Creating Safe, Equitable, Engaging Schools: A Comprehensive, Evidence-Based Approach to Supporting Students

Safe and supportive school communities foster students’ social, emotional, and academic needs. Educators want actionable strategies and practices to ensure that all students can access equitable learning environments. Creating Safe, Equitable, Engaging Schools helps school leaders make sense of the various evidence-based resources and frameworks designed to support the whole child. Addressing critical topics like restorative practices, cultural responsiveness, social and emotional learning, and family engagement, this volume offers insights on how leaders can leverage school-based teams to assess student needs and select appropriate interventions.

By taking a continuous improvement approach, Creating Safe, Equitable, Engaging Schools integrates the collective wisdom of 31 AIR experts and seven external contributors. This volume includes chapters (listed below, with links to related tools from each) to help educators and leaders.

• build the capacity of their staff to lead and implement their work with passion, enthusiasm, and efficiency;
• engage the strengths of all school stakeholders;
• implement strong foundational supports which address diverse student and educator needs; and
• monitor implementation efforts using evidence from improvement science.

Part I. Build Capacity

Chapter 1: Building Readiness and Capacity
Chapter 2: Leading, Coordinating, and Managing for Equity with Excellence
Chapter 3: Guiding and Planning Improvement for Equity with Excellence
Chapter 4: Selecting the Right Programs, Strategies, and Approaches
Chapter 5: Funding a Comprehensive Community Approach

Part II. Engage

Chapter 6: The Centrality of Cultural Competence and Responsiveness
Chapter 7: Engaging Students in Creating Safe, Equitable, and Excellent Schools
Chapter 8: Partnering with Families
Chapter 9: Partnering with Communities
Chapter 10: Out-of-School-Time Programs

Part III. Act

Chapter 11: Building a Schoolwide Foundation for Social-Emotional and Academic Support
Chapter 12: Building and Restoring School Communities
Chapter 13: Creating Respectful and Inclusive Schools
Chapter 14: Multitiered Systems of Support
Chapter 15: Selective Strategies
Chapter 16: Indicated Strategies
Chapter 17: Social and Emotional Learning Matters
Chapter 18: Educators Matter
Chapter 19: Academic Interventions—Use with Care

Part IV. Improve

Chapter 20: Continuous Improvement

Tools Referenced in Creating Safe, Equitable, Engaging Schools, by Chapter

Part I. Build Capacity

Chapter 1: Building Readiness and Capacity
David Osher
 

Chapter 2: Leading, Coordinating, and Managing for Equity with Excellence
Catherine Barbour, Jason LaTurner, and David Osher

• Safe, Supportive, and Successful Schools: Step by Step - A toolkit to help schools design, coordinate, and evaluate efforts to improve schools
   

Chapter 3: Guiding and Planning Improvement for Equity with Excellence
Catherine Barbour, Jason LaTurner, and David Osher

• Addressing the Root Causes of Disparities in School Discipline: An Educator’s Action Planning Guide (PDF) - An action guide designed to help school administrators address school climate issues and persistent challenges related to school discipline
• Communities That Care - A website that provides tools for identifying risk and protective factors
• Youth.gov - A website that can be used to map federally funded assets in your community
• Community Tool Box - A website that provides tools to help identify community resources
   

Chapter 4: Selecting the Right Programs, Strategies, and Approaches
David Osher and Allison Dymnicki

• The What Works Clearinghouse - A website with reviews on programs, products, practices, and policies in education
• Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development - A website providing information to help easily identify evidence-based programs for youth
• CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning) Program Guides: Effective Social and Emotional Learning Programs - A guide that describes a framework for evaluating the quality of social and emotional learning (SEL) programs and identifies high-quality, evidence-based SEL programs
• The Hexagon Tool: Exploring Context (PDF) - A tool that helps states, districts, and schools evaluate new and existing interventions
• AERA’s Standards for Research Conduct - A reference offering quality criteria for types of evidence in research
   

Chapter 5: Funding a Comprehensive Community Approach
Frank Rider, Elizabeth V. Freeman, Aaron R. Butler, Sara Wraight, and David Osher

