What goals are grantees prioritizing and how are they making progress in meeting these goals?
Overview of Goals and Actions in Year 3
This section of the APR documents how grantees translate community priorities into clear goals and aligned actions. The questions assess the coherence, intentionality, and feasibility of planned implementation strategies.
As indicated in the CCSPP application and implementation process, schools are expected to prioritize the key topics, goals, and challenges identified in their Needs and Assets Assessment. As part of the APR, grantees were asked to submit their top three goals associated with their CCSPP implementation, in alignment with the California Community Schools Framework and the Whole Child and Family Supports Inventory.
Goal Statements
In Year 3, across Cohort 1-Cohort 3, there were a total of 5,254 school-specific goals submitted in total across 1,920 CCSPP site-level grantees. The top categories across all these goals are as follows (an example description of the goal, provided by grantees is incorporated):
1. Social-Emotional Well-Being & Mental Health:
Goal Example:
Provide consistent access to school-based mental health support through structured referral and service delivery systems.
Goal Example:
Positive and Restorative School Climate Increase Student Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Wellness
2. Attendance & Absenteeism Reduction:
Goal Example:
Reduce chronic absenteeism through early detection systems, and monthly attendance-focused family workshops.
3. Family & Community Engagement:
Goal Example:
There will be a monthly engagement of each group (students, staff, families and community partners) that centers community school work.
4. Academic Achievement & Student Learning:
Goal Example:
Increase student academic achievement by strengthening tutoring and specialist intervention systems.
5. School Climate & Shared Leadership:
Goal Example:
Implement a positive and restorative school climate.
6. Community School Framework & Whole-School Implementation:
Goal Example:
To create community Schools Team that center the voices of students, families and community.
7. Integrated Student Supports:
Goal Example:
Fill gaps in integrated support services for students.
Metrics of Success
CCSPP sites were asked to share the metrics associated with each of their school-specific goals. The most common metric selected was “other locally developed metric” (30% of the schools chose this option). Other common metrics included chronic absenteeism rates, climate measures and proficiency scores.
Within the category of “other” local measures, some common metrics were: service participation rates, socio-emotional learning surveys, school-developed surveys, family engagement, PBIS Tiered Fidelity Inventory scores, California State Seal of Civic Engagement, community partnerships growth, staff hiring and retention, among many others.
Actions
CCSPP sites also described the actions that they took to accomplish their goals. For those schools focused on improving student attendance and reducing chronic absenteeism, the top five actions that proved successful to advance this goal were:
- Family outreach and communication: Schools described actions such as creating work contracts with families and sharing attendance-related information through family and staff newsletters. Within a community schools approach, outreach is integrated with resource referral, family education, and trust-building to reduce chronic absenteeism.
Example:
Community Schools Manager trained teachers on how to have effective attendance-related conversations during family conferences.
- Attendance monitoring and data tracking: Schools described regularly reviewing attendance data, identifying trends, and responding early to patterns of chronic absenteeism. Schools use attendance teams and continuous improvement cycles to analyze data, adjust strategies, and coordinate outreach and interventions, often within community schools structures.
Example:
We strengthened our data systems to better identify trends and track interventions across student groups.
- Mental health and social-emotional support: Schools described addressing underlying social-emotional and mental health needs that impact attendance. Schools partner with local mental health agencies, provide on-campus counseling, and hire social workers to coordinate referrals. Professional development and trauma-informed practices support these efforts.
Example:
Mental health services were provided to students and families to support social-emotional needs that contributed to frequent absences.