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Download the slides from our December 11, 2025 presentation.

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The Heart of Learning-Shifting Engagement Practices for Middle School Success_Webinar Slides.pdf | Powered by Box

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About California Stronger Connections Technical Assistance Center

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About California Stronger Connections Technical Assistance Center

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The California Stronger Connections Technical Assistance Center (SCTAC) offers supports and technical assistance opportunities designed to foster safe, healthy, and supportive learning environments.

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Stronger Connections – California Safe and Supportive Schools

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The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act – Stronger Connections Grant (BSCA-SCG) Program is designed to encourage partnership between Local Education Agencies (LEAs) and communities to address the critical issue of gun violence that has impacted so many schools and communities across the nation.

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Find recordings from past webinars, and many more resources, in our library.

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Resources – California Safe and Supportive Schools

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The Resource Library is intended to help state and local education agency leaders as they develop practical strategies and programs to address student mental health needs and improve school climate. This library offers guidance documents, toolkits, briefs, research studies, and more that draw on current research in education, school psychology, and other related disciplines.

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The Heart of Learning: Shifting Engagement Practices for Middle School Success – California Safe and Supportive Schools

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Email the WestEd Stronger Connections Technical Assistance Team: strongerconnections@wested.org

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Student Engagement: Evidence-Based Strategies to Boost Academic and Social-Emotional Results (2019)

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Student Engagement: Evidence-Based Strategies to Boost Academic and Social-Emotional Results (2019)

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Research shows engagement is correlated with academic success and reductions in antisocial behaviors and substance use. And thankfully for teachers, there are evidence-based tactics that can be used to assess and improve students’ engagement, several of which are detailed here.

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Academic Mindsets and Behaviors, Prior Achievement, and the Transition to Middle School

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Academic Mindsets and Behaviors, Prior Achievement, and the Transition to Middle School

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This study examined the relationship between 2016/17 grade 5 student responses to a school district survey on levels of academic mindsets and behaviors and the predicted probability of earning a GPA below 2.0 at the end of the first semester of grade 6 (the first year of middle school) in 2017/18.

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Academic Mindsets and Behaviors, Prior Achievement, and the Transition to Middle School | IES

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As students enter middle school, their academic achievement and engagement frequently declines. Previous research has found that academic outcomes around the transition to middle school are related to, and might even be driven by, academic mindsets, including growth mindsets (such as beliefs about the malleability of academic ability and the payoff to effort) and performance avoidance (fears of failure and the desire to avoid academic effort), and resulting academic behaviors (such as completing homework). This study examined the relationship between 2016/17 grade 5 student responses to a school district survey on levels of academic mindsets and behaviors and the predicted probability of earning a GPA below 2.0 at the end of the first semester of grade 6 (the first year of middle school) in 2017/18. The study found that grade 5 students who reported high levels of growth mindset and academic behavior and low levels of performance avoidance had a lower predicted probability of having a GPA below 2.0 in the first semester of grade 6. After student scores on grade 5 state standardized math and English language arts achievement exams were accounted for, levels of academic mindsets and behaviors among grade 5 students with scores at or above the district median did not predict meaningful differences in the probability of having a GPA below 2.0 in the first semester of grade 6. However, among grade 5 students with prior academic achievement below the district median, students who reported high levels of growth mindset and academic behaviors and low levels of performance avoidance had a lower predicted probability of having a GPA below 2.0. in the first semester of grade 6, even after differences in individual grade 5 prior academic achievement were accounted for. These patterns were essentially the same for all racial/ethnic groups as well as for both English learner students and non-English learner students. Given these findings, education stakeholders might consider incorporating supports for positive academic mindsets and behaviors as one strategy for preparing students for and supporting them through the transition to middle school, particularly for low-achieving students.

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You belong: Strengthening engagement and attendance in middle school

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You belong: Strengthening engagement and attendance in middle school

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This blog post explores how school structures can support student

belonging and research-based approach to improving student sense of belonging.

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You belong: Strengthening engagement and attendance in middle school | IES

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Middle school is a time of change for many students, and navigating these changes can potentially lead to disengagement and absenteeism. Fostering a sense of belonging may help students stay engaged in middle school -- setting them up for later academic success.

