in an expanded model that includes supporting the academic and mental well-being of children and adolescents,” says School Psychology Program Director Kristen Missall, Ph.D. “Our school psychology graduates have a 100 percent pass rate on the certification exam and a 100 percent employment rate.”

Our school psychology graduates have a 100 percent pass rate on the certification exam and a 100 percent employment rate.

Not only that, but the program has long worked to be culturally responsive and has intentionally worked in partnership with Seattle Public Schools (SPS). So, when Jones and Missall heard about a new grant opportunity from the U.S. Department of Education focused on increasing the number and diversity of high-quality, trained providers available to address a shortage of mental health service professionals in schools, they knew they had to apply.

Solving a widespread problem

They were awarded a $1.6 million grant last spring to support their project. A partnership between the UW School Psychology program and SPS, the effort focuses on recruiting and retaining Black men as part of the program’s larger cohort earning their postgraduate professional degrees as educational specialists in school psychology.

Over the five years of the grant, the UW School Psychology Program will train and graduate 12 Black male school psychologists into employment at SPS, which will increase their school psychology workforce to be 20% Black males. “The transformation is extraordinarily important and unique,” says Missall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1R_QKmvjxg

A 2022 article published by NPR, “Few Black Men Become School Psychologists, Here’s Why That Matters,” pinpoints the problem the project seeks to address. School psychologists provide a range of mental health and academic services in schools, including assessing a student for a disability. According to a National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) survey, the make-up of school psychologists doesn’t match student demographics. While 85 percent of school psychologists are white, more than 50 percent of students identify as a race other than white. Further, Black children, especially boys, have been disproportionately referred in schools for special education services, in addition to disproportionate disciplinary actions against them and involvement by the police.

“This program is disrupting traditional patterns and biases,” says Jones. “It will offer a tremendous value to children, schools and communities related to mental health and wellness.” The program also aligns with the SPS strategic plan focused on “disrupting the legacies of racism in our educational system.”

This program is disrupting traditional patterns and biases. It will offer a tremendous value to children, schools and communities related to mental health and wellness.

Sparking a national movement

While the number of Black school psychologists in U.S. public schools is still less than 1 percent (according to an estimate by NASP), Jones and Missall are excited that this project will dramatically increase that percentage at SPS. They are also seeing some promising momentum at the national level.

About a year ago, the Black School Psychologists Network formed, and in April of 2023, the organization held its inaugural conference. “I thought there would only be about 150 people there,” says Jones, describing how the field still has a long way to go but also how many more practitioners of color there are now than when she began practicing over 20 years ago. “About 500 people came, and there were so many people that I knew who were missing. It was an incredible event.”

The new network also supports their project. “We’re developing a list of mentors,” Jones says. “Cohort members can connect to people who share their identity and professional field, starting now and becoming part of their professional lives long-term.”

The first cohort of Black male students started in the fall of 2023. While the School Psychology program already focused on recruiting diverse candidates, this effort furthers that trend to everyone’s benefit. “Our school psychology graduate cohorts are about 47 percent racially diverse, on average, and it’s exciting to continue to increase diversity and to have meaningful conversations that reflect everyone’s lived experience,” says Missall.

While the Department of Education funding for this effort is time-limited, the momentum for this kind of change is not. “I’m dreaming that even after this funding ends, our program will be seen as a safe home and will continue to draw people that have not traditionally applied,” says Jones. That’s great, because the schools, students and their communities are ready and waiting.

Contact

Charleen Wilcox

Director for Marketing & Communications

wilcoxc@uw.edu

Recognizing the Experts

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 03:45:10 +0000

Recognizing the Experts

December 19, 2022

Photo courtesy of Cultivate Learning

A child care director when the pandemic hit, Denise Ellenwood got a call from her early learning coach about Early Achievers, Washington State's voluntary quality improvement program.

Her center wasn't signed up for the program. Even with the dollars that came with participation, money that could help families pay for child care and staff pay for continuing education, her board of directors had said no. As a faith-based organization, they feared it would make them too much like every other center. Still, Early Achievers was calling Ellenwood to check in.