• State Funding for Student Mental Health - A March 2021 brief from the Education Commission of the States that explores and describes common sources of funding that states use to support K-12 school-based mental health programming
• America's School Mental Health Report Card (PDF) - A February 2022 report from the Hopeful Futures Campaign
• The Grantsmanship Center - A website that offers lists of the top foundation funders in each state, with links to top giving foundations, community foundations, and corporate giving programs
• Healthy Schools Campaign Resource Center - A website that provides tools to help schools make healthy changes
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/Nemours Roadmap of Medicaid Prevention Pathways - A road map demonstrating how Medicaid agencies can partner with schools to deliver prevention services

Funding Resources Dedicated to COVID-19 Pandemic Relief

• American Rescue Plan, Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief - Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, U.S. Department of Education (retrieved February 2022)
• An Unparalleled Investment in U.S. Public Education: Analysis of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 - A March 2021 blog post from the Learning Policy Institute

Medicaid

• State Efforts to Implement the Free Care Policy Reversal - Healthy Schools Campaign
• Map: School Medicaid Programs - Healthy Schools Campaign
• What You Need to Know About Early and Periodic Screening -  Diagnosis and Treatment [EPSDT] (PDF)
• EPSDT, A Guide for States: Coverage in the Medicaid Benefit for Children and Adolescents
• Guide to Telehealth Reimbursement in Each State - Secure Telehealth
   

Part II. Engage

Chapter 6: The Centrality of Cultural Competence and Responsiveness
Karen Francis and David Osher

• Cultural and Linguistic Competence Policy Assessment (PDF) - An assessment used to support organizations in their efforts to improve cultural and linguistic competence (also provides a summary of strengths and areas of growth for strategic planning and quality improvement)
• Addressing the Root Causes of Disparities in School Discipline: An Educator’s Action Planning Guide (PDF) - An action guide for school administrators to address school climate issues and persistent challenges related to school discipline
   

Chapter 7: Engaging Students in Creating Safe, Equitable, and Excellent Schools
Robert V. Mayo and David Osher

• Strengthening Communities Through Youth Participation - A report describing the findings from the Assets Coming Together (ACT) for Youth program, a positive youth development initiative that focuses on helping change community structure and culture to support youth
• Youth Participatory Evaluation - A website providing information about Youth Participatory Evaluation, an approach that promotes youth evaluation of programs, organizations, and the systems that serve them
• Community Programs to Promote Youth Development - A journal article reviewing Community Programs to Promote Youth Development (Jacquelynne S. Eccles and Jennifer Appleton Gootman, eds., Landover, MD: National Academies Press, 2002), a book by the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine
   

Chapter 8: Partnering with Families
Lacy Wood, Trina Osher, and David Osher

• What Is APTT? (PDF) - A guide that explains Academic Parent-Teacher Teams and includes links to more information
• Partners in Education: A Dual Capacity-Building Framework for Family–School Partnerships (PDF) - A guide created to help schools and districts improve family engagement and cultivate and sustain positive relationships with families
• Parent Teacher Home Visits: Toolbox of Best Practices - A website providing resources for educators, families, and communities to support the implementation of home-visit programs
   

Chapter 9: Partnering with Communities
Vanessa Coleman and David Osher

• Participatory Asset Mapping: A Community Research Lab Toolkit (PDF) - A toolkit for applying participatory asset mapping to improve organizational knowledge (about community assets, status, condition, etc.), to help efforts in strategic planning
• Asset-Based Community Development Institute - A website with multiple tools that can be used to assist with community development
• Logic Model Workbook (PDF) - A workbook to guide the creation of a logic model for a program
   

Chapter 10: Out-of-School-Time Programs
Deborah Moroney, Jessica Newman, and David Osher

• National AfterSchool Association, Core Knowledge and Competencies for Afterschool and Youth Development Professionals - A resource describing the “knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed by professionals to provide high-quality afterschool and youth development programming and support the learning and development of children and youth”
• Beyond the Bell: Social and Emotional Learning Practices: A Self-Reflection Tool for Afterschool Staff (PDF) - A toolkit that provides afterschool program staff with information to reflect upon their SEL competencies and their ability to support youth’s SEL through program practices
• Measuring Quality: Assessment Tools to Evaluate Your Social-Emotional Learning Practices - A website to help school districts identify tools to assess SEL practices
• Measuring Youth Program Quality: A Guide to Assessment Tools, 2nd Edition - A guide designed to help assesses the purpose, structure, content, and technical properties of youth program assessment tools
• Coalition for Community Schools - A website with resources for building community schools
• Beyond the Bell - A suite of professional development services and practical tools designed to help afterschool program leaders and staff members create and sustain high-quality, effective, afterschool and expanded learning programs, including a Family Engagement and Interest Survey (Tool 55) and Youth Development Checklist (Tool 63)
• NYC Department of Youth and Community Development Youth Leadership Development Practices: Program Staff Self-Reflection Tool (PDF) - A framework to guide training and professional learning opportunities for program leaders and staff

