33 Students
referred
through CARE 345
Youth benefited
from the SPBCSI 21
Youth in
SPBCSI programs
Health &
Wellness
The Beacon Director prioritized creating a strong and transparent CARE system over the school year. They collaborated with the School Community Outreach Worker (SCOW) to create written guidance for teachers on how to log a referral and its purpose. This coordination helped create better follow-up, tracking, and support for Riverside students.
Family
Engagement
Even though it was the Beacon Director and Principal’s first year at Riverside, they both relied on previous fun -filled Riverside events to invite families on campus.
They organized many longstanding events that families and students appreciated and enjoyed.
School
Culture &
Climate
The Beacon Director greatly valued positive school culture and climate. They collaborated with the Recess Coach to plan games, tournaments, and challenges that encouraged all students to participate and build relationships among themselves and adults at the school. They also conducted a family and student needs assessment to better assess the community’s needs and created targeted plans for next year.
Riverside Elementary School
2023-24 School Profile
Lead Agency: Bay Area Community Resources (BACR)
100%
of youth say this
program has helped
them care more about
school
100%
of youth say they learn
how to make goals
100%
of youth say in this
program adults care
about them
SAN PABLO BEACON COMMUNITY
SCHOOLS INITIATIVE
San Pablo Beacon Community Schools Initiative Page 2
Riverside Elementary School Profile
City Investments
Each San Pablo school worked with a lead agency. The City granted each lead agency staffing and program funding to support the overall implementation of the San Pablo Beacon Community Schools Initiative at that school site.
Staffing
Beacon Director
The Beacon Director provided leadership and implementation of the San Pablo Beacon Community Schools strategy at Riverside. 1 Full-time position
Grant Strategies: Coordination of Community Schools
Agency: Bay Area Community Resources (BACR)
Program
Young HERO Leadership Group
The Young HERO was a peer leadership development program. Students supported during school events and created a safe environment during recess.
21 Youth served
Grant Strategy: Youth Development & Leadership
Agency: Bay Area Community Resources (BACR)
“What I like about this program is that people help other people like when you’re new. Young HEROES help people in school or anywhere. One thing I learned from this program is that 'helping feels better than playing.’”— Riverside student1
“What I like about this program is that I get to help people.”— Riverside student Events
The Beacon Director organized a variety of events throughout the school year to improve school culture and climate and engage with parents and families.
1 Youth quotes are modified in length and for clarity.
San Pablo Beacon Community Schools Initiative Page 3
Riverside Elementary School Profile
30 Events
254
Average
Student Attendance*
57 Average
Family Attendance*
2023-24 Riverside Events
Easter
Eggstravaganza
This Easter Egg Hunt was hosted by teachers and sixth grade students .
Students engaged in an egg hunt and other fun activities.
Family
Engagement
Learning Institute
The one-day Family Engagement Learning Institute aimed to build the capacity of school teams to develop and evaluate family engagement practices to improve academic outcomes.
Field Day
Día de los Niños
This event was a summer carnival themed field day event for Día de los Niños / Cinco de Mayo.
Literacy Night
(Family Reunion)
The Literacy Night featured Read-aloud sessions by authors Ryan Matias and Elaine Miller, followed by interactive stations with games, book signings, and photo opportunities with the authors. The evening concluded with a raffle offering literacy games, grocery gift cards, and other donations.
Source: Cityspan Events data, August 2024. *Averages calculated across events that provided attendance data.
San Pablo Beacon Community Schools Initiative Page 4
Riverside Elementary School Profile
Youth Outcomes
San Pablo Beacon Community Schools Initiative programs are rooted in positive youth development practice. Youth survey data suggest programs are helping youth build personal and social competencies.
Figure 1: Youth felt empowered and supported.
Figure 2: Youth developed social competencies.
Figure 3: Youth demonstrated commitment to learning.
Source: Youth Surveys (N=20), 2023-24. Surveys are from programs directly funded by the SPBCSI or led by a Beacon Director.
This represents a subset of the total programs offered at the school. 89%
94%
95%
95%
This program has helped me to stay away from fights.
This program has helped me to try harder in school.
I like this program.
In this program I feel safe.
70%
90%
95%
100%
In this program I can go to an adult for advice.
In this program I learn how to work out my problems.
This program has helped me to say "no" to things I know are wrong.
In this program the adults care about me.
83%
84%
100%
100%
This program has helped me to like school more.
This program has helped me to pay attention in class more.
This program has helped me to care more about my school.
In this program I learn how to make goals.
San Pablo Beacon Community Schools Initiative Page 5
Riverside Elementary School Profile
Community Schools Coordination
For the 2023-24 school year, San Pablo schools focused on implementing the San Pablo Beacon Community Schools Initiative priorities focused on health and wellness, family engagement, and school culture and climate. In this section, we summarize findings drawn from interviews with the school’s Principal, Beacon Director, and lead agency supervisor, as well as documents provided by the City of San Pablo.
In spring 2024, the Riverside Beacon Director left to pursue new professional opportunities. They had great progress in creating stronger CARE team coordination and communication systems over the course of the year. They collaborated closely with the Recess Coaches and School Community Outreach Worker (SCOW) to create positive and enriching opportunities for students. Families also engaged in fun events like a Literacy and Math night where they engage d in academic opportunities for their student’s academic achievement.
Health and Wellness
“The Beacon Director coordinates the services with the full-time clinician. They're here on site and so she helps coordinate their services. She meets with them and collaborates with them regarding the students that they serve and support them. She coordinates and leads our CARE team.” — Principal The Beacon Director created and coordinated new CARE referral systems for Riverside. In the past, staff were not as proactive in recording or collecting data on services that students received because check-ins were more informal. This year the Beacon Director collaborated with the School Psychologist to create a CARE team
form and referral protocol document
with messaging about the CARE team
role and the importance of recording
information. The CARE team met
once every couple of weeks to review
new and ex isting referrals. The new
CARE systems allowed staff to grow
their confidence with reporting and
better serve students’ needs.