"At a time when we didn't have anyone in our corner, the coach asked us what we needed and then provided sanitizer, masks and resources," she says. Over time and with continued interactions, Ellenwood learned about a transformation in progress, a reimagining that would replace the Early Achievers rating system with something entirely different: self-directed recognition and improvement.

"This strength-based approach, focused on the uniqueness of early learning providers, whether faith-based or multi-cultural or something else, excited me," says Ellenwood. She was so impressed that even though she loved her current position as director, she eventually decided to leave and become an early learning coach. Now she works to bring others the support and momentum for growth that she needed when she was in their position.

"I also love for parents to have more options to choose what environment they want for their children," she says. "For example, I'm Native American, and there's a Salish immersion school. That makes my heart so happy that in an urban setting, not on the reservation, Native American families that live in the city have access to this unique school."

Becoming One Team

"During the pandemic, we had the opportunity to adjust and adapt quickly in partnership, to shake the sheets," says Sandy Maldonado, director of Early Learning at Child Care Aware of Washington.

"The state opened up the opportunity to innovate and talked to us about options," says Juliet Taylor, deputy director at Cultivate Learning, a ��ߺ�� organization advancing early childhood education by bridging theory and practice.

Child Care Aware of Washington and Cultivate Learning work under contract with the Washington State Department of Children, Youth & Families (DCYF) to support providers in the Early Achievers program. In a coordinated way, Cultivate Learning collects data, supports professional development and training, maintains learning frameworks, and leads ongoing evaluation and research alongside Child Care Aware of Washington who oversees the relationship-based services (coaching, training, mental health consulting, and family services), and supports systems development and implementation.

We wanted to collaboratively hold the torch for high quality, especially at a time of great ambiguity due to the pandemic.

Child Care Aware and Cultivate Learning and their respective teams of coaches, researchers and data collectors had ideas on rethinking the program. They also saw an opportunity to review and rework what might be duplicative across teams. So, when the state invited them to individually present options, they instead decided to prepare one joint proposal. “We wanted to collaboratively hold the torch for high quality, especially at a time of great ambiguity due to the pandemic,” says Taylor.

Amid the social upheaval, racial reckoning and the pandemic's inequitable impact especially felt in early child care, the joint proposal included revising Early Achievers around a racial equity framework and theory of change that put providers in the driver's seat.

When the state approved their proposal, a new collaborative journey began. "When the crisis in child care staffing hit rock bottom, we rallied together: higher education, community-based organizations, and a state department,” says Maldonado. “We committed to an equity lens and also a lens of complexity as we began testing a liberatory design approach. It has been hard work and delightful to co-create conditions for inclusion, show up as our true selves — me, as a Latino leader — and find both a collective sense of belonging and inspiring ways forward."

Not only that, but the state expanded the program to include providers caring for children up to age 12, opening the way to support more children over a more extended period.

A New Process to Celebrate Strengths

DeEtta Simmons, senior director at Cultivate Learning, describes the context leading up to this moment. Washington state's Early Achievers had started ten years earlier as a small quality rating and improvement system. These systems were cropping up across the nation after Oklahoma created the first Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) in the late 1980s. Twenty years later, the new systems had evolved to be more comprehensive. They sought to increase wages and family choice under an overarching banner of quality. By the time the pandemic hit, many states had adopted and scaled quality systems with money from Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge grants.

"Before the pandemic, we had a diverse team of data collectors who would observe the early care and education being provided in every licensed care facility in the state,” says Gail Joseph, UW professor of Learning Sciences and Human Development and the founding executive director of Cultivate Learning. “Then we would use that information to catalyze policy and programmatic improvements such as increased access to professional development and resources for providers."

The program had many positive aspects, including learning and critical infrastructure that developed along the way. This included multi-lingual data collectors and a robust network of full-time coaches employed all over Washington state by Child Care Aware.

