The Livingston Union Faculty District improved power absenteeism, suspensions and pupil well-being by investing in class counselors, in response to a brand new examine by the UCLA Heart for the Transformation of Faculties.
The examine examines how Livingston Union, a small, five-campus Ok-8 faculty district in Merced County, applied complete faculty counseling — a system of built-in tutorial and psychological well being assist for college kids and households — to outpace California on key metrics of post-pandemic restoration.
Livingston Union lowered power absenteeism from a post-pandemic peak of 18.3% in 2023 to 14.2% in spring 2024, exceeding a objective of decreasing power absenteeism by 3% by the top of the college 12 months, in response to the examine. In 2024, California reported a power absenteeism fee of about 20% statewide.
LUSD additionally lowered suspension charges from 3.4% to 2.8% between 2022 and 2023. In the identical time-frame, California’s suspension charges jumped from 3.1% to three.5% between 2022 and 2023. The district’s suspension fee for college kids with disabilities additionally decreased by 5.5% between 2011-2012 and 2018-2019, whereas colleges throughout Merced County noticed a rise in suspensions.
Alma Lopez, lead faculty counselor at Livingston Union, mentioned that college counselors run common “pupil data reviews” and meet with college students who’re incomes a number of Fs in sure topics, struggling to make it to high school, or have acquired a number of workplace referrals for detention or suspensions.
“We’re trying on the information to establish the scholars initially, after which digging slightly deeper to attempt to discover what’s the basis reason for the problem they’re having,” Lopez mentioned. “After which what could possibly be an intervention for that pupil in a selected scenario.”
A pupil struggling to finish assignments, for instance, could possibly be inspired to affix a six- to eight-week group intervention on motivation and progress, whereas one other would possibly be a part of a tutoring group targeted on examine abilities. A pupil combating power absences may obtain assist with transportation, whereas one other may join classes with a medical or psychological well being supplier to handle well being points.
Alma Lopez, lead faculty counselor, helps show school banners at Livingston Center Faculty.
(Geneva Sum / EdSource)
The examine additionally discovered that college counseling usually improved pupil belonging, security and well-being at Livingston Union. Within the 2019–2020 faculty 12 months, about 8 in 10 college students demonstrated excessive tutorial motivation and felt well-supported in social-emotional studying, whereas 2 in 10 reported frequent disappointment, which remained about the identical for the following two faculty years.
Elizabeth Alvarez, a father or mother of a seventh-grade pupil at Livingston Center Faculty, reached out to a college counselor after her daughter began experiencing anxiousness and abdomen aches throughout her transition from elementary faculty to center faculty. Alvarez mentioned her daughter already knew she may go to her counselor for assist as a result of she had interacted along with her counselor throughout campus actions at lunch and within the classroom.
“When my daughter met along with her, and she or he got here dwelling and confirmed us all this stuff that the counselor had given her — all these methods, video games and handouts about coping abilities — after which the counselor touching base with us, it was straightforward for us to realize that belief,” Alvarez mentioned. “It’s been three years, and my daughter nonetheless has all of these handouts, some on the fridge, some in her bed room.”
College students who’ve steady assist from a trusted counselor report higher tutorial and psychological well being outcomes, in response to EdResearch for Motion. For Bishop, the creator of the UCLA examine, Livingston Union’s progress displays that very same precept on a bigger scale.
“What strikes me about Livingston is their management stability,” mentioned Bishop. “In different case research, there’s plenty of turnover. The work [Livingston Union] is doing speaks to the concept that you want leaders to stay round for good issues to occur.”
In contrast to most faculties in California, Livingston Union counselors meet with each pupil and their household in fourth and seventh grades to debate any tutorial and private challenges. In addition they train classes in profession steering or social-emotional studying, present one-on-one counseling for college kids, and join dad and mom to sources like meals banks, grief counselors and authorized help.
“The truth that we’ve got these long-lasting relationships permits us to work intently with our households, as a result of they know us they usually belief us,” mentioned Lopez, who has been a counselor at Livingston Union for 20 years. “When a household leaves my room, they usually say, ‘When are we going to see you once more?’ they’re seeing worth in that intentional time devoted to every pupil and their household.”
Alvarez, who grew up on a farm in rural Merced County and attended Livingston Excessive Faculty, mentioned she struggled to navigate her personal journey as a first-generation school pupil with none steering at college. In an agricultural county the place many dad and mom work 12- to 16-hour shifts a day, Alvarez mentioned Livingston Unified’s counselors fill a crucial function in serving to information a pupil’s future.
In the course of the surge in psychological well being requests on the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, LUSD additionally made a robust pivot to distant counseling, classroom classes and alternatives for social interplay by digital recess and sport nights, Lopez mentioned. In addition they supplied assist for kids who misplaced essential social-emotional growth abilities.
“We’re seeing new dynamics with behaviors and changes to studying,” mentioned LUSD Supt. Andrés Zamora within the examine. “To at the present time, we dwell a few of that, and our counselors are taking the lead on how we assist studying and are being very influential in how that impacts school rooms.”
For a lot of college students, early and dependable intervention in the course of the pandemic made a long-lasting distinction. Lopez recalled when a mom reached out for assist after her son had misplaced his father and three different members of the family in the course of the pandemic.
“The primary time I met him, he was in a fetal place with a blanket wrapped round him, simply actually hurting. And every time that I might meet with him nearly, I might see slightly bit extra of him in his area, sitting up, holding his child sister, beginning to open up,” Lopez mentioned.
After colleges reopened, Lopez mentioned that the scholar walked into her counseling workplace and requested to proceed speaking about his grief.
“The impression in his attendance, grades and studying easy methods to advocate for what he felt he wanted was fairly exceptional to see,” Lopez mentioned.
Vani Sanganeria is a reporter for EdSource, a nonprofit, nonpartisan journalism group protecting training in California.
