research on trauma informed schools

Creating safe, nurturing, and inclusive learning environments for all students

TIPPS translates research and shares strategies that help students realize their potential and become more resilient to the effects of trauma.

Our 10 Core Pillars

Our model of a trauma-informed school is based on 10 core pillars:

Our research-based guides provide information and resources to support the selection, implementation, and sustainment of trauma-informed programs and practices.

Program Guide

This guide gives school and district leaders, teachers, and other professional staff a comprehensive overview of trauma-informed strategies for schools.

White Paper

This white paper gives a brief overview of adversity, trauma, and resilience. The paper also introduces the TIPPS framework and the 10 core pillars for implementing trauma-informed programs and practices.

Sources of adversity and trauma can be found in homes, schools, and communities. These experiences can affect the development of children and the physical and mental health of adults.

The TIPPS team is made up of students, faculty, researchers and community partners who have extensive expertise in childhood adversities, trauma, and resilience.

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Faculty Scholarship

Research on trauma-sensitive schools offers timely insights.

Researchers confirm transformational benefits of a trauma-sensitive approach developed by the Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative at HLS

As the world confronts the collective and unprecedented trauma of a public health and economic crisis—exacerbated by systemic racial inequities—understanding the impact trauma has on the ability of children to learn is more important than ever. A new report suggests that schools that have adopted recommendations developed by the  Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative (TLPI) — a nationally recognized collaboration between Harvard Law School and Massachusetts Advocates for Children (MAC) — are uniquely positioned to understand and respond to the impact these crises, and the resulting trauma, are having on students, families, and educators.

A recently released report, “An Evaluation of the Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative’s Inquiry-Based Process: Year Three,”   published by BU Wheelock College of Education & Human Development, confirms the transformational benefits of a trauma-sensitive school culture as developed by TLPI and set forth in their landmark report, “ Helping Traumatized Children Learn: Creating and Advocating for Trauma-Sensitive Schools ” (HTCL). Since HTCL was first published in 2005, more than 95,000 copies have been distributed to schools and educators in Massachusetts and across the country. 

Over a three-year period, a team of researchers at Boston University studied several Massachusetts schools that have adopted an inquiry based process for creating trauma sensitive schools  The team evaluated the efficacy of an inquiry-based process and the sustainability of trauma-sensitive culture changes in the schools that used TLPI’s recommended approach. 

The researchers concluded: “Overall, this evaluation provides evidence for profound impacts that schools’ engagement with TLPI’s inquiry-based process, with the requisite level of commitment and focused effort, can have for leadership, staff, students, and families. Lasting changes reported by educators were multi-leveled, and included shifts in both thinking and practice. … This study suggests that, while this transformation may take time and effort to cultivate, the outcomes it generates may be more sustainable than other education reform approaches.”

Susan Cole , a lecturer of law at Harvard Law School and director of TLPI, stated, “Understanding trauma and engaging in a collaborative process of change that brings this understanding into everything we do creates a powerful pathway to helping all students learn both in school and remotely. It was a relief to watch trauma-sensitive schools jump into action as soon as the pandemic occurred. A deep understanding among all staff, combined with leadership and teamwork that prioritizes and values relationships, connection, belongingness, safety, family engagement, and student agency, can enable schools to adapt to any situation with positive results.”

HLS Clinical Professor Michael Gregory ’04, who co-teaches the Education Law Clinic at Harvard Law School with Cole, said: “The significant finding in this study—that an inquiry-based process of change guided by a set of compassionate and equitable values can help educators begin to transform their school cultures in a relatively short period—offers a paradigm change not only for schools but also for legal advocacy. These insights will help to fuel our teaching and our clinic students’ advocacy for years to come.”

The American Institutes for Research (AIR) earlier reported that the first two years of data provided evidence that an understanding of trauma-sensitivity in the context of a process of change can lead to shifts in practice that result in a range of positive outcomes for both students and staff members. Additionally, the AIR researchers found that these new ways of thinking and changes in practice can serve as a foundation for school-wide culture change that enables students and their educators to feel safe and supported to learn and be successful.

The Year Three evaluation provides an evidence base that educators’ deepening understanding of the impact of trauma on learning and participation in a collaborative, inquiry-based process will lead to shifts in thinking that recognize the foundational importance of a welcoming and inclusive learning environment for students’ academic success. Importantly, the evaluation found that school leadership and staff reported cultural and organizational shifts in their schools that clustered into four emergent themes:

• facilitating empowerment and collaboration

• integrating whole‐child approaches

• affirming cultural identity and promoting a sense of belonging

• re‐envisioning discipline toward relational accountability

“The work of building a safe and supportive, trauma-sensitive school community over the last five years has been critical during crises like these,” said a principal of an elementary school studied in the Year Three Report. “When we were initially faced with the pandemic and resulting school closures and shifts to online learning, every single staff member was called to action and immediately prioritized the safety and well-being of all students. They continue to amaze me as they prepare for the new school year this fall to ensure that we not only provide meaningful lessons to keep students engaged in learning, but strive to really connect with students to let them know we truly care about them and will continue to support them and their families in any way we can.”

