Schools looking to strengthen student well-being often need more than universal supports, yet Tier 2 programs can be difficult to scale without also building the capacity of the adults who deliver them. EVOLVE, a life-skills and resiliency program from Youth Guidance, addresses both by pairing students with trusted adult facilitators across 13 structured relationship-centered circles, supported by a Training Academy and ongoing coaching.

This WestEd brief presents early findings from EVOLVE’s pilot and subsequent scale-up, which grew from 27 staff and roughly 450 students to 178 staff across 68 schools serving more than 1,200 students. Facilitators reported strong confidence after training and showed statistically significant gains in areas such as cooperative learning and supportive language, while students responded overwhelmingly positively, reporting that they were comfortable and felt cared for and connected to their facilitators. Student engagement and well-being scores also rose from pre- to post-participation, suggesting that the program strengthens adult practice and student relationships alike.