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Examine and graphically display the most recent state and district CHKS results, trends over time, and disparities in survey outcomes across subgroups. Elementary school results can be displayed for 21 indicators for all 5th grade students, males and females, and by participation in afterschool programs. Secondary school results can be displayed for 23 indicators from the Core Survey Module and 12 indicators from the School Climate Module across 11 subgroups.

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Welcome to the CalSCHLS data dashboards page. Use the dashboard to examine and graphically display the most recent state and district CHKS results for elementary and secondary schools. You can also examine trends over time and disparities across student subgroups.

Elementary school results can be displayed for 21 indicators for all 5th grade students, males and females, and by participation in afterschool programs. Statewide results come from data aggregated across all districts in California that administered the elementary survey.

Secondary school results can be presented for 23 indicators from the Core Survey Module and 12 indicators from the School Climate Module. Results can be examined across 11 subgroups. Statewide results come from the Biennial State Survey - a randomly selected representative sample of secondary schools in California.

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Welcome to the CalSCHLS data dashboards page. Use the dashboard to examine and graphically display the most recent state and district CHKS results for elementary and secondary schools. You can also examine trends over time and disparities across student subgroups.

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January 14, 2026: Improve Your Stress Response

Register Today!

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Wellness Mini-Sessions – California Safe and Supportive Schools

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Need a quick break? Join a 20-minute Wellness Mini-Session to learn about and practice a wellness strategy designed for education settings. These monthly sessions will feature wellness experts from throughout California sharing a variety of ideas that you can use and share to promote stress management. Sessions will occur on the second Wednesday of each month. Recordings will be posted to the Resources page.

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December 11: Telling Your Compelling Story: Blending Data and Narrative

January 15: Pulling It All Together: Case Studies, Feedback, and Final Review

Learn more and register

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Proposals 101 for School and District Leaders – California Safe and Supportive Schools

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A 5-part interactive learning series on proposal writing, offering flexible participation and follow-up discussion opportunities

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Cultivating a Peaceful Classroom Before Winter Break

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Cultivating a Peaceful Classroom Before Winter Break

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Thomas Courtney shares tips to keep a classroom peaceful and educators smiling during the holidays.

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Cultivating a Peaceful Classroom Before Winter Break

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A classroom veteran shares some tips for times when students are all wound up and you still have lessons to teach.

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How to Get the Most Out of a Focus Wall in Your Classroom

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How to Get the Most Out of a Focus Wall in Your Classroom

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Thomas Courtney discusses the concept of Focus Walls, which offer up-to-date information and necessary scaffolds to help students stay on track or explore more challenging work.

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How to Get the Most Out of a Focus Wall in Your Classroom

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Helping students stay on track or explore more challenging work, a focus wall offers up-to-date information and necessary scaffolds.

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Teaching 102: Avoid Recess Issues? Go Play!

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Teaching 102: Avoid Recess Issues? Go Play!

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Playing purposefully with students during recess can reduce behavioral issues, foster inclusion, and create a smoother transition back to learning, all while helping teachers build stronger relationships and classroom culture.

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Teaching 102: Avoid Recess Issues? Go Play! - The Educators Room

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Playing with students during recess can reduce behavioral issues, foster inclusion, and create a smoother transition back to learning.

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What to remember as we reconnect post-pandemic with student families

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What to remember as we reconnect post-pandemic with student families

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As schools and their communities seek to re-establish these relationships, state and district leaders are considering how to spend tax dollars for this very purpose. How can we best do it?

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If you asked me two years ago which student owned a guinea pig named Max or eight dogs, I am certain I could not have told you. But now I can. It's strange to be in a position where we see so much of our students' lives through a computer screen, and yet also feel so disconnected from the students and the families we serve. Now, as schools and their communities seek to re-establish these relationships, state and district leaders are considering how to spend tax dollars for this very purpose. H ow can we best do it?

Years ago, I was a part of a faculty that needed to re-establish ties with our community. Here at Chollas-Mead Elementary, a Title 1 school where 93% of our students are considered economically disadvantaged, we decided to create ties that were - in a word - fun. In doing so, Chollas-Mead went from empty open houses to packed celebrations of all kinds, and many of our teachers have become both teacher school parent, me included. The lessons we learned then can help any school in California now figure out how to spend money in ways that work to reconnect schools with their communities.

