2026 Conference Archive

Building Comprehensive Wellness Teams to Transform School Culture in Title I Schools

First Presenter's Highest Degree Earned

M.A.

Year First Presenter's Degree Was Awarded

2016

First Presenter's Field of Study

Education Administration

Institution Where First Presenter Received Highest Degree

National University

First Presenter's Institution

La Mesa Spring Valley Union School District

First Presenter's Brief Bio and Description of Credentials for This Presentation

Jacob Launder is a Principal on Special Assignment in La Mesa-Spring Valley School District and the founder of Jacob Launder Consulting LLC. With over a decade of experience as a principal, Jacob has led transformative change in Title I schools by reducing chronic absenteeism, suspensions, and discipline referrals while strengthening student voice and leadership. His work centers on building integrated systems of behavior support, restorative justice, and wellness teams that unite administrators, counselors, guidance staff, and social workers. Jacob was named the 2025 CASC Administrator of the Year and has presented nationally on creating thriving school cultures that promote equity and resilience for socioeconomically disadvantaged students. His field-tested strategies help schools establish Tier 1 cultures of belonging while ensuring Tier 2 and Tier 3 supports are delivered through coordinated wellness teams that keep the whole child at the center of school transformation.

Location

Scarbrough 4

Document Type

Individual Presentation

Primary Strand

School and District Leadership

Relevance to Primary Strand

This session emphasizes practical leadership strategies that strengthen climate, culture, and safety by building comprehensive wellness teams across school systems. By uniting administrators, counselors, social workers, and guidance staff, schools create sustainable structures for intervention and prevention. Participants will learn how to lead culture change using data-driven decision making, strengthen collaboration across roles, and align leadership practices that improve outcomes for all students—particularly in Title I schools where socioeconomically disadvantaged students face systemic barriers.

Alignment with School Improvement Plan Topics

Climate and Culture

Brief Program Description

This session explores how schools can transform culture by developing comprehensive wellness teams that integrate administrators, counselors, guidance staff, and social workers. Participants will learn practical strategies to create sustainable systems of intervention, foster collaboration, and ensure data-driven support for socioeconomically disadvantaged students. Drawing on field-tested practices from Title I schools, the presentation highlights how aligned leadership reduces suspensions, improves attendance, and builds resilience. Attendees will leave with tools to strengthen their own school-based teams and elevate equity-driven outcomes.

Summary

Schools face unprecedented challenges in meeting the academic, behavioral, and emotional needs of students, particularly in Title I contexts where systemic inequities magnify barriers. Building comprehensive and intentional wellness teams—comprised of administrators, counselors, guidance staff, and social workers—creates the foundation for thriving schools. This session will present a practical roadmap for developing and sustaining these teams, aligning their work with schoolwide systems of support.

Participants will explore how school leaders can use data to identify needs, guide tiered interventions, and monitor progress. The session will highlight evidence-based strategies that reduce discipline disparities, improve attendance, and increase student engagement, particularly for socioeconomically disadvantaged populations.

Drawing on field-tested results, participants will examine how cross-role collaboration enhances student outcomes and alleviates the silos that often limit school capacity. Through real-world examples, attendees will see how coordinated wellness teams can transform school climate by building strong Tier 1 foundations while ensuring timely, effective Tier 2 and Tier 3 supports.

This session emphasizes that equity is not an add-on but central to leadership. Participants will learn replicable strategies for empowering their staff to share responsibility for behavior and intervention systems, leading to schools where every student feels safe, supported, and connected. The presentation will include tools and frameworks that participants can bring back to their schools, ensuring that culture-building and student support systems are actionable, sustainable, and impactful.

Evidence

The proposed strategies are based on a decade of field-tested work transforming school culture in high-need, Title I schools. Research consistently demonstrates the effectiveness of multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS), PBIS, and restorative practices in reducing suspensions and improving student outcomes (Sugai & Horner, 2021; Darling-Hammond, 2020). In practice, schools implementing integrated wellness teams have achieved significant decreases in referrals and chronic absenteeism while increasing student engagement. Evidence from case studies also shows that comprehensive support structures improve socioemotional skills, academic persistence, and school climate, particularly for students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Learning Objective 1

Participants will be able to design a comprehensive wellness team model that unites administrators, counselors, guidance staff, and social workers.

Learning Objective 2

Participants will be able to apply data-driven strategies to monitor student behavior, attendance, and social-emotional outcomes in a tiered intervention system.

Learning Objective 3

Participants will be able to implement equity-driven leadership practices that reduce discipline disparities and strengthen culture in Title I schools.

Start Date

6-2-2026 2:15 PM

End Date

6-2-2026 3:15 PM

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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Jun 2nd, 2:15 PM Jun 2nd, 3:15 PM

Building Comprehensive Wellness Teams to Transform School Culture in Title I Schools

Scarbrough 4

Schools face unprecedented challenges in meeting the academic, behavioral, and emotional needs of students, particularly in Title I contexts where systemic inequities magnify barriers. Building comprehensive and intentional wellness teams—comprised of administrators, counselors, guidance staff, and social workers—creates the foundation for thriving schools. This session will present a practical roadmap for developing and sustaining these teams, aligning their work with schoolwide systems of support.

Participants will explore how school leaders can use data to identify needs, guide tiered interventions, and monitor progress. The session will highlight evidence-based strategies that reduce discipline disparities, improve attendance, and increase student engagement, particularly for socioeconomically disadvantaged populations.

Drawing on field-tested results, participants will examine how cross-role collaboration enhances student outcomes and alleviates the silos that often limit school capacity. Through real-world examples, attendees will see how coordinated wellness teams can transform school climate by building strong Tier 1 foundations while ensuring timely, effective Tier 2 and Tier 3 supports.

This session emphasizes that equity is not an add-on but central to leadership. Participants will learn replicable strategies for empowering their staff to share responsibility for behavior and intervention systems, leading to schools where every student feels safe, supported, and connected. The presentation will include tools and frameworks that participants can bring back to their schools, ensuring that culture-building and student support systems are actionable, sustainable, and impactful.