Part III. Act

Chapter 11: Building a Schoolwide Foundation for Social-Emotional and Academic Support
Sandra Williamson and David Osher

• Department of Education (ED) School Climate Surveys - Surveys publicly available to schools for measuring school climate
   

Chapter 12: Building and Restoring School Communities
Greta Colombi, Robert V. Mayo, Manolya Tanyu, David Osher, and Amy Mart

• Center for Restorative Practice: Teaching Restorative Practices with Classroom Circles - A classroom- and student-centered resource that provides lesson plans, activities, guidance, strategies, and tips and tricks of the trade to educators seeking to authentically integrate classroom circles into their classroom communities.
• Motivation, Engagement, and Student Voice: Professional Development Series - A professional development module created as part of a partnership between Students at the Center, a Jobs for the Future initiative, and the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents; includes modules on motivation, engagement, self-regulation, and student voice
• Cleveland Metropolitan School District, Class Meetings - A web page that provides an overview of the Class Meetings initiative, along with an array of resources, including a scope and sequence, guidance on key stakeholder roles and responsibilities, elementary/middle/high school lesson-planning tools, sample SEL-grounded activities, and assessments
• Restorative Practices: Fostering Healthy Relationships & Promoting Positive Discipline in Schools: A Guide for Educators (PDF) - A toolkit, including case studies, for educators that describes restorative practices and how they can be implemented in schools
• Safeguarding Our Children: An Action Guide, Revised and Expanded (PDF) - A guide written to help schools develop and implement school violence prevention policies and practices
   

Chapter 13: Creating Respectful and Inclusive Schools
Jeffrey M. Poirier, Ilene Berman, Kathleen Guarino, Fausto Alejandro López, and David Osher

• Creating and Advocating for Trauma-Sensitive Schools - A guide to help schools create a trauma-sensitive environment for their students and develop a policy agenda that supports those goals
• Helping Traumatized Children Learn - A report summarizing the research on trauma’s potential impact on children’s learning, behavior, and relationships in school
• A Guide for Understanding, Supporting, and Affirming LGBTQI2-S Children, Youth, and Families (PDF) - A resource that provides information for educators, allies, and community members who would like to support the health and well-being of LGBTQI2-S students and their families
• Department of Education (ED) School Climate Surveys - Surveys publicly available to schools for measuring school climate
   

Chapter 14: Multitiered Systems of Support
Stephanie Jackson, Juliette Berg, Sandra Williamson, and David Osher

• Center on Multi-Tiered System of Supports (formerly the Center on Response to Intervention) - A website that offers many resources, including an overview of the Response to Intervention (RTI) and Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) models with implementation guidance, training modules to guide implementation of RTI or MTSS, support for monitoring school-level fidelity of RTI, and a tool for collecting information and recording school ratings related to RTI implementation
  • Implementer Series Training Modules
  • RTI Fidelity of Implementation Rubric (PDF)
  • Essential Components of MTSS
     

Chapter 15: Selective Strategies
Allison Dymnicki, Kimberly Kendziora, Sandra Williamson, and David Osher

• Academic and Behavior Progress Monitoring Tools Charts - Charts that display display information about academic and behavior progress-monitoring tools
• Resource Mapping Tool - A website offering a resource mapping tool that helps identify gaps in programming and duplication of services and interventions
• The National Center for Healthy Safe Children - A website that provides access to several resources that can assist schools in developing strategies for meeting the needs of their students
• PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) Process Evaluation Tools - Tools that schools can use to evaluate the implementation of PBIS
• Academic and Behavior Screening Tools Charts - Charts that display information about academic and behavior screening tools
   

Chapter 16: Indicated Strategies
Allison Gandhi, Kimberly Kendziora, and David Osher

• Data-Based Individualization: A Framework for Intensive Intervention (PDF) - A report with detailed information about data-based individualization, which is used to build interventions based on data
• Academic and Behavior Progress Monitoring Tools Charts - Charts that display display information about academic and behavior progress-monitoring tools
• Advancing Education Effectiveness: Interconnecting School Mental Health and School-Wide Positive Behavior Support - A guide developed to facilitate the links between education systems and mental health systems
• Shifting Gears to Family-Driven Care: Ambassador’s Guide (PDF) - A toolkit developed to promote family-driven care and encourage family involvement
   

