District leaders are facing a long list of pressing issues: youth mental health, chronic absenteeism, student behavior, engagement and belonging, academic achievement and workforce readiness—all while managing tight budgets, staffing pressures and competing priorities.

Many of those pressures share a backdrop of growing disconnection. Young people report high levels of loneliness, and a growing number are turning to AI chatbots for companionship and advice, sometimes in place of the human relationships that help them thrive.

It is tempting to tackle each challenge separately. An attendance initiative for absenteeism. An academic intervention for achievement. A behavior strategy for discipline. A wellness program for mental health.

But these challenges have something important in common: the quality of students’ relationships and their connection to school.

When students feel known by adults, connected to peers and part of their school community, they are better positioned to participate, engage and learn. That makes relationships more than a school-climate issue. They are part of the conditions for student success.

Look for the Common Denominator

For district leaders, a useful question is: What conditions could help us make progress across several priorities at once?

The research tells me that relationships are one of those conditions.

We know that healthy relationships don’t simply happen because students share a classroom. Students need opportunities to connect, skills to build and maintain relationships, and environments that make those connections possible. When those conditions are in place, the effects can extend well beyond whether a student feels like they belong.

Richard Carranza, former Chancellor of New York City Public Schools, has seen that connection at the system level:

What a Decade of Research Has Shown

That is what we have seen in more than a decade of research on Sanford Harmony. As detailed in our new report, Why Harmony Matters in Schools and Communities, randomized controlled trials and other studies have found improvements in peer relationships, prosocial behavior, school connection and academic outcomes, along with reductions in aggression and bullying.

Across studies, the Sanford Harmony approach has been associated with a 6% improvement in both academic achievement and classroom connection, a 10% increase in school enjoyment, and a 34% reduction in aggression and bullying.

And our Buddy Up practice specifically delivered a 67% increase in playing with new classmates and a 54% decrease in aggressive behavior.

The important point for district leaders isn’t any single number. It’s the pattern across the findings.

From Good Classroom Practice to Districtwide Impact

Most districts don’t need to be convinced that relationships matter. The harder question is how to make relationship-building intentional and consistent across classrooms and schools.

As Dr. Ruby Ababio-Fernandez, a former senior leader in New York City Public Schools, has said, building strong school relationships “isn’t just a feeling—it’s something leaders can design for.”

That distinction matters. When relationship-building depends primarily on the instincts and practices of individual educators, students’ experiences can vary considerably from classroom to classroom. A shared approach gives educators common language, strategies and opportunities to build connection while still allowing teachers to respond to the students in front of them.

For superintendents, that also means relationship-building doesn’t have to become one more initiative competing for attention. Done well, it can strengthen work already underway around attendance, engagement, behavior, school climate and academic success.

Sanford Harmony was designed around that idea, giving educators research-based resources to intentionally build relationship skills, peer connections and classroom environments from pre-K through middle school.

Relationships will not solve every challenge facing schools. But when attendance, engagement, behavior and achievement are all on the agenda, the research suggests that strengthening relationships can support progress across them—and offers district leaders a strong place to start.

LEARN MORE

Explore the research and evidence behind this approach in Sanford Harmony’s new report, Why Harmony Matters in Schools and Communities, including findings on student connection, engagement, behavior and academic outcomes.

About Nick Yoder PhD

Nick Yoder, PhD is Associate Vice President of Innovation & Research at Sanford Harmony. A former first-grade teacher and instructional coach, he holds a PhD in Education and Psychology and works with schools to make relationship-building part of everyday learning.