What is quality, and how do we define it?

While they could build on existing strengths, the program also needed an overhaul. "The way the program evolved, people felt that raters were coming to find the things they were doing wrong," says Simmons. "That's never what we intended. We're here to honor and recognize people's great work."

"What is quality, and how do we define it?" asks Joseph. "The tools we were using to measure represented a narrow way of thinking of early childhood quality, and we had come to understand that they weren't reliably predictive of child outcomes." One of the consequences was the way that a single set of measures encouraged homes to be more like mini centers. "It was a process of standardizing family childcare, getting rid of what's special," says Joseph.

Alternatively, the new approach would begin by understanding and celebrating providers' existing and unique strengths. First, though, providers needed a lifeline during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Early Achievers coaches started by reaching out.

Designed by and for Providers

"Before the pandemic, we were so focused on the pedagogical piece that we forgot the business piece," says Maldonado. So, when in-person site visits and data collection paused in March 2020, coaches called over 3000 providers weekly for the next six months. They asked if sites were still open, how staffing was, what vacancies they had, and what they needed regarding health and safety support. Then they shared resources and available funding. That was one of the calls Ellenwood received that would change her career path.

"We're stepping into this next chapter with a better understanding of what early learning business owners need to feel like they are thriving in their business, connecting to resources around systems," says Maldonado.

We're stepping into this next chapter with a better understanding of what early learning business owners need to feel like they are thriving in their business, connecting to resources around systems.

After the first six months, Child Care Aware and Cultivate Learning gathered in working groups, including providers, coaches, partners and other agencies, to develop a new system. "Before, providers were put on a train and sent down the track," says Simmons. "Now, the provider is the conductor, and they decide when they want to do the components and what they want to be recognized for."

After two and a half years of deep collaboration, the program's components look entirely different. A provider-driven program profile and video portfolio have replaced the one-shot standardized assessments of the past. Providers receive data reports along the way that can be used to set goals and create action plans with their coach.

Growing Shared Confidence

As part of trusting the program, providers must trust their coaches. Having been a coach in the past, Maldonado understands the importance of the position. "Child Care Aware takes great pride in hiring coaches from within the community, serving the communities in which they live," she says. "Many are bilingual and bicultural and are professionals that step into the full-time role having lived experience as an early child care provider. As the heart of Early Achievers, coaches provide transformational relationship-based services.”

"We appreciate how now it's more provider focused instead of a third party telling us this is what to do and how to do it," says Kayley Billington, director of the Kirkland Children's School, who signed up and became an early adopter of the program in the spring of 2022. "If we need to enhance our diversity, communication with parents, or interaction at circle time, then we will film during those times, and our coach will work with us on what they see."

The use of videos in the process gives some providers pause, but Billington understands the benefits from recently having done the same thing as a student in the ��ߺ��'s Early Care and Education program (ECE). "It's one of the most impactful ways of growing teachers in our field," she says. She describes the process of watching herself, reflecting on what opportunities she missed and how she can do better, and seeing comments from a coach and her peers. While she acknowledges that it was nerve-racking in the beginning, it quickly became familiar and a tremendous tool for development.

Ellenwood agrees. "I went through UW's coaching certificate," she says. "I didn't like being on camera at first, but it helped me reflect on my practice and improve." The coaching certificate, a credit-earning opportunity for coaches to learn best practices, is another way that Cultivate Learning supports Early Achievers. By offering opportunities for coaches to view and reflect on their practice via video review, they are better prepared to support providers.

"We can see a million different things about quality in these video clips," says Joseph. "It's a shift from 'gotcha' monitoring to providers engaging in their own quality improvement process and having it validated."

Not only that, but the program connects providers to resources they may not even know they need, like access to a mental health provider who can offer children, teachers and families additional resources and knowledge.

In addition to supporting provider growth, this effort also shines a light on the stress points of the early childhood field. Large sweeping changes are needed to ensure adequate compensation for a job that does no less than support the next generation during one of its most critical stages of development. Additionally, parents need equitable access to safe, affordable, culturally diverse programs for their developing children.

