West Kern Consortium
Evaluation Summary

To improve the offerings for their youngest students, the WKC opened a new preschool facility at Lost Hills and enrolled more than 40 students annually into the preschool program.

In 2022/23, Lost Hills secured a California Preschool grant to fund two classrooms, and now have more staff than in previous years of the grant.

The WKC afterschool program is a three-hour, three-day-per-week program providing one hour each of the following activities: tutoring, intervention, or homework to help meet individual needs; physical activity and sports; and enrichment focused on project-based STEM activities.

In year five, the WKC achieved success with afterschool program enrollment: Maple enrolled 113 students and Semitropic enrolled 53 students, exceeding their enrollment target.

Before the FSCS grant, Maple and Semitropic had not had a summer program in their districts in many years. Through the FSCS grant, they were able to provide summer programming for 140 K-8 students on a variety of STEM concepts and activities.

The expanded learning opportunities received high praise from leadership, teachers, staff, and students and exceeded enrollment targets. In the 2022/23 academic year, students at Lost Hills, Maple, and Semitropic enjoyed robust afterschool programs offering academic support and extracurricular activities such music, cooking, and sports.

WKC districts continue to make progress in providing math coaching to their teachers, through the middle school math coach and virtual coaching offered through the Mathematical Quality of Instruction (MQI) Coaching Institute.

Those supports, coupled with PLC meetings and implementing the Data Wise process, resulted in the continued growth in student math proficiency across all districts.

The WKC developed the role of the community school coordinators as part of the FSCS grant, and they continue to play an essential role in engaging the community. Leadership and teachers highlighted the vital role that community school coordinators play in the success of the districts and being a bridge between school leadership and parents and the community.

Lost Hills implemented the Parent Institute for Quality Education (Family Literacy Program), a 10-week course serving 51 parents of K-3 students, resulting in increases in at-home literacy behaviors.

Community events serve as a means to engage families and community members in the schools. The WKC continued to hold in-person events throughout the 2022/23 school year, with leadership sharing that the districts held more regular family and community events this year.

The WKC partnered with the KCSOS’ School Social Worker Program and the Kern County Superintendent of Schools’ AmeriCorps Mentor Program to provide social and mental health supports for their students and families. These supports are intended to improve a number of student academic and behavioral outcomes, including attendance.

The varied mental health and social/emotional supports provided to students and families through the different community partners was a success noted by leadership, teachers, parents, coordinators, and students. The triad of community school coordinators, school social workers, and AmeriCorps mentors were instrumental in creating a positive school climate, correcting challenging student behaviors, and supporting students.

The Mentor/Mentee program was highlighted by leadership, teachers, community school coordinators, and students for providing meaningful moments of connection. Students stated that they felt seen, heard, and valued by their mentors, and staff shared how excited students were throughout the year for meeting days.

Staffing. The WKC continues to deal with issues related to staffing. In previous years, the districts had trouble finding qualified staff. However, in 2022/23, the districts seemed to have more issues with retaining qualified staff to support the various programming options for students. Preschool staff, school social workers, coordinators, and AmeriCorps mentors were all positions that went through staffing changes.

Supporting Spanish-speaking parents. Community school coordinators, teachers, and school social workers revealed a continued need for districts to better support Spanish-speaking parents. Community school coordinators and teachers requested more training to improve their Spanish-speaking skills and better serve the parents.

Reduction in chronic absenteeism. In 2022/23, the WKC saw a 3 percent improvement in the chronic absenteeism rate across the districts (15% in 2022/23 school year, compared to 18% in the 2021/22). The chronic absenteeism rate for the WKC is less than the rate for all of Kern County. Strategies to address chronic absenteeism include: talking to students and parents and letting them know how many days they missed and reminding them why it is important to attend school; calling home every time a student is absent; staff welcoming children and praising them when they attend school and telling them how much they are missed when they are gone; using positive rewards; picking up students who missed the bus; and planning fun events at school like dress-up days.

Sustaining funding and services. Over the last five years, the WKC has grown in reach and partners involved and made significant progress on their grant-related goals. Before this project began, the Children’s Cabinet of West Kern, the preschool facility, and summer programs did not exist, math proficiency was at 16 percent for the consortium, the role of community school coordinator only existed in one of the districts, and case management services and AmeriCorps mentoring was unavailable to students. As detailed, each pipeline of the FSCS has been implemented successfully and will continue to be sustained after the grant through the thoughtful braiding of resources including a Preschool State grant, Expanded Learning Opportunities Program (ELOP) funding, the California Community Schools Partnership Grant, Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) funds, Title 1 funds, the School Climate Transformation grant, and Student Behavioral Health Incentive Program (SBHIP) funding.

Evaluation report

September 2023

Full-Service Community Schools

Grant #U215J180104, funded by the

U.S. Department of Education