The Beacon Director collaborated with
Riverside’s two part -time Recess
Coaches to plan recess games and
sports tournaments. The coaches created a basketball league that inspired more students to be involved in sports. Not only was physical activity and enrichment a priority this year, but so were
San Pablo Beacon Community Schools Initiative Page 6
Riverside Elementary School Profile
gardening and nutrition programming. Students were engaged in a variety of healthy activities throughout the year and received resources on how to incorporate healthy habits daily.
Figure 4: CARE referrals
Students referred
◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼
School overall
◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼
35 referrals for
33 unduplicated students
6 out of 10 (64%) students referred were
Latinx.
Academic Needs referrals
were most common.
10% of the student
population was referred.
Most students referred were in 3nd grade. 7 out of 10
students referred were female.
Sources: Cityspan Crisis Assessment Referral and Evaluation (CARE) data, August 2024; CDE, DataQuest 2023-24 Enrollment Data, accessed August 2024.
Family Engagement
“I have such a strong SCOW and there's a very strong culture around family and community that's kind of baked into Riverside and teachers who are just interested in that type of work, it's been something I haven't needed to be as hands-on around. So I'm more coming from a place of support, promotional materials, flyers, copy, and bringing in parent volunteers.” — Beacon Director 10%
20%
30%
40%
Health
Social
Emotional
Academic
10%
6% 6% 6% 6%
33%
18% 18%
6%
Pre-K K 1 2 3 4 5 6
Students referred School overall
33%
53%
67%
47%
Students
referred
School
overall
San Pablo Beacon Community Schools Initiative Page 7
Riverside Elementary School Profile
It has been two years since Riverside welcomed families back on campus . Since then, there have been many family engagement successes. Families were engaged with a lot of different events, committees, coffee chats, and meetings during the year. Staff worked together to recruit family volunteers for recess duty and family events. The Beacon Director worked with the teacher leads at the school to plan a literacy night for families and students. During the event, two authors came and signed books for students throughout the night and rea d to the attendees. Students also left with multiple resources and books to take home. The
school administration reported that family engagement
was strong because of the Beacon Director’s work in
outreaching and welcoming families back to campus.
Another way families came on campus was through the
sports tournaments , which the Recess Coach
coordinated to help build community at Riverside.
During the sports tournaments, students played and
made friends with new students and formed supportive
sports teams. Not only did students create positive
teams, but families also came together and connected
with one another . Caregivers who may not have
normally talked with one another were sharing
conversations, food, and good spirited fun. The sports
tournaments were a huge success in welcoming families
onto campus to support their students.
School Culture and Climate
“We were continuously trying to create more opportunities to build a more positive school culture and climate. So continued support with school leaders and our school leaders are under our HERO program we've done, so those school leaders help out on the yard. And we just created opportunities. And this year we're also doing a needs assessment. So bringing in student voices, adult voices, community voices.” — Principal
The Beacon Director understood and prioritized enrichment opportunities and utilized the Young HERO program to build a positive school culture and climate. They led the group to facilitate playtime and organize games for students during recess. This program fostered belonging among the students and they were able to plan cultural events like the African American Read-In. During this event, the Beacon Director and HERO program students invited Black/African American readers, authors, and community leaders to connect with students. These students represented their school well and support ed more robust Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) systems by encouraging their peers to connect compassionately with one another.
San Pablo Beacon Community Schools Initiative Page 8
Riverside Elementary School Profile
The Beacon Director worked closely with administration to support culture and climate of staff by building communication systems. They created more opportunities to communicate with one another outside of email by holding more consistent staff meetings and improving the working relationship of staff. This was a priority because previously there were not regular staff meetings or a way to formally connect with one another. This year, the Beacon Director and administration worked diligently to address staff climate concerns and improve communication by holding regular scheduled staff meetings and opening more communication channels through surveys and other modes.
Over the course of the year, the
Beacon Director conducted a needs
assessment and confirmed next year’s
school priorities. These priorities
included improving communication
among school staff , planning more
field trips, and offering more
enrichment programming. Students
recommended going to an amusement
park, beach, or soccer game for their
preferred field trips. The needs
assessment illuminated the need for
communication systems and more
opportunities for student and family
school involvement moving forward.
Lessons Learned
At the close of the interviews, the Principal and Beacon Director reflected on their experiences from the past year and shared their plans for the coming school year.
• “So I would say our activities, coordination, support from our community school director. I feel really good about us bringing alternative programs to the school with support from the district.” – Principal
• “We have a very eager present school community. I know that other sites have talked about struggles of people not showing up to things, and I don't feel like that that's been a problem really in terms of culture events. If you call a meeting on -site, people will usually go, most people will come. Family
engagement events are usually very well attended. And so I can see that that's just a natural strength of the school . It is just people wanting to show up, wanting to be part of whatever is going on.”– Beacon Director
San Pablo Beacon Community Schools Initiative Page 9
Riverside Elementary School Profile
Plans for Next Year
The Principal and Beacon Director also took time to share their plans for the coming school year. • Orient the incoming Beacon Director to the role and create robust systems with inspiration from the needs assessment.
• Include teachers in shared decision making and create improved staff communication systems.
“This year we're doing a needs
assessment. So bringing in
student voices, adult voices,
community voices. That was
some work that they started last
year and we're actually getting
that needs assessment out this
year so we can get the voices
that we need. And bringing
voices is always big for culture
and climate. Everyone feeling
like they're being heard and
we're doing something with that
data is key.” — Principal