"It's larger than what we can do," says Ellenwood. "But we can be part of this change by amplifying the voices of providers and the needs of children and families. We are connected to a big support system, and we can be a big advocate for change."

"We're also excited to share this nationally," says Taylor. "Other systems have similar challenges and an interest in promoting equitable systems. There are endless opportunities for how we can learn from each other."

Contact

Charleen Wilcox

Director for Marketing & Communications

wilcoxc@uw.edu

Introducing cohort five of Unite:ED's Community Partner Fellows program

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 03:45:10 +0000

Introducing cohort five of Unite:ED's Community Partner Fellows program

November 22, 2022

Unite:Ed Director Dana Arviso (front row center, right) poses with students from the fourth and fifth cohorts of Unite:Ed's Community Partner Fellows program in autumn 2022.

For the 2022-23 academic year, eight doctoral students at the UW ��ߺ�� were selected as members of the fifth cohort of Unite:Ed's Community Partner Fellows program. The program supports the development of the next generation of education researchers and scholars while at the same time supporting the work of community-based organizations dedicated to closing opportunity gaps in education. Members of the fifth cohort are Apolonio Pablo Hernandez, Ari Hock, Susan Hou, James King, Yale Quan, Palmy Chomchat Silarat, Kiana Smith and Chengmiao Xu.

"The Community Partner Fellows program uses an effective model for doing community-based work with real impact," Unite:Ed Director Dana Arviso shares. "The program provides outstanding opportunities for doctoral students to apply what they learn in the classroom to addressing educational inequities in the field, and simultaneously bolsters the capacity of nonprofit organizations in our community. This is truly a winning partnership for everyone involved."

Read more about each of the fellows below.

Apolonio Pablo Hernandez

Program: Teaching, Learning and Instruction
Advisor: Dr. Filiberto Barajas
Research interests: Indigenous Education
Community organization: Treehouse

How does your work as a Community Partner Fellow contribute to your professional and/or personal journey?

The Community Partner Fellows program has contributed to my professional and personal journey in a number of different ways. In an attempt to keep this brief, but wanting to give an example of both, let me start with my personal story. I want to begin by saying the Western model failed me, but that is not the focus for my response. I’d like to share a familial story within the community context. As I’m continually reflecting on how I come into all spaces in which knowledge is being honored, I recognize I am a guest on these lands. Wanting to come in as a good relative with all of the relations I come in contact with. Being taught from an Indigenous paradigm has been the greatest gift that I’ve been honored with receiving in this lifetime. It has taught me to reconnect to knowledges I’ve felt innately connected to. Learning from ancestors, elders and traditional knowledge holders has also taught me how to reimagine my Indigenous identity as a form of resistance while in diaspora. Professionally, the program has taught me to fine tune my transdisciplinary optic in intentional ways. Focusing on equity, justice and inclusion in accessible ways, with the hopes of breaking down barriers. I have more recently been policy focused on diversity, equity and inclusion across recruiting, hiring and on-boarding policy practices.

Ari Hock

Program: Learning Sciences and Human Development
Advisor: Dr. Katie Headrick Taylor
Research interests: Participatory design research, learning across settings and filmic inquiry
Community organization: Center for Evaluation Research for STEM Equity (CERSE)

What have you learned so far through your work with the community organization you've been paired with?

At CERSE, I have had the opportunity to support both k-12 science educators and professional scientists who are committed to infusing diversity, equity and inclusion in every aspect of their work. And if I had to summarize what I’ve learned in two words: It’s complicated! Schools and the professional societies of scientists are both deeply embedded in inequitable systems, and transforming that takes effort and ingenuity. Every day I am inspired by the people who are going against the grain to create more just learning ecologies — in schools and beyond.

Susan Hou

Program: Learning Sciences and Human Development
Advisor: Dr. Niral Shah
Research interests: Learning in social movements and organizing, racialization in the U.S. and Taiwan, affect/emotion and land justice movements in Taiwan
Community organization: Washington STEM

How does your work as a Community Partner Fellow contribute to your professional and/or personal journey?

