Student Wellbeing, Engagement, and Belonging

ESSER III funds have helped LEAs make progress toward student academic recovery by supporting the whole child. Students’ feelings of wellbeing and belonging are essential to their success. Schools environments that are conducive to positive, responsive learning create an atmosphere wherein students can thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted and exacerbated students’ social, emotional, and mental health needs. Students reported higher levels of mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety due to periods of isolation and remote/hybrid learning. Student behavioral needs also increased when they returned to in-person classes. In Colorado, chronic absenteeism is higher among some student groups, especially Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native, Free/Reduced Meal Eligible, and Hispanic/Latino.

Potential Investment Strategies

The student wellbeing, engagement, and belonging landscape is complex and multi-faceted. To support student needs, LEAs should consider five interconnected foundational concepts.

• School/LEA Environment: The overall physical, emotional, psychological, and social context. A positive, inclusive, and supportive environment raises student potential to attend school regularly and thrive in academics and other arenas. 
• Relationships: Interpersonal connections within the community. Strong relationships within the school environment/community forge trust, which buffers stress and raises students' potential to thrive.
• Health and Wellbeing: Social, emotional, physical, and mental health. When the health and wellbeing of the whole person is optimized, student quality of life and outcomes improve.
• Social Emotional and Behavioral Competencies: Skills, attitudes, knowledge, and actions necessary for positive human development and interactions. When these competencies are taught and promoted, students have more positive interactions with others. 
• Engaging Learning Practices: Actions, beliefs, and expectations that encourage and equitably support all students to become life-long learners. Evidence-based LEA and school interventions, actions, beliefs, and expectations support academic growth. 

For more information about the five foundational concepts of student wellbeing, engagement, and belonging, visit CDE’s Landscape of Wellbeing and Belonging. 

A variety of LEA-wide, schoolwide, and targeted-assistance strategies and interventions support student wellbeing, engagement, and belonging. Interventions can be geared towards students, staff, and/or administrators. LEAs can choose from a vast menu of interventions and supports including, but not limited to, professional development (PD) for staff and administrators, implementation of Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), Positive Behavioral Interventions (PBIS), dropout prevention and credit recovery programs, social emotional learning (SEL) skills development, bullying prevention, use of trauma-informed practices, and school counseling. 

For more information about strategies and interventions that support student wellbeing, engagement, and belonging, visit 

• U.S. Department of Education’s Raising the Bar: Strategies to Improve Student Achievement
• CDE’s Landscape of Wellbeing and Belonging
• CDE’s Wellbeing and Connectedness

Potential Funding Sources

Although ESSER III funds are coming to an end, LEAs must continue to support students as they regain pre-pandemic levels and beyond. Many LEAs plan to do this by continuing successful programs and activities that support the students’ wellbeing, engagement, and belonging. Fortunately, a variety of funding streams can be blended and/or braided together to support these efforts. As LEAs decide which activities to support, it is important to note that all Title-funded activities must be connected to the LEA’s comprehensive needs assessment (CNA) and be supplemental in nature.

• Title I, Part A: Funds can be used for a wide range of both academic and non-academic activities, beyond reading and mathematics, that support a well-rounded education and academic achievement. Potentially funded activities include, but are not limited to, expanding access to more engaging classes, mentoring, counseling, relevant PD, behavior supports, strategies to improve school climate, MTSS programs, and transitional programs for early-grade students. 

• Title II, Part A: Supports activities such as evidence-based PD, dedicated teacher time to review student data, programs that meet the needs of early-grade students (including transition from Pre-K to kindergarten), training staff how to refer students dealing with trauma or mental health issues for additional support, recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce, reducing class size, and more. Title II-funded activities must be supplemental and cannot supplant activities that: (1) are required under other federal, state, or local laws, (2) were funded with state or local funds in prior years, or (3) would be implemented absent ESEA funds. 

• Title IV, Part A: Activities include, but are not limited to, offering courses that engage students in all areas of a well-rounded education, improving instructional practices around relationship-building, suicide prevention, culturally responsive teaching, drug and violence prevention, school-based health and mental health services, and mentoring. 

• IDEA, Part B, Section 611: While most IDEA funding is directed towards providing special education and related services, there is wide-ranging eligibility for programming. Examples of programs allowable under IDEA include providing specific behavioral interventions and supports included in student IEPs, paying for part of a schoolwide positive behavior support system or other early intervention services, implementing Universal Design for Learning strategies, coaching and mentoring staff, and secondary transition services. 

For more information about how LEAs can utilize Title and IDEA funds to sustain student wellbeing, engagement, and belonging investments, utilize the CCSSO’s Pandemic Recovery and Beyond: Sustaining Investments in Student Wellbeing and Engagement with U.S. Department of Education Federal Formula Funds resource book. 

For information about additional funding streams available to help LEAs sustain investments in student well-being, engagement, and belonging, visit Funding Sources.

For help working through the process of determining how to allocate funds to support any investments that fall under student wellbeing, engagement, and belonging, utilize this companion document.

Sources

• Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), Sustaining Recovery Investments with Federal Formula Funds: Student Wellbeing and Engagement document
• North Dakota Department of Public Instruction, Funding Your Plan: Best Practice to Sustain Investments document
• U.S. Department of Education, Raise the Bar: Strategies to Improve Student Achievement website