Fostering belonging across the middle-to-high school transition

With funding from Stanford’s Office of Community Engagement, Gardner Center researchers are collaborating with three school districts to understand and address systemic barriers that prevent marginalized youth from developing a sense of belonging when they enter high school.

The challenge

School transitions are a difficult time for all youth. Many young people struggle to feel a sense of belonging when they transition from middle school to high school, especially when this involves moving into larger, more diverse settings where they may find themselves in the numerical minority for the first time. This challenge is especially acute in places like Silicon Valley that are characterized by vast racial and socioeconomic inequities.

This matters because when students don’t feel like they belong, they feel less motivated to engage at school, which has a negative impact on their academic and socio-emotional development. On the other hand, when they feel a sense of belonging, students are more likely to participate and thrive academically and socially.

The solution

The Gardner Center has collaborated for many years with the Sequoia Union High School District as well as the Redwood City and Ravenswood City school districts. Together, the group identified this challenge and a lack of systemic supports to help marginalized youth.

Gardner Center researchers convened staff from all three districts to:

Develop a shared agenda for fostering a sense of belonging during the high school transition
Gather youth and family perspectives about the high school transition and the factors that signal belonging to them
Engage with Stanford experts to understand best practices that improve equitable access to opportunities for belonging when youth transition to high school

Key takeaways

Research conducted by the Gardner Center team reveals that the experiences that shape students’ and parents’ sense of belonging occur in various contexts, including classrooms, school clubs, afterschool programs, and unstructured spaces where students interact with peers and/or staff. Their work highlights promising areas for improvement:

Support for learning and achievement in the more rigorous academic environment of high school

Facilitation of peer connections inside and outside the classroom

Acknowledgment and appreciation for different aspects of students' identities

More support for parents in navigating the institutional aspects of the high school transition