How did we connect? For me, it started with a plate of potato salad the summer my own child was about to begin kindergarten.

That July, my wife and I received an email from our son's soon-to-be kindergarten teacher at a local charter school. Was there a problem?

Just the opposite. The email announced a pre-kindergarten play date at the park. Families were invited to come, meet one another and have a potluck. Never having heard about such a thing at the school where I taught, I stood agape while parents around me socialized, my son and his new soon-to-be classmates laughing all around us.

What I saw that afternoon fundamentally changed my teaching.

Holding my plate of potato salad, I stared as parents scheduled new play dates with one another. They discussed school programs and figured out carpools.

Classmates began their school careers as friends. Back-to-School Night featured more good-to-see-you's than nice-to-meet-you's. Parents knew the names of children, and children knew the names of parents, many of whom would serve as classroom volunteers because they felt welcome.

Returning to my own classroom that year, I picked up my roster from the office and studied my students' names. Their ID numbers. Their genders. Their first and last names. A mark that designated if they had asthma. I knew then that things were going to change, but I had no idea how I would change, too.

The following year, at my first ever Ice Cream and Library Night event, the students selected Epic Bulldogs as a class name, met tutors, and their families laughed together at the neighborhood's favorite heladería. I stood this time holding a pistachio paleta, watching as the magic unfolded around me.

That year, I had perfect parental attendance at Back-to-School Night, where we played Ice Breaker Bingo. The same thing happened at parent-teacher conferences.

Each month, I created an "optional" classroom event, making sure it was fun enough that my own children would want to attend. I figured if they'd go, so would my families. I was right.

Twelve years later, Mr. Courtney's Star Night is a tradition. So is Ice Skating Night, Opera Night, Gardening Sunday at the EarthLab and the End of Year Fishing and Barbecue at Chollas Lake. Then came the Dolphin Defenders Karate Program and the Dolphin Splash newspaper.

I had transformed my teaching and my class. Meanwhile, our incredible principal transformed our school. Under her leadership, Chollas-Mead Elementary began to host packed talent shows, winter celebrations, cocoa with Santa, daughter or son dances, movie nights, sports events at recess with cheering parents, and family Fridays. Our principal, listening to her community while her husband grilled hot dogs, brought back assemblies, art, theater and music programs. On Power Tuesdays, second and third graders even learned how to walk the tightrope with the Fern Street Circus.

Welcome side effects emerged among the students schoolwide, just as I had seen in my classroom: They worked together and stayed on task; more completed their in-class assignments and homework; they were engaged in school, and their parents participated in their children's education. Student academic achievement test scores in both math and reading rose.

The elements that make a successful classroom and a strong community were there all along; we just hadn't been listening to the experts - our families.
What builds bridges with parents.

Extracurricular activities, arts and other programs. Typically, these are the first things cut from the budget because they do not show rises in test scores immediately.

Formal and informal conversations with parents about what they want from their school.

Advertising that school is about much, much more than academic test scores.

More teachers of color. Recruiting ranks of young, white teachers from affluent families who talk incessantly to parents about how their children must pull up their academic test scores is a recipe for disaster.

What creates barriers to parental participation.

Tall school gates.

Dry school committee meetings held at times convenient for the staff but impossible for parents.

Teachers who don't look as if they come from the community and don't live or shop in the neighborhood.

Talking down: Well-intentioned school administrators constantly telling parents why they should care about low test scores.

As this pandemic recedes, we certainly will need to allocate money to reinvigorate, revitalize and reconnect our school communities. But we also need to create authentic opportunities for our families and teachers to reacquaint themselves. These moments shouldn't be done in a transactional space that forgets we are all human. This is a fundamental truth at Chollas-Mead Elementary. At our school, involving our parents with their child's education starts with the word "fun."

***
Thomas Courtney is the San Diego Unified School District Teacher of the Year, a Teach Plus, California, Senior Policy Fellow, and a fifth grade teacher at Chollas-Mead Elementary school. Both his son and daughter have attended Chollas-Mead due in part to the positive climate staff have created there.
The opinions in this commentary are those of the author. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.

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COMMENTARY: What to remember as we reconnect post-pandemic with student families

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Listening to families and cultivating community ties is key to reconnecting as students and teachers return to school after the pandemic.