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• Frontiers in Education
• Educational Psychology
• Research Topics

Trauma-Informed Education

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About this Research Topic

Trauma informed education (TIE) is an emerging area of research and practice. It has grown out of the need for new responses at all levels of education to effectively provide education for trauma-affected students, many of whom arrive at school with significant unmet learning and social emotional needs. ...

Keywords : trauma-informed, wellbeing, whole school approach, therapeutic practices, self-regulation

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A Practical Guide to Grief-Sensitive School Policies

When a school community experiences loss, having grief policies already in place can lessen the trauma.

The need for trauma-informed schools is based on a widely recognized rationale: Trauma impacts students’ ability to learn and participate fully in academic and social experiences. In recent years, many school leaders have taken deliberate steps to create a trauma-informed environment in which students who have experienced trauma are able to flourish and thrive. Death can be very traumatic for people of all ages, but it can be especially challenging for young people to process. School settings that are not only trauma informed but grief informed and grief sensitive are better equipped to support students during their most vulnerable moments.

This year, a faculty member at our school passed away suddenly. He was active in the broader community as well, and the loss was felt by all of us. Our longest-tenured faculty member (32 years of service and counting) expressed that in her time at the school, the community had lost former employees, even a former student, but the community had not experienced losing a current faculty member. There were no guidelines, no blueprint, for what to do in this situation. It has led me to think about what I can do in the upcoming academic year to increase grief-informed practices at the school I lead.

A whole school culture shift requires shared language along with shared understanding, and shifting culture requires a series of deliberate, strategic steps. Discussing death and loss is, of course, incredibly sad and unpleasant, which is an obstacle to having the conversations needed to be grief sensitive. My school setting doesn’t have a clinician, so we coordinated with trusted clinicians from the area to support our community.

Other steps I’m looking forward to taking are providing training around grief-informed instructional practices; adding children’s books that address grief in the school library; and building a professional library for faculty with books about social and emotional learning, trauma-informed practices, and grief-sensitive schools.

Drafting a Grief Policy

If your school or district does not already have one, consider drafting a grief and bereavement policy. Last year, the mother of one of our upper school students passed away. We did not have a bereavement policy, and it caused discord among some of the student’s teachers and confusion for the student.

Some of the student’s teachers prioritized maintaining an academic standard by not accepting late assignments, questioning absences, and not offering check-ins during class. Other teachers felt that it was critical to acknowledge the trauma that the student was experiencing by being flexible regarding assignments and attendance, and they made themselves available for conversations with the student.

If we had had a policy to reference at that time, the student would have had a consistent experience, and the faculty would have had guidance based on the school’s commitment to being grief informed. When drafting a policy, there are three considerations:

• Maintain standards within reason regarding grades, attendance, assignments.
• Remember that equity is more important than equality. Always. In a grief-informed setting, educators provide accommodations for young people based on what they need, even if it is not exactly what other students receive.
• Prioritize humanity. We lead institutions that are responsible for not only the academic and social but also character development of young people. Our commitment to character can be best modeled by how we support students during their most difficult times.

The objective is to mitigate the impact of trauma and grief and to nurture resilience.

Take care of the grown-ups, too: We all go into education because we care about young people, but being in administration, of course, means we care about the adults in the school community as well and have to be thoughtful about how best to support them. Some adults have not experienced grief, so this must be handled with tremendous care.

Lead by Following

Let the grieving process be defined by the bereaved. What we do in this moment is a lesson to everyone in the school community about loss and grief, and students especially need to know that there are many ways to grieve. Our students wanted to write cards and put them in our deceased faculty member’s office window, which we encouraged. These were eventually taken down and turned into a book that was given to the deceased’s son.

• Include the family in your plans, and respect their preferences to the absolute best of your ability. Some common responses to grief are a moment of silence, a memorial ceremony, written tributes, a plaque. While these can all be part of the healing after loss, it’s best to focus on the preferences of the most impacted community members.
• Offer suggestions that the family may not feel comfortable requesting. When a family with five children lost their mom, the staff packed lunch for all of the children for the remainder of the school year.
• Use it as an opportunity for all community members to unite; emotions run high, and this can be complicated. Discomfort can cause tension, and we have to be especially gentle with each other during emotionally challenging times.

Be Gentle With Yourself

Most important, it’s not going to be perfect. It’s even more messy than many of the usual situations we experience as administrators. You may cry or feel uncertain about how to proceed. Some community members may say there was too much learning time lost to grief, while others may say that you rushed the community back to business as usual. Take care of yourself through it all by acknowledging your feelings and using everything in your self-care tool kit . (Make one if you don’t already have one.)

Most of all, be grounded and confident in knowing that taking steps to foster a grief-informed setting will benefit the students you are committed to serving.

• May 9, 2024

Buzzwords Explained: Trauma-Informed Care

Key takeaways.

• More than 20% of babies will have at least one traumatic experience.

Whether in a classroom or home setting, caregivers who are aware of the effects of trauma are better equipped to help young children process those negative experiences.

• The more we support children who have had traumatic experiences, the better their chance of thriving.

