EDInnovator Spotlight
Learn More About Sown to Grow
Sown To Grow is a MTSS platform that ensures every student is seen, supported, and learning at their best. Sown To Grow partners with schools and districts to improve social, emotional, and academic health through easy and engaging check-ins that center students in proactive support.
Each week, students are invited to reflect on their feelings and experiences through an interactive journal. This Tier 1 routine helps build belonging and key life skills, while also deepening classroom relationships. Students and teachers can see their emotional learning journey, while student support leaders gain real-time understanding of well-being. Insights into which students are feeling down, student vulnerability, Tier 2 group recommendations, and alerts for concerning student reflections allow leaders to proactively identify and support Tier 2 & 3 needs. This actionable data serves as the foundation for tiered support and restorative, community schools.
The Sown To Grow system includes expert PD, pre/post assessment, Tier 1 & 2 curriculum, and powerful artifacts of student growth. This simple reflection routine has been proven to increase student belonging and attendance by helping schools and districts proactively support students, and develop a culture of trust and care.
What sets Sown to Grow apart?
While the SEL space is saturated with platforms delivering curriculum, assessments, and one-size-fits-all programming, Sown To Grow sets itself apart by doing something others have largely overlooked: using technology to strengthen the relationships that are fundamental to healthy social emotional development. This distinction is critical.
As schools grow increasingly cautious about screen time and the role of technology in classrooms, there is a heightened expectation that EdTech solutions — especially SEL — must enhance, not detract from, human connection. Our simple yet powerful check-in practice only takes 5-10 minutes per week, so rather than pulling students further into digital spaces, Sown To Grow actually builds belonging and opens up in-person connection opportunities. This process gives teachers and students a shared starting point for deeper, more authentic relationships based on trust and care.
Sown To Grow works closely with educators and is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, National Sciences Foundation, and Digital Promise. These partnerships are foundational to our belief that EdTech developers need to build in tandem with educators in a research-backed way. Products should demonstrably solve real problems, and developers need to measure impact, share those results, and stay focused on what students truly need. Learn more with these blog posts:
How does Sown to Grow support educators and center learners?
Sown To Grow helps educators create more student-centered learning experiences by making student voice, belonging, and relationship-building part of everyday practice. Through brief weekly emotional wellness check-ins, students are given consistent opportunities to reflect, share how they’re feeling, celebrate growth, and communicate challenges they may not otherwise voice in class.
This creates a powerful shift from reactive support to proactive, student-centered care. Instead of relying only on academic or behavioral data after problems escalate, educators gain real-time insight into students’ experiences, emotions, and needs — allowing them to respond earlier and more personally.
For example, partner districts have used Sown To Grow to identify students struggling with anxiety, isolation, housing insecurity, or low belonging long before those challenges surfaced in attendance, behavior, or academic performance. Schools can then connect students to targeted supports while strengthening the trusting relationships that help students feel seen, heard, and valued.
Importantly, the process is designed to fit naturally into Tier 1 practices like advisory, morning meetings, and MTSS structures, helping educators build classroom communities where students are active participants in their own growth. Research has shown that consistent student reflection paired with teacher responses can improve students’ sense of belonging — a critical driver of engagement, attendance, and achievement.
At its core, Sown To Grow helps schools move beyond simply managing student behavior or performance and toward understanding the whole child.
Story from the Field
Improving Attendance in California Schools
California community schools are using Sown to Grow in their efforts to address chronic absenteeism. Sown To Grow’s weekly student check-in routine helps schools proactively build belonging and strengthen relationships between students and caring adults — two critical drivers of attendance.
In a 2024–25 analysis of more than 2,400 California schools, schools implementing Sown To Grow reduced chronic absenteeism 2–3x more than comparable non-implementing schools. Schools using Sown To Grow saw an average 2.5 percentage point reduction in chronic absenteeism, while high-fidelity implementations achieved a 3.2 point reduction — compared to just 1.2 points in similar schools not using the platform.
What makes this especially meaningful is that the impact came from preventative, relationship-centered practices. Through 5-10 minute weekly emotional wellness check-ins, educators were able to identify students who were silently struggling, intervene earlier, and create stronger feelings of connection and belonging at school. The result was not only improved attendance, but more supportive learning environments where students felt seen, heard, and motivated to show up.
Learn more in the Belonging is an Attendance Strategy - Research White Paper!