Chapter 17: Social and Emotional Learning Matters
Jessica Newman, Allison Dymnicki, Edward Fergus, Roger P. Weissberg, and David Osher

• SEL in Practice: A Toolkit of Practical Strategies and Resources - A toolkit with information about SEL programs, including how to enhance SEL knowledge, establish expectations, infuse SEL into program activities, and collect SEL data for improvement
• CASEL Program Guide (PDF) - A guide that provides tips on implementing effective SEL programs for middle and high school students
• The CASEL Guide to Schoolwide Social and Emotional Learning - A guide that outlines an intentional and collaborative process for systemic SEL implementation
• CASEL’s District Resource Center - A website with research, knowledge, and resources curated from school systems across the U.S. to support high-quality, systemic implementation of SEL
• Social and Emotional Learning in Out-of-School Time Settings - This brief provides guidelines and considerations for adapting ​leading SEL programs to out-of-school settings
   

Chapter 18: Educators Matter
Nick Yoder, Lynn Holdheide, and David Osher

• SEL Online Education Module: Social and Emotional Learning in Washington State Schools: Building Foundations and Strategies - An online learning module from Washington State designed to help educators, administrators, school staff and other professionals, and parents build and improve their understanding of SEL skills
• CASEL District Resource Center - A website with detailed information on SEL for districts and gives practical advice on how to implement SEL programs
• Center on Great Teachers and Leaders - Provides tools for educators to help them understand more about SEL development, including an overview of the SEL school, an educator talent management framework, and a professional learning module on teaching conditions
  • The SEL School: Connecting Social and Emotional Learning to Effective Teaching
  • Innovation Station
  • Understanding Teaching Conditions
• Practical Guide to Designing Comprehensive Teacher Evaluation Systems (PDF) - A tool to help school administrators and educators develop teacher evaluation systems
• Self-Assessing Social and Emotional Instruction and Competencies: A Tool for Teachers (PDF) - A self-assessment tool from the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders to help teachers reflect and improve upon their teaching practices
• Identity Safe Classrooms: Places to Belong and Learn - A website to help educators ensure that students’ identities are acknowledged and cultivated, including resources on stereotype threat and identity safety, classroom relationships, cultivating diversity, child-centered teaching, and caring classroom environments
   

Chapter 19: Academic Interventions—Use with Care
Terry Salinger and David Osher

• Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) - A conceptual framework that assists with the effective implementation of new programs by providing dimensions for assessing and guiding the implementation process
• Integrating SEL Into Instruction - A resource page from the CASEL District Resource Center
• Fostering Identity Safety in Your Classroom - A blog post that provides background information on identity safe classrooms
• Identity safe classrooms, grades 6 – 12:  Pathways to Belonging and Learning - This book is the second of a two-volume set, which calls for educators to come together and realize a vision of schools as transformative places of opportunity and equity for all students
• Opportunity for All:  A Framework for Quality and Equity in Education - A book showing how strategies for pursuing educational quality and equal outcomes for all students can be linked

Part IV. Improve

Chapter 20: Continuous Improvement
Aaron R. Butler, Jason Katz, Jessica Johnson, David Osher, Jill Pentimonti, and Sam Neiman

• Data Wise - A website that provides resources to support educators in using data inquiry for the continuous improvement of teaching and learning for students
• Implementation Playbook - A resource from the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders that provides resources for implementation planning
• Academic Progress Monitoring - A chart displaying information about academic progress monitoring tools
• Indistar - An organization that guides leadership teams through effective school or district practices
• RespondAbility - An organization that supports schools and districts in addressing challenges
• Resource 7: Root Cause Diagnostic Tree - A resource from the National Center for Safe and Supportive Learning Environments that provides a template for educators to fill in with issues, causes, root causes, and corrective actions
• School Climate Improvement Resource Package - A website providing resources schools can use to improve school climate
• Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) - Tools that assess teacher and student interactions in the classroom
• Public Profit - An organization that provides assistance to support understanding data and improving quality
• O2 LAB Optimizing Outcomes at American Institutes for Research - A website that navigates AIR’s approach to collaborative research and development activities toward efficacy and impact, including rapid-cycle evaluation approaches