Five getting-started steps for building an integrated, school-based system of care¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The guide prescribes five steps for LEAs beginning whole child work: examine the current system via needs assessment and asset mapping; identify a leadership team with key partners; identify long-term transformational goals and starting points; plan for sustainability given limited-time funds; and build a formal coalition for collective impact. It defines collective impact as involving "a centralized infrastructure, a dedicated staff, and a structured process that leads to a common agenda, shared measurement, continuous communication, and mutually reinforcing activities among all participants." Partners should be engaged as co-leaders committed to the full vision.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• A leadership team that oversees implementation and monitors progress over time, with partners invited as co-leaders

Constraints¶

• Many state and federal funding sources for these efforts are limited-time funds

Target Learners¶

• Students and families in local education agency communities, prioritizing unmet needs beyond typical public education domains

Target Learning Goals¶

• Coordinated, comprehensive whole child supports that improve health, well-being, and learning

Related Strategies¶

• Discovery-phase data collection: surveys, listening sessions, and project inventories to map the current system
• Assess team readiness across leadership, facilitation, communication, shared understanding, and capacity before starting
• Use asset mapping to identify and celebrate existing strengths in the school and community
• Use the tools as facilitated conversation starters that produce artifacts, not as a checklist exercise
• Implement SEL systemically as a public health approach with shared vision, adult SEL, aligned programs, and continuous improvement
• Conduct readiness checks and align systems to local student need before replication, expansion, or merger

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Breaking Barriers, California Alliance of Child and Family Services, Santa Clara County Office of Education, & WestEd. (2022). Supporting California's children through a whole child approach: A field guide for creating integrated, school-based systems of care. https://WestEd.org/permissions