Resources

Safe and supportive school environments that promote well-being and healthy social and emotional development are essential to effective teaching, learning, and support of the whole person. Gathering, analyzing, and using data to make decisions in schoolwide whole-person work is critical for the systems change and continuous improvement processes that create equitable, safe, and supportive conditions for learning and well-being.

This guide helps school, district, and state education leadership teams redesign and transform systems for equitable health and learning by centering equity in their data-using culture and data-based decision-making processes.

Part 1 of this guide explores key concepts, including

• creating safe, inclusive, and positive learning environments;
• promoting the mental health and well-being of school communities; and
• ensuring agency, self-determination, and equitable outcomes for students across all identities, including race/ethnicity, gender, and disability status.

Part 2 offers step-by-step companion dialogue guides that help leadership teams implement practices and practical strategies that center equity.

With this guide, teams engaging in an equity-centered, data-based decision-making process can discuss, analyze, and create action plans that proactively and immediately reimagine the system and its conditions so that all students, families, and communities can thrive—especially those who have not historically done so.