Battle Ground committee recommends Wayfinder SEL after yearlong pilot; staff to seek board direction

A committee convened by the Battle Ground School District recommended the district adopt Wayfinder as a high‑school social‑emotional learning (SEL) curriculum after a yearlong review and a pilot involving roughly 250–300 students.

The recommendation, presented July 28 at a special work session of the Battle Ground School District Board of Directors, came after the district’s SEL adoption committee ran pilots of two vendors, gathered student and staff feedback and reviewed research and implementation options. Eric Sechsdorf, staff member, told the board the committee held seven meetings over the last year and narrowed 13 initial proposals down to four vendors before piloting two programs.

Why it matters: the committee said Wayfinder would give every high‑school student access to a consistent SEL and future‑skills curriculum and supply resources for counselors and intervention staff. The proposal is tied to the district’s Project AWARE grant; the committee said the grant includes $100,000 per year allocated for a high‑school SEL curriculum. That funding is earmarked within Project AWARE and would cover licensing and rollout costs for core Wayfinder offerings; optional items such as printed workbooks or some add‑on collections (for athletes, adults, etc.) would add extra cost.

What the committee heard and found

Wayfinder representatives described the program’s origin and scope in the presentation. “Wayfinder started back in 2015 at the Stanford d.school,” said Matt Wynn, Wayfinder representative. Wynn and colleague Brian Grow described…