Collectively Building a Stronger, Healthier, & More Vibrant Community
A Systems Approach to Anaheim UHSD's "Unlimited You"
Since 2019, the Community Engagement Initiative (CEI) has gathered students, families, community partners, educators, educational partners, and researchers to forge meaningful connections across culturally and linguistically diverse communities. The goals of these gatherings have been to share best practices for community engagement and support one another during challenging times—all while peer-leading and learning from each other to accomplish these goals. This Spotlight was created from an issue of CEI's Voices from the Field, which highlight stories that offer lessons and models for other schools and districts looking to engage their communities more deeply and effectively.
Overview
Anaheim Union High School District (AUHSD) strengthened their district systems to better serve their families and community — providing opportunities for authentic connections, increasing access to information and resources, and engaging students in civic discourse. Through these efforts, AUHSD helped alleviate the diverse challenges faced by their students and families to collectively create a thriving community in which everyone could take an active role in making a difference.
Like many communities across the country, AUHSD saw an increase in disengagement as the pandemic exacerbated challenges such as unemployment, increased poverty, and mental health issues. Grounded in its core values, AUHSD recognized the need to reflect, learn, and co-create a systems approach for re-engaging its students and families. The district focused its efforts on addressing non-academic needs first, knowing that families’ well-being can impact their engagement. By developing shared responsibility across its school sites and tackling disengagement from multiple systemic standpoints, AUHSD could address the academic needs of students as well.
Prioritizing the Basic Needs of Families
AUHSD took a deeper look at the root causes of family disengagement and found that families would be better positioned to participate in students’ education if their basic needs were met. As such, AUHSD established community partnerships to provide expansive resources for families to address a wide range of needs. In addition to organizing food distributions and offering financial support, technology support, health and wellness resources, and mental health support, the district also increased the number of social workers, psychologists, counselors, and community liaisons to maximize the number of families served.
Empowering Parents and Families
Beyond addressing families’ basic needs, AUHSD strives to empower parents with the tools and resources needed to meaningfully engage in and advocate for their child’s education. The district's intentionality around cultivating a welcoming, culturally-responsive environment is evident in how they continue to expand opportunities for families to stay informed and voice any concerns or questions. From creating an LCAP engagement process for educational partners (e.g., parents, students, staff, and community members) to ensuring that all LCAP-related materials (i.e., LCAP and Annual Updates, LCAP Survey, LCAP Engagement Process Sign-up Form) are translated into different languages spoken in the community, AUHSD offers parents a seat at the table to improve outcomes for students, families, and schools.
Moreover, AUHSD builds the capacity of parents to support their child's education by inviting them into the schools. Through family engagement opportunities such as "Coffee with the Principal" and parent learning walks, parents are able to gain a better understanding of the rigorous standards and expectations placed on students, and the tools to support their child in becoming college, career, and life ready. AUHSD also hosts a Parent Leadership Academy to train parents on how to monitor their child's academic and social-emotional progress, equipping them with the knowledge to advocate for their children.
In doing so, parents become leaders who feel empowered to not only participate in their child’s education but also serve the larger community. AUHSD worked with Latino Health Access and other educational partners to train and employ parent leaders, sometimes called “promotores”, to educate the community and provide outreach support, including food, health, and social-emotional support. This partnership allowed parents to play a vital role in creating a newer, more thriving community.
A Collective Approach to Support the Whole Child and Community
In September 2022, AUHSD launched a Community Schools Resource Center (CSRC) at Sycamore Junior High School — the first of 13 for the district. With $24 million in funding for community schools, AUHSD can continue their work in providing wraparound services that not only supports the whole child, but also nourishes the well-being of the entire community. The district's culture of shared leadership and co-creation lays the foundation for their community schools approach, with AUHSD's teachers leading the development of an integrated curriculum that examines issues within the community, such as food deserts, health care, and environmental justice.
In May 2022, AUHSD also launched the Magnolia Agriscience Community Center (MACC) on the Magnolia High School campus. This 2.5 acre school-based community farm aims to alleviate local food insecurity by distributing fresh produce to district cafeterias and the broader community. However, the MACC goes beyond supplying produce and serves as a learning space to "educate students, families, and the community about sustainable agricultural practices, nourishment, and community building". AUHSD is partnering with the UC Irvine Science Project and Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) to host learning labs at the MACC, in which students learn about key roles they can play in promoting a healthier community.
