Our Unconditional Education partnership with Aspire Slauson Academy is funded through the CA Department of Education’s California Community Schools Partnership Program. We partnered with the Slauson team last year to write the grant that will fund our work starting this year and at least through the 2026-27 school year. Our UE Coach, Lauren Kennedy, has had a busy fall semester, partnering with Slauson’s team to situate the new role on campus through direct support and the launch of several new initiatives. Some of these highlights include:
- Conducting interviews and focus groups with all Slauson staff to hear their perspectives on school culture and climate, systems of student supports, and staff practices for responding to challenging behaviors
- Facilitating the Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Tiered Fidelity Inventory with Slauson’s leadership team, to self-assess the school’s systems of positive behavioral support and develop an action plan to improve them
- Administering school climate surveys to all staff, students, and parents/caregivers (with responses from 169 families!) to inform Slauson’s culture and climate goals
- Founding and launching Slauson’s Culture and Climate Committee (C3) to collaboratively plan and improve on the priorities identified in the fall assessment
- Partnering with Slauson leadership to redesign supervision structures for multiple rounds of student lunch and recess times
- Participating on the MTSS team to analyze school-wide data and action plan based on areas of need
- Providing valuable direct support for high-need students and classrooms
Slauson’s leadership has quickly proved to be incredibly aligned to UE’s goals and mission, and we truly see the work this fall as building a solid foundation for years of partnership to come. We are thankful for Aspire Slauson as partners and hosts and are looking forward to the work ahead!