New service and resources from WestEd provide promising practices educators can use to create systems that support the unique needs of the whole person and position all learners for success in school, career, and life.

Serving the Whole Person: A Service for State and Local Education Agencies. Drawing from our Alignment and Coherence Guides (see below), our expert team will guide you through a structured yet flexible process to improve your whole-person initiatives.  

Serving the Whole Person: Alignment and Coherence Guides. Cultivate and sustain the conditions necessary for equitable learning and development for students, families, and educators. Download these essential guides for state and local education agencies. 

Reimagining Excellence. This blueprint is the result of a collaboration between the Region 13 Comprehensive Center, the Center to Improve Social and Emotional Learning and School Safety, and the National Center for Systemic Improvement. The blueprint — designed with input from in-person and remote educators, leaders, researchers, professional learning providers, and technical assistance providers — describes the indicators of learning programs that successfully integrate equity and well-being into instruction.

To shed light on LGBTQ students’ experiences in school, WestEd researchers analyzed two years of results from the California Healthy Kids Survey, which provides more data on LGBTQ youth than any other source in the nation. The study revealed sobering results, however, the analysis suggests that if LGBTQ students experienced the same levels of support and safety at school as non-transgender and straight students, disparities would disappear or greatly diminish.

Key finding: Fewer than half of transgender, gay or lesbian, and bisexual students reported feeling safe at school. Read more about this first-of-its-kind study.

How can schools work to ensure that students and faculty not only feel physically safe but are less vulnerable to school violence? These two resources illuminate what the research says about school-based law enforcement and examine current trends in school violence prevention.

School-Based Law Enforcement: What Research Says. A recent brief summarizes what is currently known about school-based law enforcement and explores its impact on students' perceptions of safety. 

Policy Trends, Assessment, and Prevention. View this webinar to learn how some state and local leaders are working to prevent school violence through threat assessment models and school climate improvement. 

When their social and emotional well-being is supported, educators and students are better positioned for success in teaching and learning, respectively. The following resources offer promising practices and research-informed strategies for self- and community-care.

Self-care. Studies show that mindfulness practices can reduce emotional reactivity and support decision-making. So can sitting or walking in nature, physical exercise, or talking with a good friend. 

Self-care and collective wellness. Schools can promote the wellness of their school community by helping educators and students care about each other and themselves. 

Community-care. Learn how to keep routines, roles, and responsibilities as close to “normal” as possible during challenging times in order to support the well-being of the school community.