I started learning and working as a Fellow with Washington STEM in autumn 2021. While I'm still new to the organization and familiarizing myself with the many important projects here, I've focused on qualitatively analyzing data related to race to advocate for racial justice in childcare and K-12, particularly for Black and Indigenous communities in the Greater Seattle area. So far, I've learned about how humility and flexibility in nonprofit organizations are possible, especially since Washington STEM works alongside communities and collaborates on more than just STEM issues. While Washington STEM has centered justice as a core value, their work has been dynamic and they have adapted to community needs as well as the many realities of racial justice work. This particular quality reminds me of my own research work on how people learn anti-racism and decolonization. This learning journey is ever-changing, adapting and continuing. We never comfortably arrive at an “anti-racist” destination but we continue on with our communities in mind. With that, I'm excited to continue my journey with Washington STEM and continue learning about the connections between research and impact.

James King

Program: Mathematics Education; Teaching, Learning and Curriculum
Advisor: Drs. Elham Kazemi and Niral Shah
Research interests: Black learners in mathematics classrooms
Community organization: James will be matched with a community organization in 2023.

What is your vision for the kind of impact you'd like to make through your research and/or work in the community?

I want my research to change how Black learners are treated in mathematics classrooms. I want them to look at math classrooms as a place to harbor and spread joy. I am currently a research assistant on a project where we are investigating how leadership can integrate antiracist practices into schools' core teaching and learning work that allows for racially just, ambitious mathematical spaces. What I enjoy most about teaching is helping students grasp their mathematical identities, whether that comes in the way of confidence built over time through numerous problem-solving situations or their own understanding of mathematics deepening. Teaching is fulfilling to me when I help students believe that they are mathematicians.

Yale Quan

Program: Measurement and Statistics
Advisor: Dr. Chun Wang
Research interests: Development and implementation of psychometric models including longitudinal Item Response Theory and the use of machine learning algorithms in psychometrics
Community organization: Equal Opportunity Schools

What inspires or motivates you when it comes to your research and/or work in the field?

I love being a researcher because I enjoy learning and truly believe that my research can make a difference in how psychometrics is used in driving education policy through data informed decisions. One of my guiding research motivations is this question: Are we measuring what we think we are measuring and is there a better way to do it? I want to ensure that the instruments we use to collect education data are accurately measuring the traits we want to study, and that the psychometric and statistical methods we are using to analyze this data produce reliable results. I am also driven by a desire to develop new methodologies to answer questions about equity in educational measurement.

Palmy Chomchat Silarat

Program: Learning Sciences and Human Development
Advisor: Dr. David Knight
Research interests: Diverse learning styles and abilities, instrument invention for capturing diverse learning abilities
Community organization: Washington STEM

How does your work as a Community Partner Fellow contribute to your professional and/or personal journey?

As a fellow, I get hands-on opportunities to develop tools and contribute to on-going community-based projects that impact students' lives throughout Washington. My professional and personal aim is to make community-based impacts through data gathering, analysis and reports. Therefore, what I am currently doing is exactly what I dreamed of doing.

What is your vision for the kind of impact you'd like to make through your research and/or work in the community?

I would like to develop a standardized tool (measurement, survey, dashboards) that can help streamline the process of assisting students of diverse learning abilities and goals to obtain credentials for employment. My vision was not too vivid prior to becoming a CPF fellow but being exposed to these opportunities, my vision became clearer.

What have you learned so far through your work with the community organization you've been paired with?

I learned to connect the philosophical theory and knowledge content to actionable plans and execution. I am so incredibly thankful for the opportunities to not only understand the issues and barriers in education but also utilize my technical skills to combat them. My thought process is more efficient after learning from Washington STEM staff and leadership.

What inspires or motivates you when it comes to your research and/or work in the field?

People who take action to solve problems motivate me.

