Stevenson Elementary staff and parents presented the school's Impact social-emotional learning program at the Nov. 6 Mountain View Whisman School District Board of Trustees meeting, saying it integrates monthly values-based lessons, parent-led readings and student-led assemblies.

Megan Pullman, Stevenson staff member, said the program was “collaboratively written by teachers and parents” and noted it began after local adaptations of Project Cornerstone. She described Impact as a multi-year, sequenced curriculum tied to five Stevenson values: collaboration, community, resilience, respect and innovation.

Mackenzie Cooper, a parent and co-lead of the Impact program, said the curriculum gives the school a “common language” and is consistent year to year. “It's also a living curriculum,” Cooper said, “so we're always getting feedback from teachers and readers and kids and staff, and just making it the best that it can be.”

Instructional coach Kyle Hillebrecht told trustees the program is designed to center students. "Parents and teachers talking together about ... tweaks we can make based on the needs of the kids in our class right now," Hillebrecht said, describing how lessons are adjusted for developmental levels and classroom needs.

Program components include a monthly focus on a single value at each grade level, read-aloud books chosen for diversity of authors and themes, parent classroom readers trained to deliver lessons, and student-led "Fever Friday" assemblies where grade-level teams present work tied to the monthly value. Teachers said lessons build year over year: kindergarten activities (for example, learning to jump rope) are later referenced in first-grade lessons to reinforce perseverance and skill growth.

Parents described volunteer structures that sustain the program: one to two trained parent readers per classroom and a parent-run Impact Book Club that meets several times a year to discuss adult-facing material aligned to the student curriculum.

Trustees thanked presenters and invited board members to visit Stevenson on the board's upcoming site visit. The board did not take action on the program; the presentation was for information and community engagement.

Stevenson's materials and presenters emphasized collaboration between parents and staff and said the program has been adapted several times (including pandemic-era shifts to online delivery) to remain responsive to student needs.