With Expert Insight From: 

Dr. joy osofsky.

Joy Osofsky, PhD, is the Paul J. Ramsay Endowed Chair of Psychiatry and Barbara Lemann Professor of Child Welfare at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans and Director of the Harris Center for Infant Mental Health Center. She is a board member and Past President of ZERO TO THREE.

What is trauma-informed care?

We now know that trauma changes a baby’s brain . There’s a growing body of evidence to support the assertion that adverse childhood experiences literally alter the brain chemistry of growing infants and toddlers. More than 20% of babies will have at least one traumatic experience , and that number increases for children in poverty and children from marginalized communities.

That’s why it’s critical that early childhood professionals understand what it means to provide trauma-informed care. When children have the support of caring adults after traumatic events, a growing body of research shows they are more likely to recover without lasting damage.

This is what trauma-informed care looks like:

For children who have not experienced trauma, a change in caregiver may be disconcerting. For children dealing with the effects of childhood trauma , that same common occurrence can be destabilizing.

Let’s take a look at a typical toddler classroom in a program that provides transportation for students:

The teacher, who has built trust with the students, explains there has been a change but reassures the children this driver is safe even though they are “a stranger.” This reassures most of the students, but one young child, who has experienced several traumatic events, quickly becomes dysregulated. For this child, that looks like hitting peers and yelling. The child is unable to board the van and requires over an hour to calm down.

This is a common trauma response from a child who has learned they can’t always trust adults. 

But because they attend a trauma-informed early childhood center , the staff is able to:

• Recognize the child was triggered
• Examine why the trigger may have occurred given their knowledge of the child’s history
• Plan ahead for the next time this trigger may occur

In this instance, the staff communicated with the transportation company that they would like to be informed of driver changes ahead of time if at all possible so they can prepare their student. The next time a change occurs, they have more time to help their student prepare for an unexpected change in their routine. Over time and with consistency, the student learns that they can trust the various van drivers that may take them home —  because they have been supported through a triggering situation in a trauma-informed manner.

What does trauma do to a baby’s brain?

Young children learn how to regulate their emotions in the context of a relationship and if you don't have a stable relationship you don't learn that. Dr. Joy Osofsky

Trauma-informed care gives kids security:

• Caregivers who are trauma-informed are more sensitive to how behaviors may connect to emotions in young children. When a child has had traumatic experiences , triggers in the environment may cause them to react with negative behaviors. Trauma-informed caregivers learn to be on the lookout for these triggers so they can help kids navigate their big emotions safely.
• Trauma-informed caregivers know what dysregulation looks like and have tools in their toolbox to help young children become regulated again. Dysregulation can look like yelling and shouting. It may include physical aggression. It can also look like hiding or withdrawing. It is critical that caregivers understand what a dysregulated nervous system looks like so they can provide the right kind of support.
• In classroom or clinical settings, trauma-informed early childhood professionals can structure the environment in a way that encourages regulation and reduces triggers. Indirect lighting, organized play materials and a consistent schedule help traumatized children know what to expect — which provides a sense of safety.

Trauma affects every child differently, but there is one common truth. The more we support children who have had traumatic experiences, the better their chance of thriving.

Access our research article about specific approaches to trauma-informed care in early childhood education.

Safe Babies Works to Promote Trauma-Informed Child Welfare Systems

The goal of the ZERO TO THREE’s Safe Babies approach is to prevent maltreatment and neglect of babies toddlers and to keep families together.

PhD in Health Sciences – Trauma Informed Care Heal Hearts, Change Lives

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Prepare to Help People Overcome Trauma with Liberty’s PhD in Health Sciences – Trauma Informed Care

Trauma is more than a condition – it is a crippling, life-altering state of mind that can make the most common tasks impossible, damage relationships, and destroy one’s sense of self. Victims of trauma often find themselves in a pit of indescribable despair that seems impossible to climb out of. Fortunately, help and hope are available – and if you want to join the fight against trauma, Liberty University’s 100% online Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Health Sciences – Trauma Informed Care can equip you with the skills you need.

This degree program has been designed with the success of both you and your clients in mind. In this trauma psychology program, you will dive into curricula that cover a wide variety of topics – including ethical issues in the health sciences, crisis and first responder training, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and combat trauma, and much more. Our professors are experts with years of experience in education and trauma treatment – so you can feel confident in the quality of instruction you will receive.

The time has never been better to pursue an online trauma PhD program, and at Liberty University, it has never been simpler. Don’t put your career on hold any longer – partner with us, gain valuable skills, and take your career in the helping professions to new heights.

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Liberty University has extensive experience developing distance degree programs – we’ve been pioneering nontraditional education since 1985. We don’t shortchange you when you pursue an online degree program – we empower you by harnessing the power of a world-class curriculum into a convenient format that you can access from anywhere in the world. This degree program is offered 100% online in mostly 8-week courses, so you can earn your PhD while remaining committed to your job, family, and community.