Authentically Engaging Students in Civic Discourse
Cultivating student voice, identity, and purpose through applied learning seems to be the through line for AUHSD's approach to "[graduating] socially aware, civic-minded students who are college, career, and life ready" (About AUHSD). By allowing students to bring their passions into the classroom, and providing educators with the freedom to find innovative ways to make the curriculum more relevant and meaningful for students, AUHSD is demonstrating how transformative applied learning can be.
Even during the pandemic, AUHSD was able to offer a unique opportunity for civic engagement and inquiry. The district encouraged students to reflect on their experiences and channel their creativity into a district-wide capstone project that showcased their perspective on the following question: How is the Coronavirus Affecting Your Life? The district discusses more about the capstone project as well as other key topics such as the importance of student voice and agency, the Career Preparedness Systems Framework (CPSF), and empowering students and teachers in the classroom to support the District's vision in their AUHSD Future Talks episode with Superintendent Matsuda and Dr. Jaron Fried, AUHSD's Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services.
In 2021-22, AUHSD led the state in the number of students who earned the State Seal of Civic Engagement (SSCE). Over 2,800 AUHSD students — comprising 28% of students who received the SSCE — were recognized for demonstrating “excellence in civic learning, participation in civics-related projects, contributions to their community, and an understanding of the United States Constitution, the California Constitution, and the American democratic system.” Not to mention, AUHSD houses 17 designated California Democracy Schools, six of which have been recognized with the Civic Learning Award of Excellence over the last four years. With such a strong focus on civic engagement, AUHSD hopes to prepare students to be active citizens who make a positive impact on their communities.
In fact, AUHSD's students are already recognizing the power of their voice and agency through Project Soapbox — a national public speaking competition, organized through the Mikva Challenge, that encourages youth to speak out on issues they are passionate about in hopes of transforming schools and communities.
In 2022, hundreds of students across the country submitted speeches that answered, "What is the biggest issue facing your community, and what should be done about it?" Nathan Perera, an 8th grade student at AUHSD, was selected as one of 13 finalists who were chosen to be showcased at the Soapbox Nation Mainstage event on June 7, 2022.
Along with Nathan Perera, four other AUHSD students were chosen as finalists:
2021: Truong Chi Toan Ngo - Violence Against Asians
2020: Kenny Le - Teenage Mental Health (47:34)
2019: Viren Mehta - Global Warning (57:25)
2018: Alyssa Torres - Growing Up in the Foster Care System (11:31)
Lessons Learned
Through the Community Engagement Initiative (CEI), AUHSD continues to push their thinking around how to build a sustainable community schools model that integrates whole-child educational practices. By collaborating with and learning from other districts in CEI's Peer Leading and Learning Network, the district hopes to scale these efforts statewide. They also hope to use existing data to systematically reach out to families who may be in need, taking a more proactive approach.
AUHSD Next Steps.pdfLearn More About Anaheim Union High School District's Partners
Youth Jobs Corps (#CaliforniansForAll) is a program aimed at employing underserved youth across California to support their development in public service careers so they can help address critical issues faced by their communities.
UC Irvine - As a key partner in AUHSD’s work with the Magnolia Agriscience Community Center, UC Irvine has various programs that positively impact CA’s K-12 students which have also been used as national models.
Cal State Fullerton - The campus is another AUHSD partner that provides students with resources and services for students and families to prepare them for college in areas such as A-G, financial aid, and the admissions process.
Meet the Team
Superintendent
Assistant Superintendent of
Educational Services
Director of Community Schools, Family,
and Community Engagement
About the Community Engagement Initiative
The Community Engagement Initiative (CEI) is intended to strengthen California's System of Support by building the capacity of school districts to authentically engage one another. This includes identifying effective models of community engagement, developing metrics to evaluate those models, having difficult conversations, building trusting relationships, and participating in the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) development process.
Since 2019, the Community Engagement Initiative (CEI) has gathered students, families, community partners, educators, educational partners, and researchers to forge meaningful connections across culturally and linguistically diverse communities. The goals of these gatherings have been to share best practices for community engagement and support one another during challenging times—all while peer leading and learning from each other to accomplish these goals. This Spotlight was created from an issue of CEI's Voices from the Field, which highlight stories that offer lessons and models for other schools and districts looking to engage their communities more deeply and effectively.
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