Kiana Smith

Program: Culturally Sustaining Education
Advisor: Drs. Shaneé Washington and Ann Ishimaru
Research interests: Indigenous ways of knowing, decolonizing education and supporting Indigenous student pathways
Community organization: Kiana will be matched with a community organization in 2023.

What is your vision for the kind of impact you'd like to make through your research and/or work in the community?

As an Iñupiaq scholar, I am specifically interested in working with, in and/or among Tribal Nations. I envision myself working to support communities and schools that serve Native students to improve the educational experience of our Indigenous youth. I am committed to ensuring that equitable learning experiences and opportunities are in place for students and communities. I am also interested in the involvement of projects that cultivate healing and decolonization in education.

What inspires or motivates you when it comes to your research and/or work in the field?

As an Indigenous educator and prior public school student in what we know as Washington, I feel especially inspired to serve students and communities like my own. Growing up apart from my community, in Alaska and in an urban setting, was both challenging and uplifting. I find inspiration in the idea of making a difference for all the little Kianas — the Native kids who deserve to be seen and to feel represented and loved.

Chengmiao Xu

Program: Learning Sciences and Human Development
Advisor: Dr. Soojin Park
Research interests: Language practices and cultivation of home literacy and language environments promoting children's bilingual and biliteracy development in immigrant families
Community organization: Boys & Girls Clubs of King County (BGCKC)

What is your vision for the kind of impact you'd like to make through your research and/or work in the community?

I hope to contribute to BGCKC’s projects by applying my knowledge of youth development and (both qualitative & quantitative) methodological skills I’ve gained through my coursework and work in multiple research projects over years. First, I want to assist with collecting and analyzing youth feedback to understand their experiences in the programs, and ultimately, create recommendations for the program quality improvement based on youth voice. Second, I want to develop surveys for youth and staff in regard to the summer social-emotional learning curriculum to understand the program’s effectiveness.

What inspires or motivates you when it comes to your research and/or work in the field?

Some of the most profound lessons about child development came from conversations I had with low-income and immigrant children attending a public school in Philadelphia. As both a mentor and a researcher in Dr. Michael Nakkula’s Possibility Project, I worked closely with two girls and learned of their experiences as Chinese immigrant students who faced a myriad of problems – such as separation from their undocumented parents, low parental involvement, and lingual barriers in the K-12 setting. These issues extended to their academic performance, social-emotional development, and well-being. From this experience, I felt an enormous responsibility to reduce educational disparities and help disadvantaged children grow and thrive. My concerns about educational equity and optimal child development inspire me to devote my career to research.

Listening for the Fullness of the Student Experience

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 03:45:10 +0000

Listening for the Fullness of the Student Experience

October 27, 2022

“How do we allow our students to be their true, authentic selves?”

That’s the question on the mind of Grandview School District’s assistant superintendent of teaching and learning, Jose Rivera, who is at the forefront of intentionally listening to student stories and experiences to guide leadership practices. This work of centering student experience was started in Grandview during the 2019-20 school year, using tools created by the ��ߺ�� Center for Educational Leadership (CEL), and continues to this day.

“In order for us to do that, we need to honor their lived experiences, their languages, their cultures, their ethnicities, their sexual orientations, their gender identities…everything that makes them who they are needs to be valued and uplifted,” continues Rivera.

While CEL works with school leaders across the country, their work with student experience in central Washington's Grandview School District, located in the Yakima Valley, is proving first-hand how leveraging student voice and belonging can create more equitable leadership practices and educational systems with improved outcomes for all students.

Working with school and district leaders in the Yakima Valley

CEL’s work in the Yakima Valley spans back to its inception in 2001. Formerly the Lower Valley Superintendent Network, the South Central Washington Instructional Improvement Network was established by local superintendents and Education Service District 105 and is facilitated by CEL as a network of district and school leaders that share learning around instructional leadership and best practices.