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, about 60% of men and 50% of women experience at least 1 trauma in their lifetime.* In addition, 6 out of 100 Americans will have PTSD at some point in their life, and roughly 12 million American adults struggle with PTSD during a given year.* These troubling statistics demand action. By partnering with us for your trauma-informed care degree, you can help reverse the growing trend of trauma in the United States and abroad.

While some doctoral programs can take up to 5 years to complete, our doctorate in health sciences can be completed in as little as 3 years – so you won’t have to spend an extended amount of time earning your degree. While our health sciences and trauma PhD allows you to finish your studies in a reasonable amount of time, we do not sacrifice academic rigor for expediency. Liberty University is regionally accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges ( SACSCOC ) – so you can pursue your degree with confidence.

*PTSD: National Center for PTSD, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, at How Common Is PTSD in Adults? (viewed online Aug. 12, 2022).

What Will You Study in Our Trauma-Informed Care PhD Degree?

This degree program consists of 4 sections: core courses, research and statistics classes, the trauma-informed care specialization, and a dissertation sequence.

In the core courses, you will study ethical issues in health sciences, healthcare delivery systems, and cultural competency in health sciences. You will also study principles and theories of teaching in health professions, leadership in professional practices, risk management, and evidence-based practices in health sciences.

From there, this degree covers a review of health literature, qualitative research, and quantitative research. The trauma-informed care specialization teaches crisis and first responder training, the intricacies of PTSD and combat-related trauma, and effective community responses to mental health issues. Furthermore, you will explore assessment and testing in the treatment of trauma as well as empirically supported trauma treatments.

To round out your studies, you will complete a 4-step dissertation on a topic you’re passionate about. Each step of the dissertation is 1 semester long – giving you ample opportunity to think, research, write, and edit.

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Depending on your previously obtained certifications and licenses, some of the roles you could pursue with this degree include:

• Healthcare administrator
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• CRIS 605 – Crisis and First Responder Training: Skills and Techniques
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Addressing childhood trauma before it becomes adult trauma

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As they grow, children are shaped by the environments in which they live and the people with whom they interact – learning who they are and how they should act. But not all of what they absorb is necessarily positive. 

“If we are in a healthy environment, both physically and emotionally, we continue to look for environments that are physically and emotionally safe,” said Jamie Bonczyk, program officer for the “80×3: Resilient from the Start” initiative at Greater Twin Cities United Way. “The brain is pattern seeking. If we live in chaos or have a classroom of chaos, our brain will continue to look for that and our bodies will continue to bring those behaviors forward.” 

Chaotic and unhealthy environments can lead children to experience adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs. These experiences, which can be traumatic, include abuse (physical, emotional and/or sexual), neglect, witnessing domestic abuse or parental separation and having a parent who is incarcerated and/or who has substance use issues. According to the Centers for Disease Control, nearly 64% of adults in the U.S. have experienced at least one adverse childhood experience before the age of 18, while “nearly 1 in 6” adults reported at least four adverse childhood experiences. 

In addition to being common, adverse childhood events have a lingering impact on people’s physical and mental health. The CDC estimates around 1.9 million cases of heart disease and 21 million cases of depression could have been avoided if adverse childhood experiences had been prevented. 

The 80×3 initiative – named in reference to the fact that 80% of brain development occurs by age three – is, Bonczyk said, a “systems change initiative” that addresses adverse childhood experiences by providing children with benevolent childhood experiences – where they feel safe and cared for – along with trauma-informed/trauma-sensitive care. The initiative’s website contains materials for parents and caregivers , as well as those working in early childhood education and advocates in various sectors .

“Some people (are) like, ‘Oh, doesn’t everybody have (benevolent childhood experiences)?’ No, everybody does not,” said Bonczyk. “And some of it is because those adults that are caring for our children, they didn’t have (them).” 

In a video produced by the Trauma-Informed Care Implementation Research Center , a website run by the Center for Health Care Strategies, the experience of discrimination is listed as an adverse childhood experience. Leo Howard III, program manager at 80×3, explained that children from marginalized communities can benefit from trauma-informed care to cope with adverse experiences, especially because their communities “aren’t typically afforded the opportunity to make wellness a priority.” 

“Life is teaching them that when you walk down the street, you can’t smile at somebody because that’s an opportunity for you to be taken advantage of,” said Howard. “You’re not able to just be free and be a child. You have to put these fronts up, these facades up. You have to protect yourself. And a way of protecting yourself is not developing coping strategies, not naming your emotions, turning all of that off, because anything that can be identified as a sign of weakness or that can make you think about things too much can be a jeopardy to your safety. You have this vicious cycle that continues to grow and continues to put marginalized communities in a space where not only do they not think therapy’s for them, but they think it’s going to get their kids taken out of their house. They think it’s going to get their program shut down. What we’ve been able to do is flip that.”

How these negative ideas about therapy get “flipped”, according to Howard, is by “creating a shared language” around trauma-informed care. 

“A lot of the things that these organizations were already doing (were) centered in trauma-informed care,” Howard said. “But there just wasn’t a shared language to get to that space (of healing).” 

In practice, said Bonczyk, a trauma-informed approach to care prevents the suspension and expulsion of children from early childhood education centers. 

