Alum Rock Union
School District
Learning Communities for School Success Program (LCSSP)
The LCSSP was established for the purpose of implementing the K-12 education portion of the Safe Neighborhood Schools Act.
The goals of the LCSSP are to support evidence-based, non-punitive programs and practices to keep the state’s most vulnerable pupils in school, complement and enhance the actions and services identified to meet the LEA’s goals per the LEA’s LCAP.
LCSSP Cohort 7ARUSD was awarded LCSSP Cohort 7 funding of $1,170,750.00 over 3 years: 2023-24, 2024-25, 2025-26.
LCSSP funds accomplished the following objectives:
- Built and operationalized a districtwide MTSS framework by developing a shared mission statement, conducting SWIFT-FIA assessments, launching the MTSS Teacher Website, and establishing clear Tier 1 expectations across academics, behavior, and SEL—supporting consistency across all schools
- Expanded Tier 1 SEL systems across TK–8 through districtwide implementation of Sown to Grow, and Kimochis® resulting in real-time identification of student needs, faster crisis response, and targeted SEL skill-building
- Strengthened Tier 2 and Tier 3 wellness and mental health supports by increasing counseling capacity through summer/extended day staffing, expanding restorative circles and small-group supports, offering crisis response during extended programs, and partnering with Alia Innovations to provide trauma-informed, resilience-building supports to staff
- Developed a robust districtwide attendance improvement system, including the hiring of a Child Welfare Advocate (CWA) who supports sites with monthly attendance team coaching, new multilingual attendance materials, an MTSS Attendance Guide, an Attendance Barriers Survey, and more than 60 home visits conducted over two years—leading to significant reductions in chronic absenteeism
- Provided targeted transition and climate supports during unprecedented school closures and consolidations, launching a dedicated Transition Team (Hearts of Alum Rock) that created trauma-informed SEL lessons, staff reflection activities, and classroom community-building strategies districtwide to reinforce belonging, safety, and connection during times of great transition
Aligning for Wellness Presentation
One of the measures of impact of this grant has been our Panorama Survey Results.
Students, families, and staff were surveyed two times per year to gather insight into feelings of safety and connectedness for students and families, and effective discipline management, for school staff. From Fall 2022 through Spring 2025, ARUSD saw consistent upward trends across nearly all climate and safety indicators—particularly in students’ sense of safety and connection and in parents’ perceptions of school safety. These gains aligned closely with the districtwide effort to strengthen Tier 1 systems, enhance SEL supports, and improve schoolwide climate practices through ARUSD’s strengthened MTSS implementation.
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LCSSP Cohort 4
ARUSD was awarded LCSSP Cohort 4 funding of $1,100,349.00 over 3 years: 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23.
LCSSP funds accomplished the following objectives:
- Created a new SEL Department, hiring an SEL Director to oversee all training and curriculum implementation.
- Under the new Director, the SEL Department collaborated with schools and stakeholders to continue PBIS, using two award-winning schools as PBIS demonstration sites.
- Strengthened Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) district-wide, with a focuson the students with the highest level of need.
- Created an intensive training and coaching schedule for site administrators, in partnership with SCCOE, to implement PBIS.
- Developed and strengthened restorative justice and SEL at four sites.
- rovided oversight of the Counseling Internship Program, a partnership with San José State University, to ensure a counseling intern part-time at each school site.
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