Transforming Together: Implementation Guide
Tapping Parent and Youth Perspectives Creatively and Comprehensively
One rural school district in California shows what is possible when leaders think creatively and comprehensively about learning from and getting advice from parents, youth and community members. With community partners, the district deliberately organized and aligned various surveys and feedback sessions to happen within the same springtime period, so results from these data sources could be readily compared side-by-side and inform decision- making. Feedback sources coordinated by the district included a special telephone survey of district families, school-based focus groups with students and with parents, and the California Healthy Kids Survey (administered to students aged 10 and older). One helpful finding from all these data: School leaders learned families deeply appreciated the district’s family connection center (the center was created to be a single, centralized hub where district families can easily find and access a range of supports, information, and services). According to the surveys and focus groups, parents praised the warm, respectful atmosphere at center, including simple gestures by staff at the center such as being greeted by name or feeling heard. At the same time, by being able to consider all these data side-by-side, leaders also saw clear themes where the district could do better or consider different approaches. These challenges included:
belonging. • Discipline practices perceived as unfair. Across all groups, there were strong concerns about inconsistent enforcement of rules, especially for students with staff or athletic ties–which they said undermined both trust and school climate. Students and parents called for clear, consistent, and equitable consequences. • Some engagements hampered by lack of relationships. Parents said they are more likely to engage—and students more likely to thrive—when they feel known and supported. Personalized outreach (e.g., positive calls home, teacher invitations to events) and teacher behaviors that show care were repeatedly cited as motivators for participation and academic effort. • Barriers to participation need structural solutions . Time, child care, and transportation remain major barriers to parent involvement. Suggestions included increasing advance notice for events, improving clarity about event content, and expanding access to family transportation or online engagement options. • Students concerned about safety and supervision. Many students reported bullying, fights, and widespread vaping— especially in unsupervised areas like bathrooms. They called for improved adult monitoring, better vape detection, and clearer consequences to reduce unsafe behaviors. • More emotional and academic support needed . Students expressed a clear desire for anger management tools, supportive adult spaces, and help catching up academically when they fall behind. They want support that is proactive, not punitive, and tailored to their emotional and learning needs.
• Inconsistent communication undermined trust. Both parents and students emphasized the need for more reliable, timely, and two- way communication. Parents want
regular check-ins and mandatory spring conferences, while students value everyday gestures—like being greeted or checked in on—which strengthen their sense of
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