“What happens to children with big behaviors is that they’re actually asked to leave,” said Bonczyk. “So trauma-informed care might look like ensuring that this is the best fit for the child and making sure that the staff have the supports to keep the child stably enrolled (and) that there’s continuity and care with the adults.”

In essence, trauma-informed care is about being responsive, rather than reactive. 

“Reactive is when we just ask the child to be responsible for their own behavior and then actively disenroll them because we say we don’t have the supports (for them), without sometimes even trying,” said Bonczyk. “Trauma-informed (care) would say ‘If this is not (the) least restrictive environment for a child, we are going to work with the family to find another support.” 

Howard provided an example of how one organization working with 80×3 responded proactively to a child’s behavior. 

“For the first week, every single day (the boy) would throw tantrums and refuse to do anything else and just kept mentioning how hungry he was,” said Howard. “The director told me, ‘Leo … the thing that he’s communicating (to) me is that he’s hungry and he’d like to eat something. And how big of an ask would it be for me to change breakfast from 9:15 (a.m.) to 8:45 (a.m.)?’”

Though this change was small, it ended up having a large impact. 

“Once she made that change, (his) behavior immediately changed,” said Howard. “It was just her taking that time to sit down and say, ‘Any change in behavior is a form of communication. So this young person is communicating with me that they have a need and I have no idea what’s going on outside of these walls.’”

To respond to children proactively rather than reactively, educators must be able to access healing for themselves, especially since they are providing care that they may never have been given themselves. Creative Kuponya , an organization that provides and seeks to decolonize mental health, provides accessible trauma-informed mental health care to personnel at organizations working with 80×3. 

Sara Stamschror-Lott, LMFT, who co-founded Creative Kuponya with her husband Jamil Stamschror-Lott, LICSW, explained that Creative Kuponya provides access to therapists virtually, in their office and within the organizations themselves. Creative Kuponya’s therapists also run community healing sessions for organizations working with 80×3, where people learn and practice coping mechanisms as a community. 

“I’m a firm believer that every human has some trauma, whether it’s ‘little t trauma’ or ‘big T trauma,’” said Sara Stamschror-Lott. “We’ve all had things happen to us, so we’re all carrying some of that. But I think when you are working with littles in early childhood education and they are coming in with trauma, after a while, if you’re interfacing with those littles at all times, there’s no way you’re not absorbing it.”

Learning to effectively deal with their own trauma as adults, Stamschror-Lott added, means that they will be able to model good coping mechanisms to the children with whom they work. 

“If you’re around (children) on a regular basis (as) an early childhood educator and those children are seeing you take big, deep breaths, they’re gonna start mimicking that behavior as well,” said Stamschror-Lott. “Children will naturally observe and learn (to manage their) nervous systems, by just watching us.” 

The work to provide trauma-informed care to children in Minnesota, said Bonczyk, isn’t just about doing something nice. It’s a way to shape today’s children into tomorrow’s healthy adults – ready and eager to engage with the world. 

“You might see a child who’s had a really healthy positive early childhood experience. They might take a risk and take a class in junior high or high school that helps shape their career path,” said Bonczyk. “From a human development perspective, it’s incredibly important to be offering healthy, safe, predictable environments. If we want to have children who are adults that prioritize their own wellbeing, that prioritize rest and resilience, then we have to start that very early on in life and the people most likely to influence them are the people that spend every day with.”

Deanna Pistono Deanna Pistono is MinnPost’s Race & Health Equity fellow. Follow her on Twitter @deannapistono or email her at [email protected] .

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Trauma-Informed Schools: Introduction to the Special Issue

• Introduction
• Published: 03 February 2016
• Volume 8 , pages 1–6, ( 2016 )

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• Stacy Overstreet 1 &
• Sandra M. Chafouleas 2  

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This special issue on trauma-informed schools is the first compilation of invited manuscripts on the topic. The forces behind the movement and key assumptions of trauma-informed approaches are reviewed. The first eight manuscripts in Part 1 of the special issue present original empirical research that can be used to support key assumptions of trauma-informed approaches to school service delivery. Part 2 of the special issue opens with a blueprint for the implementation of trauma-informed approaches using a multitiered framework, which is followed by three case studies of the use of multitiered frameworks to implement trauma-informed approaches in schools. The special issue concludes with a commentary on future directions for the trauma-informed school movement.

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Collectively, the articles in this issue of School Mental Health contribute to advancing our knowledge about trauma-informed schools. Trauma-informed schools reflect a national movement to create educational environments that are responsive to the needs of trauma-exposed youth through the implementation of effective practices and systems-change strategies (Chafouleas, Johnson, Overstreet, & Santos, 2015 ; Cole, Eisner, Gregory, & Ristuccia, 2013 ). The first author has identified at least 17 states in which trauma-informed schools have taken root in small clusters of schools (e.g., Louisiana, New Jersey), at a district-wide level (e.g., California, Pennsylvania), or at a state-wide level (e.g., Massachusetts, Washington, Wisconsin). The strength of the movement is also evidenced in the recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The federal legislation, now referred to as the Every Student Succeeds Act (Pub.L. 114–95), makes explicit provisions for trauma-informed approaches in student support and academic enrichment and in preparing and training school personnel (Prewitt, 2016 ).

