Western Educational Equity Assistance Center

Podcast

Building Bridges to Belonging: A Story of Authentic Family and Community Engagement

Listen to the audiocast and read the companion brief to hear how Alice Birney Elementary in Eureka, California builds relational trust, partners authentically with families, and celebrates community diversity to create a strong sense of belonging for students. These resources offer practical examples—like the English Learner Advisory Council, classroom walk‑throughs, and a long‑standing multicultural fair—accompanied by reflection questions and research-backed guidance to help schools strengthen family engagement.

 

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Strategic Communications to Support Whole Child Work at State Education Agencies: A Fireside Chat with Steve Canavero, Former Nevada Superintendent of Public Instruction

Through the Transforming Kindergarten Collaborative, the national Center to Improve Social and Emotional Learning and School Safety hosted a fireside chat on strategic communications. It features Steve Canavero, Nevada Superintendent of Public Instruction, discussing his own experiences conducting strategic communications to achieve state-level education goals.

This discussion draws on guidance from the workbook Aligned and Coherent Communications to Serve the Whole Person, which walks users through a step-by-step process to set communications goals, define their audience, identify key messages and desired actions that they’d like their audiences to take, and develop tactics for effective communication.

Stories of Learning and Well-Being

Across the country, teachers and leaders value well-being, connection, and equity and see it as foundational to their school communities—however, many struggle with how to provide these for students, staff, and families.

The Stories of Learning and Well-Being audiocast series is designed to help educators equitably serve the whole-person needs of their communities.

Listen to stories from a public school or district across the United States, describing their innovative, evidence-based approach to this work.

A short brief, school or district demographic information, and a list of resources accompany each audiocast.

Each audiocast is accompanied by a companion brief and an implementation guide to help you adapt these practices for your school.

Budgeting for Educational Equity: How Can Educators, Leaders, and Education Systems Better Attend to the Intersection of Language and Disability for Multilingual Learners?

This brief accompanies Episode 9 of the Budgeting for Educational Equity podcast series that explores how education resources can be allocated to better meet the needs of all students. The brief provides opportunities for the listener to engage in tangible, practical application of the lessons derived from each podcast episode. The brief is a launching point for cultivating discussions about equity within communities and school district administrative offices. Episodes can be found on the Budgeting for Educational Equity Podcast Series webpage.

Budgeting for Educational Equity: Equity Multiplier

This brief accompanies Episode 8 of the Budgeting for Educational Equity podcast series that explores how education resources can be allocated to better meet the needs of all students. The brief provides opportunities for the listener to engage in tangible, practical application of the lessons derived from each podcast episode. The brief is a launching point for cultivating discussions about equity within communities and school district administrative offices. Episodes can be found on the Budgeting for Educational Equity Podcast Series webpage.

Budgeting for Educational Equity Podcast Series

How can educators better understand and allocate resources to meet the needs of all students, including those who are underserved? Each episode features guest speakers who share their expertise, discuss the tools they’re using, what’s working, and what they’ve learned about ensuring the appropriate allocation of resources. This series also presents helpful briefs and worksheets to encourage usage and implementation of series concepts. This podcast series is presented by the California Association of School Business Officials (CASBO) and WestEd.