“It was a desert in Washington state,” says Kevin Chase, superintendent of Educational Service District 105. “There wasn’t a lot of system-wide instructional support coming out of any university, especially in the Yakima Valley. To have CEL available was a big thing for us. Even to this day, I can’t point to an institution in this state that does the work that CEL does. It has been a breath of fresh air for 20 years."

To have CEL available was a big thing for us. Even to this day, I can't point to an institution in this state that does the work that CEL does.

It’s within that network that Grandview School District started working with CEL, specifically using the center’s Student Experience Story Guide, one of the many learning tools and frameworks CEL has developed to help guide and inform school leadership practices. “Working with CEL, they took their work around equity to a deeper level in elevating student voice,” says Henry Strom, superintendent of Grandview School District. “That really caught our attention here in Grandview.”

“CEL was founded on a deep sense of equity, social justice and racial justice. From the onset, CEL has always been focused on helping leaders in schools and district central offices to develop the expertise and the skills they need to lead for equity,” says Max Silverman, executive director of CEL. “We have committed to working in ways that center students, and help leaders center students, and we’ve found that the field has the research but doesn’t have the tools to enact the research. So, that’s what CEL does. We take what researchers have said make a difference and create the tools and professional learning for leaders to actually center students in their own professional growth.”

CEL bridges research and practice through leadership-focused frameworks, professional learning services and partnerships with school system leaders. Their work started with K-12 districts in Washington state and has expanded over time to impact central office leaders, school leaders, instructional coaches and teacher leaders in school systems across the United States.

Asking the right questions

One of the many ways CEL is centering students and their experiences, is through the Student Experience Story Guide, a tool that strengthens how leaders actively listen to students and empowers students to tell their stories about their school experiences. This Story Guide was designed with the help of students to support leaders in understanding that when they’re talking to students, they are intentionally seeking their stories, not just trying to validate what adults want to hear.

The tool helps leaders ask simple questions like, “Who are the heroes and who are the villains at school?” or prompts students with open-ended statements like “Tell me about a good day at school” or “Tell me about a bad day at school.” When presented in this way, it gives K-12 students the opportunity and freedom to talk about their experiences and helps leaders understand their own biases while listening to student stories.

“Just the fact that we’re asking kids, I think is a momentous step, because a lot of the time we do things to people and to kids, but when we give them voice and choice, they’re empowered,” says Grandview’s Rivera. “We don’t just collect the data, we use the data to make decisions.”

Grandview School District worked with students to better align CEL’s Student Experience Story Guide to the Grandview student population and their needs by adjusting the questions and prompts based on student feedback, as well as explain to students how their responses would be used. “Once students feel safe and they feel that we’re going to do something with their stories, they’ll be themselves,” says Rivera.

Grandview even created student summits and invited students who participated in the listening sessions to analyze the responses and asked them “What comes to mind?” “What are you noticing?” “What are you wondering?” which led to fruitful conversations between students and leadership.

The stories that students share express the fullness of their identities and that's not something you can get from a survey.

“The stories that students share express the fullness of their identities and that’s not something you can get from a survey,” says CEL’s Silverman. “Behind every piece of data, there’s a deeper story. It’s only through the stories that you understand the fullness of each data point.” Silverman also says that this work is “more than just holding a forum to listen to students and families – it’s about having a practice that allows for hearing complex stories, being curious beyond just numbers and data and creating systems for meaningful change. That is really difficult but impactful work.”

Not only does listening to student stories and their experiences instigate change, but it also guides change and helps leaders understand, much differently from research, what needs to happen in their schools or school systems.

“When you read from research, for example, that students who don’t have a sense of belonging in your schools don’t do as well as students who have a sense of belonging, that is helpful,” says Silverman. “But when leaders talk to students and hear what it feels like to not belong and to hear the barriers that schools and school systems have in place that prevent students from belonging, leaders act upon that more readily and more appropriately than if they were just acting on research alone. By centering students and their experiences, it creates an authentic context for leadership and a critical lens into what’s happening.”

