Western Educational Equity Assistance Center

Safe and Supportive Learning Environments

Reframing Belonging: From How Students Feel to What K–12 Schools Build

Student belonging has become a central focus in K–12 education, showing up in district strategic plans, school climate surveys, and national conversations about student well-being. But most efforts to measure and improve belonging treat it primarily as a feeling that students report rather than a condition that schools actively create.

Drawing on research across psychology, education, and sociology, this paper reframes belonging as something that schools build through their everyday practices and structures, not just something students individually experience. For district and school leaders, the paper offers a practical shift in perspective—moving beyond viewing school climate survey scores as an endpoint to using them as a starting point for examining the conditions that determine whether every student can genuinely participate and thrive.

Community-Centered Approaches to Safety and Well-Being: A Tool for Reflection and Action

How can schools and communities foster safety, connection, and well-being in the face of increasing adversity? This resource shares evidence-based insights and lessons from communities that have responded to challenges with collective care and support. It includes foundational context, key concepts and research, reflection questions, and practical tools to help educators and community leaders strengthen conditions for safety and well-being.

Improving Attendance Through Human-Centered Leadership Practices

Regular school attendance is a strong predictor of academic success, yet many attendance strategies rely on top-down, compliance-driven approaches that fall short of addressing root causes. This brief from WestEd’s Western Educational Equity Assistance Center offers education leaders an alternative: human-centered leadership practices that prioritize empathy, flexibility, and collaboration to understand and address the barriers keeping students out of school. The brief organizes its guidance around three levels of action. At the individual level, leaders examine their own mindsets about absences. At the collective level, staff, students, and families work together to bridge perspectives and learn from shared data. At the systems level, leaders adapt policies and routines to better serve those least well supported by current approaches.

For each level, the brief pairs practices, such as strengthening self-awareness, navigating diverse perspectives, and fostering transparent communication, with reflection questions and practical “Try It Out” activities that leaders can apply directly in their schools. Ultimately, the brief calls on education leaders to cultivate trust and engage those most affected by attendance challenges, positioning human connection as central to creating lasting improvements in attendance.

Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community

A Surgeon General’s Advisory is a public statement that calls the American people’s attention to an urgent public health issue and provides recommendations for how it should be addressed. Advisories are reserved for significant public health challenges that require the nation’s immediate awareness and action.

This advisory calls attention to the importance of social connection for individual health as well as on community-wide metrics of health and well-being, and conversely the significant consequences when social connection is lacking. While social connection is often considered an individual challenge, this advisory explores and explains the cultural, community, and societal dynamics that drive connection and disconnection. It also offers recommendations for increasing and strengthening social connection through a whole-of-society approach. The advisory presents a framework for a national strategy with specific recommendations for the institutions that shape our day-to-day
lives: governments, health care systems and insurers, public health departments, research institutions, philanthropy, schools, workplaces, community-based organizations, technology companies, and the media.

Promoting Safe and Supportive Learning Environments: A School Climate Domain Assessment Tool

The School Climate Domain Assessment Tool is designed to evaluate the breadth and depth of schoolwide initiatives aimed at improving school climate. This comprehensive tool provides guidance for educators and school leaders who are looking for resources to foster a nurturing and productive school atmosphere. It explores the critical aspects of school climate, a multifaceted concept that encompasses the quality of relationships, the effectiveness of teaching and learning practices, and the efficiency of organizational structures.

The resource identifies three core domains of school climate: “Belonging and Connectedness,” which fosters a sense of inclusion and community; “Safety and Wellness,” which ensures physical and emotional security; and “Environment,” which creates physical and academic settings conducive to a positive school climate. These domains are instrumental in shaping a fulfilling educational experience. The School Climate Domain Assessment Tool provides measurable indicators for each strategy within the domains and a framework for assessing the level of implementation.

This tool is more than just an assessment instrument; it is a roadmap that helps schools identify areas of strength and opportunities for growth and aims to help schools in their pursuits to ensure that every student has the chance to thrive in a safe, supportive, and engaging learning environment.

From Numbers to Nuance: A Guide for Exploring School Climate Data

This guide assists educators in enhancing school climate through effective data utilization, emphasizing the creation of positive and inclusive environments for students, staff, and families. It offers a structured approach for exploring school climate data while fostering teamwork among community members. Educators are encouraged to ask insightful questions that reveal both strengths and challenges within their schools. By prioritizing equity and collaboration, the guide aims to strengthen connections throughout the school community and promote meaningful improvements.

Understanding School Climate: An Overview of School Climate Domains

A positive school climate fosters healthy interactions and promotes the equitable well-being of students, staff, families, and the school community. This brief defines school climate, identifies its domains, and provides recommendations for assessing school climate.

There are three domains of school climate: belonging and connection, safety and wellness, and environment. School and district administrators can use the following recommended questions from the brief for each school climate domain when planning to explore school climate efforts.

  • What are the strengths of the climate at our school site? What is working well?
  • What are some needs and opportunities for growth?
  • What are some additional steps we can take to support school climate improvement efforts?
  • Are there specific groups of students we need to consider in our school climate improvement efforts?
  • How do we ensure staff are aware of the strengths and needs of the climate at our school or within our district?
  • What existing data are already being collected?
  • What are the sources of additional data that we should gather?
  • How do we integrate school climate data and other indicators of school success?
  • How can school climate data be utilized and integrated into our districtwide or schoolwide plans (e.g., local control accountability plan, school improvement plan for student achievement)?

Connection, Trust, and Learning: Student Attendance in the Middle and High School Grades Following the COVID-19 Pandemic

This brief summarizes findings from the first year of a multi-year study examining the causes, consequences, and impacts of absenteeism in Chicago in post-pandemic years relative to pre-pandemic years among students in grades 6-11. We focus on the middle and high school grades because these are years when many students show a rise in absences, relative to their attendance in the elementary grades.