The vigor behind the movement stems from the growing awareness of the prevalence of exposure to trauma among youth (Finkelhor, Turner, Shattuck, & Hamby, 2015 ; McLaughlin et al., 2013 ) and from an increased understanding of the corrosive impacts resulting from the biological, psychological, and social adaptations to chronic exposure to trauma (Hamoudi, Murray, Sorensen, & Fontaine, 2015 ). The movement has also been fueled by demonstrations of the effectiveness of school-based trauma-specific treatments in ameliorating traumatic stress reactions in youth (Rolfsnes & Idsoe, 2011 ). These drivers of the movement are reflective of SAMHSA’s ( 2014 ) four key assumptions underlying trauma-informed approaches: (a) a realization of the widespread prevalence and impact of trauma, (b) a recognition of the signs of traumatic exposure and (c) a response grounded in evidence-based practices that (d) resists re - traumatization of individuals. The first eight manuscripts in Part 1 of the special issue present original empirical research that can be used to support these key assumptions of trauma-informed approaches to school service delivery.

Part 1: Key Assumptions of Trauma-Informed Schools

Realizing the impact of trauma and recognizing its effects.

In trauma-informed schools, personnel at all levels have a basic realization about trauma and an understanding of how trauma affects student learning and behavior in the school environment (Cole et al., 2013 ; SAMHSA, 2014 ). Based on their review of existing prevalence research, Perfect, Turley, Carlson, Yohannan, and Gilles ( 2016 ) estimate that approximately two out of every three school-age children are likely to have experienced at least one traumatic event by age 17. Porche, Costello, and Rosen-Reynoso ( 2016 ) report prevalence rates close to that estimate based on a sample of nearly 66,000 school-aged youth who participated in the National Child Study of Children’s Health. Among the 53.4 % of youth who experienced adverse family events, the average number of exposures was 2.1.

The systematic review conducted by Perfect et al. ( 2016 ) is a critical resource for schools to help them realize the educational implications of such exposure and recognize that signs of trauma exposure can be expressed in a number of ways outside of “typical” traumatic stress reactions. Perfect et al. ( 2016 ) distilled findings from 83 empirical studies with school-aged youth to document the widespread impacts of trauma exposure and traumatic stress symptoms on the cognitive, academic, and teacher reported social-emotional-behavioral outcomes of students. Porche et al. ( 2016 ) also focused on the educational implications of exposure to family adversity and found the impact of family adversity on school engagement, grade retention, and placement on an individual education plan (IEP) plan was partially mediated by the number of child mental health diagnoses. Children with higher numbers of adverse family experiences were more likely to have higher numbers of mental health diagnoses, and those with higher numbers of diagnoses were less likely to be engaged in school and more likely to be retained in grade or on an IEP. Taken together, these studies help expand the lens used to recognize reactions to trauma to include a focus on outcomes that may be more familiar and meaningful to school personnel.

Responding to Trauma and Resisting Re-traumatization

Trauma-informed schools respond to the needs of trauma-exposed students by integrating effective practices, programs, and procedures into all aspects of the organization and culture. This often begins with professional development training for all personnel (SAMHSA, 2014 ). Trauma-focused professional development training typically aims to create a shared understanding of the problem of trauma exposure, build consensus for trauma-informed approaches, and engender attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors conducive to the adoption of system-wide trauma-informed approaches. Preliminary evidence suggests that trauma-focused training delivered to service providers in clinical settings builds knowledge, changes attitudes, and fosters practices favorable to trauma-informed approaches (Brown, Baker, & Wilcox, 2012 ; Green et al., 2015 ). However, the impact of professional development training in educational environments has yet to be fully evaluated.

At least one factor contributing to the dearth of research on the effectiveness of professional development training is the lack of a psychometrically sound instrument with which to measure the impact of training. In this issue, Baker, Brown, Wilcox, Overstreet, and Arora ( 2015 ) report on a psychometric evaluation of the Attitudes Related to Trauma-Informed Care (ARTIC) Scale. Utilizing a sample of 760 staff employed in education, human services, and health care, they found that scores on the ARTIC demonstrated strong internal consistency and test–retest reliability over 6 months. Furthermore, construct and criterion-related validity were supported by correlations with indicators of familiarity with trauma-informed approaches and with staff- and system-level indicators of implementation of trauma-informed practices. We hope the findings from this study will help spur additional psychometric research on measures to assess the process and outcomes of trauma-informed approaches.

Another commonly advocated practice for responding to the needs of trauma-exposed students is universal screening for trauma exposure and/or traumatic stress reactions (Ko et al., 2008 ; Listenbee et al., 2012 ). Given the high prevalence of trauma exposure and the associated risk for a variety of negative outcomes, a universal approach to screening can maximize detection of students at risk for a wide range of adverse outcomes, allowing schools to respond to those students and ameliorate or prevent negative outcomes (Gonzalez, Monzon, Solis, Jaycox, & Langley, 2015 ). However, concerns related to limitations in funding and staffing to conduct screenings, the availability of developmentally appropriate measures and procedures, and the capacity of schools to follow-up with students identified as needing services are common barriers to universal screening for trauma exposure and traumatic stress reactions.

