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Long Beach, Calif., uses cohorts, teacher facilitation and an outside firm to build support in all K-8 schools

Implementing wellness programs districtwide requires school system leaders to develop strategies that will make programs take hold across all schools even as funding sources and circumstances may change.

Our district in Long Beach, Calif., is partnering with Harmony Academy, which provides core relationship-building and life skills training and digital materials at no cost. We had worked with them in cohorts of schools several years ago and chose them for districtwide implementation across our 54 K-8 elementary schools two years ago.

Harmony’s curriculum is comprehensive enough for teachers to integrate into their classrooms, and their tools are easy to use by those who want to simply focus on introducing specific practices that only require five to 20 minutes a day. This allows the program to become a tool in the teachers’ toolbox to help their students regulate emotions, collaborate with one another and solve problems together.