A culture of belonging, safety and care

Theoretical Foundations

The theoretical framework, Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory, helps explain how students’ sense of school belonging is shaped by multiple layers of their social environment, not just by individual characteristics. As Allen, Kern, Vella-Brodrick, Hattie, and Waters (2018) describe, belonging is influenced by factors at the individual level (such as student identity), the relational level (such as relationships with teachers and peers), and the organizational level (such as school culture and practices). All of these sit within a broader political, geographic, and cultural context that is unique to each school community. The socio-ecological model therefore suggests that a sense of belonging emerges from the interaction of factors across these interconnected layers, rather than from any single source (Allen et al., 2018).

A growing body of research demonstrates that a strong sense of school belonging is linked to a wide range of positive student outcomes. In their meta-analytic review, Korpershoek, Canrinus, Fokkens-Bruinsma, and de Boer (2020) found consistent positive associations between school belonging and students’ motivational outcomes (such as mastery goal orientation), social-emotional factors (including self-concept and self-efficacy), and multiple forms of behavioral engagement. The review also identified a small but reliable positive correlation between belonging and academic achievement. Students with lower levels of belonging showed an elevated risk of absenteeism and dropout, reflected in a small negative correlation between belonging and absence/dropout rates. These patterns were observed across diverse student populations, varying by grade level, socioeconomic status, and geographic region.

Strategies & Best Practices

There are multiple strategies schools can incorporate into daily routines and school culture; these include trauma-informed instruction, SEL (social-emotional learning), and restorative practices. These strategies create an environment that is welcoming, fosters trust, and allows all members to feel safe when navigating conflict or taking risks.

School staff play a critical role in noticing and responding to students’ trauma because they work closely with children every day and directly observe how trauma affects learning, behavior, and relationships. According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN, 2017), a systems framework for creating and sustaining trauma-informed schools emphasizes helping students build emotional regulation skills, strengthening connections with families, and supporting healthy relationships, which allows educators to improve students’ well-being while advancing school goals for learning and achievement. Trauma-informed instruction builds resilience by preparing school staff to respond to the needs of the whole child and creates a school system that provides trauma awareness, skills, and knowledge as part of school culture, everyday practices, and policies in collaboration with families and community agencies.

Building trauma-informed instruction, schools increasingly integrate SEL into everyday practice. SEL instruction fosters positive relationships with caring adults, enhances problem-solving and self-regulation skills, increases perceived efficacy and control, boosts achievement motivation, creates positive relationships (e.g., friendships), develops beliefs that life has meaning, and helps students access effective teachers and schools (Kichler & Kaugars, 2015). Through fostering these factors, SEL instruction has been shown to promote positive mental health outcomes in students (i.e., reducing anxiety and depression), improve academic performance, and help students build positive relationships with others.

Building on social-emotional learning’s focus on self-regulation, empathy, and healthy relationships, many schools are turning to restorative practices as a complementary approach to create community, repair harm, and strengthen school climate. Restorative practices in schools represent a shift from traditional zero tolerance policies. As Zehr (2002) notes, the paradigm shift of restorative practices emphasizes addressing harm and the needs generated by wrongdoing, rather than simply punishing behavior.

Role of Key Practice 5, A Culture of Belonging, Safety and Care in Bettering Students’ Lives

When strategies such as trauma-informed instruction, SEL (social-emotional learning), and restorative practices are consistently implemented, they create a supportive school culture that promotes positive outcomes for students, including improved academic achievement, social-emotional skills, and overall well-being. In a survey conducted by the LANL Foundation (2021) in December 2020 and January 2021, 573 educators from 88 schools across 20 local education agencies, including tribal, rural, and charter schools, provided insight into their understanding and use of SEL in classrooms. The study found that when SEL is effectively implemented, it fosters school environments that are caring, collaborative, culturally and linguistically responsive, and safe (LANL Foundation, 2021).

State-level policy and practice briefs highlight how community-school models integrate key practices such as SEL and restorative approaches. For example, the Learning Policy Institute (LPI, 2021) brief, New Mexico Community Schools: Improving Student Opportunities and Outcomes, profiles several New Mexico schools that implemented restorative practices, wellness rooms, and other community-school supports to foster a culture of belonging, safety, and care. These initiatives were associated with positive perceived outcomes, including stronger relationships, improved school climate, student-led conflict resolution, reduced feelings of unsafety, and enhanced social-emotional wellness.

Together, these findings highlight that integrating trauma-informed instruction, SEL, and restorative practices within schools not only strengthens school culture but also supports students’ academic, social, and emotional growth, highlighting the critical role of Key Practice 5 in transforming schools and education systems.

Outcomes

Implementation of the identified strategies for Community Schools Key Practice 5 has been associated with positive outcomes across academic performance, whole-child development, and school climate. SEL instruction, in particular, has demonstrated consistent improvements in student academic outcomes, including attendance, course performance, and standardized test scores. Meta-analytic research indicates that students participating in SEL instruction show an approximate 11-percentile gain in academic achievement compared to control groups (Durlak et al., 2011).

While fewer studies have examined trauma-informed and restorative practices at the whole-school level, available evidence suggests that these approaches support student engagement and learning by fostering safe, predictable, and responsive learning environments (Chafouleas et al., 2016). Schools can track these outcomes using measures such as attendance records, grades, formative assessment results, behavioral referrals, and graduation rates.

Together, these findings highlight that implementing Key Practice 5 within the community school strategy not only supports measurable academic gains but also promotes students’ social-emotional growth and a positive, safe, and inclusive school climate.

Conclusion

The literature demonstrates that Key Practice 5 of the community school strategy, fostering a culture of belonging, safety, and care, is central to supporting both academic and social-emotional outcomes for students. Research consistently shows that trauma informed instruction, social- emotional learning (SEL), and restorative practices contribute to creating safe, inclusive, and responsive school environments. SEL, in particular, has strong empirical support, with meta-analytic evidence indicating improvements in academic achievement, attendance, and social-emotional skills (Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger, 2011). Trauma-informed and restorative approaches further enhance school climate by promoting predictable routines, emotional regulation, relationship-building, and conflict resolution, although the evidence is primarily descriptive or quasi-experimental (Chafouleas, Johnson, Overstreet, & Santos, 2016; Learning Policy Institute [LPI], 2021).

References