Two articles in the special issue (Gonzalez et al., 2015 ; Woodbridge et al., 2015 ) provide valuable information related to issues associated with appropriate measures and procedures, which provide corresponding links to data-driven supports. First, both studies used student report of experiences to minimize the burden on teachers to complete screening measures for each of their students. Second, both considered developmental issues in the selection and administration of screening measures. Gonzalez et al. ( 2015 ) provide a detailed description of modifications used to administer two of the most widely used measures of trauma exposure and traumatic stress symptoms to elementary school students. Third, both studies provide data on the percentage of students identified as potentially needing services to address needs related to trauma exposure. Among their middle school sample, Woodbridge et al. ( 2015 ) found that 13.5 % of students reported traumatic stress symptoms at the clinical or subclinical levels. Gonzalez et al. ( 2015 ) found that 9.5 % of screened elementary school students reported clinically significant levels of traumatic stress symptoms; however, 26 % of students reported moderately elevated symptoms. Keeping generalizability issues in mind, this type of prevalence information can be used by schools to begin to estimate the extent of services that may be needed following universal screenings for trauma exposure in their schools.

Information derived from universal screening can also help prevent re-traumatization of students. Early identification of students struggling with trauma can help schools change the lens through which trauma-exposed students are perceived (Dorado, Martinez, McArthur, & Liebovitz, 2016 ; Wisconsin Department of Health Services, 2013 ; Wolpow, Johnson, Hertel, & Kincaid, 2009 ). Adaptations to chronic trauma can make students seem bad, unmotivated, hostile, or lost, which can leave teachers asking, “What is wrong with this student?” when confronted with challenging behaviors. This type of lens on student behavior can result in punitive disciplinary responses, increasing the likelihood of re-traumatization resulting from seclusion or harsh zero-tolerance policies (Dorado et al., 2016 ; Ford, Chapman, Mack, & Pearson, 2006 ). When schools understand the traumatic experiences of their students, they may be more likely to ask “What has happened to this student to shape these behaviors?”, which is more likely to lead to supportive interventions that avoid re-traumatization and teach the student a new repertoire of skills (Dorado et al., 2016 ; Ford et al., 2006 ). This shift in perspective may be particularly important for reducing racial disparities in academic outcomes and suspensions. Consistent with previous research, Woodbridge et al. ( 2015 ) found that African American middle school students were more likely than Caucasian students to report exposure to trauma. When these negative personal experiences are compounded by experiences in unresponsive educational environments, African American students are disproportionately at risk for poor outcomes (Busby, Lambert, & Ialongo, 2013 ).

As school personnel increase their understanding of trauma exposure and utilize universal screening to identify the needs of trauma-exposed students, the availability of effective prevention and intervention programs to address the identified need is critically important. A number of evidence-based interventions have been identified for use at more intensive tiers within a multitiered framework (see Chafouleas et al., 2015 ); however, fewer options exist at the universal level, or Tier 1. Social-emotional learning curricula (e.g., Second Step, PATHS) offer a general approach to building resilience to stress. However, when all students in a school experience a common trauma, the school may wish to take a universal approach to foster coping with that specific experience (Nastasi, Overstreet, & Summerville, 2011 ). In this issue, Powell and Bui ( 2016 ) report on the efficacy of Journey of Hope , an eight-session intervention designed for use at the universal level following exposure to a disaster. Their comparison of students who participated in a Journey of Hope group to students in a wait-list control group revealed significant increase in positive coping and prosocial behaviors among Journey of Hope students.

As the uptake of trauma-informed prevention and intervention services continues to increase, research on the factors that influence sustainment and de-adoption of services is important (Nadeem & Ringle, 2016 ). Two articles in this issue examine factors related to the sustainment and de-adoption of the trauma-informed treatment, Cognitive Behavioral Intervention in Schools (CBITS; Stein et al., 2003 ), from the perspective of teachers (Baweja et al., 2015 ) and clinicians (Nadeem & Ringle, 2016 ). Baweja et al. ( 2015 ) interviewed teachers and clinicians about teacher-perceived facilitators and barriers to CBITS implementation. Their findings highlight the importance of creating a shared understanding of the problem being addressed to achieve teacher buy-in. Participants indicated that teachers needed more training on trauma to help them identify traumatized students and trauma reactions; teachers who perceived a need for a trauma program in their school were more likely to support CBITS. Similarly, Nadeem and Ringle ( 2016 ) found that clinicians who sustained CBITS implementation over the course of 2 years noted previous positive experiences with the intervention and improved student outcomes as contributors of sustainment.