Fostering student belonging in Grandview School District

“Initially when we proposed the Student Experience Story Guide questions to our administration team, they said that the questions needed to be more specific,” says Rivera. “CEL really guided us around not asking the questions you already know the answers to. Students are really good at discerning what you want to hear, but when you pose a question that is opened ended with no clear answer, it allows students the opportunity to be their authentic selves and share their truths transparently and honestly.”

With a student population of about 93% Latinx students, 30% English learners, 10% migrant students and 84% low income in the 2021-22 school year, Grandview leadership was intentional about meeting with students from all different backgrounds and experiences.

“CEL guided us around having an equity lens in this work, making sure we had an accurate representation of our student body, not just asking our students in leadership positions who are traditionally the most popular or well-resourced,” says Rivera. “Let’s talk to our ELL students, let’s talk to our homeless students, let’s talk to our migrant students…we were intentional about hearing all voices and perspectives of our student body which was really powerful.”

One major takeaway from their first year of student conversations was a consistent theme around bullying. This included many examples of in-person, cyber and adult-to-student bullying. These conversations provided the necessary and eye-opening data for Grandview leadership to place a greater focus on their culture of belonging and honoring kids’ identities and dignity.

During these conversations about bullying, cell phones were coming up a lot for students which prompted Grandview district leadership and the school board to revise their telecommunications policy. They worked with administrators, principals, parents and the community to modify their policy to ensure that all cell phones across the system should not be seen or heard on school grounds. “Some students said that they wear their hoods or masks because they don’t want to be photographed at school by their peers and put on social media,” says Rivera. “If we hadn’t asked kids, that wouldn’t have come to light unless it was through the discipline route.”

We really doubled down on developing a culture of belonging through dignity and an understanding that belonging comes before achievement.

“We really doubled down on developing a culture of belonging through dignity and an understanding that belonging comes before achievement,” says Rivera, “We really want to focus on the social-emotional aspects of learning and creating safe environments for students to be their authentic selves and honoring students’ identity, genius and brilliance every day.” Modifying their telecommunications policy was just one step toward making students feel safe at school. And, based on student feedback, it’s working. Grandview is seeing fewer instances of bullying, especially with cell phones, than in previous years.

During their conversations with high school students, they also noticed a recurring theme around the return to the classroom after COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. Students were questioning why they had to return to the classroom when they could accomplish the same tasks at home. Some students even mentioned that it felt like they were still participating virtually, just in-person, because all their work was on their laptops. However, other students felt the opposite and liked working remotely and getting their work done with less interaction. That prompted district leadership to have conversations with principals and instructional coaches to work with educators about finding the right balance of computer work and educator and peer-to-peer interaction. “There’s power in asking the end user in education – our students,” says Rivera.

Not only do students have a better sense of belonging at school, but academic outcomes have improved as well. In the 2018-19 school year, the four-year graduation rate was 85.3%. In the 2020-21 school year, that number increased to 93.7%. Grandview is also seeing steady growth in their ELA and math proficiency scores, especially for their Hispanic/Latinx students. While COVID-19 and remote learning caused a dip in these scores state and nationwide, district leadership is confident they’ll continue to improve outcomes for all students.

“In education, we’ve tried to fit everyone into a one-size-fits-all box and they simply don’t fit in it. It doesn’t work,” says Rivera “It’s about getting to know that unique learner, the individual student and honoring their brilliance, genius and lived experiences. If we can do that for every kid, we can get a lot of kids across the finish line.”

Grandview district leadership’s next step is to start working with principals to have these regular conversations with their students and step back and observe the different school communities and the changes being made because of these student stories. As they prepare for school leaders to take on this important work, Grandview district leadership remains committed to creating school environments where every student feels like they belong.

“When the ��ߺ�� is affirming your work, it’s very gratifying. That helps to motivate me, to take more risks, to be a little bolder,” says superintendent Strom. “I appreciate their continuing push for public education, envisioning where we’re going and what kids need.”

Source, graduation rate data: Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction Grandview School District Report Card

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