Unfortunately, staff buy-in and evidence of positive student outcomes aren’t always enough to sustain the use of evidence-based programs and practices in the face of system-level issues. Nadeem and Ringle ( 2016 ) found that de-adoption of CBITS was associated with district-level leadership changes, financial and workforce instability, and shifting priorities at the school- and district-level. As they point out, these sustainment barriers are common to those observed with other school-based mental health programs (Forman, Olin, Hoagwood, Crowe, & Saka, 2009 ; Stirman et al., 2012 ). Comprehensive integration of trauma-informed approaches into the larger school context and culture may help overcome these system-level sustainment barriers.

Part 2: Integration of Key Assumptions to Create Trauma-Informed Schools

We know from implementation science that increased awareness of a problem and access to specific tools to address it are almost never enough to sustain a new educational innovation (Metz, Naoom, Halle, & Bartley, 2015 ; Nadeem & Ringle, 2016 ). Therefore, most frameworks for the implementation of trauma-informed schools build upon the key assumptions to create integrated, comprehensive service delivery systems that develop individual capacity and foster organizational change (Bloom, 2007 ; Cole et al., 2013 ; Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, 2013 ; Wolpow et al., 2009 ). To set the context for Part 2 of the special issue, Chafouleas et al. ( 2015 ) offer a blueprint for the implementation of trauma-informed approaches using a multitiered framework familiar to most schools—School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS). The use of a familiar framework like SWPBIS is critical for the successful implementation of trauma-informed approaches in schools because it helps align trauma-informed approaches with existing educational practices, which can ease the tension that can arise when schools attempt to integrate mental health programs into the educational environment (Cole et al., 2013 ; Evans, Stephan, & Sugai, 2014 ).

The three articles in Part 2 of the Special Issue are case studies of the use of multitiered frameworks to implement trauma-informed approaches in schools. Thus far, the discourse on the implementation and impact of trauma-informed schools has happened largely outside of the scientific literature, grounded in uncontrolled studies with few explicit connections to implementation science. The three case studies included in this special issue advance the science on trauma-informed schools by using logic models to frame their work, and by presenting preliminary data related to implementation process and student outcomes. These case studies are the first step toward rigorous research that systematically and incrementally provides evidence for the implementation process and outcomes of trauma-informed schools. The case studies are followed by a commentary by Linda Phifer and Robert Hull, a school psychologist and one of the early leaders in the trauma-informed schools movement.

Given the epidemic of trauma exposure facing our youth, the growing movement to build trauma-informed schools is laudable. However, the selection of educational practices and the validation of educational innovations demand data-based decision making (Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy, 2003 ). The current evidence-base for trauma-informed schools is limited by its almost exclusive reliance on uncontrolled and/or advocacy-driven program evaluation studies. The trauma-informed schools movement needs sound, objective knowledge of implementation processes and rigorous evidence of proximal and distal outcomes to guide scale up efforts and to ensure that those efforts result in the expected outcomes.

Implementation research is critical to facilitate cost-efficient and effective strategies for the adoption and implementation of trauma-informed approaches by schools. Although several frameworks exist for trauma-informed schools (Bloom, 2007 ; Cole et al., 2013 ; Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, 2013 ; Wolpow et al., 2009 ), empirical studies have yet to identify factors that lead to the adoption, successful implementation, and sustainment of trauma-informed approaches. Furthermore, aside from preliminary data from the case studies in this issue, little is known about whether the educational workforce finds trauma-informed approaches acceptable and feasible. The articles in this issue should serve as resources to help schools provide a rationale for trauma-informed approaches, identify specific trauma-informed practices, and develop measurement plans to track the implementation process. Additional research is needed to identify and evaluate strategies to build receptivity to and capacity for the adoption and sustainment of trauma-informed approaches.

Of course, research that examines the impact of trauma-informed approaches on individual- and system-level outcomes is also needed. Given the varied theoretical and practice frameworks for implementation of trauma-informed approaches, it is critical that outcome-focused research is framed explicitly within a theory of change. As is the case for the articles in this issue, logic models can be used to identify assumptions and practice elements common across frameworks, the connections between assumptions, practice elements, and expected outcomes, and the full range of outcomes that could be logically expected in the short-term and the long-term. Early reports from uncontrolled studies of trauma-informed schools have reported drastic reductions in suspensions (Stevens, 2012 , 2013a ) and office referrals (Stevens, 2013a , 2013b ). However, it is not clear: (a) what specific elements of the trauma-informed schools may have contributed to those changes, (b) what short-term outcomes (e.g., changes in classroom management approaches, changes in school discipline policies, changes in student functioning) may have served as precursors to those changes, or (c) whether there are other long-term outcomes that could be expected. There are a myriad of outcome-related questions to be asked about trauma-informed schools; a more explicit focus on theories of change will help generate and refine those questions.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Division 16 of the American Psychological Association for supporting the Trauma-Informed Services Workgroup, which served as the genesis for this special issue. The Workgroup was chaired by Stacy Overstreet and members included John Carlson, Sandra M. Chafouleas, Marla Saint Gilles, Austin H. Johnson, Michelle M. Perfect, Natascha M. Santos, Kathryn Simon, and Mathew R. Turley.

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Overstreet, S., Chafouleas, S.M. Trauma-Informed Schools: Introduction to the Special Issue. School Mental Health 8 , 1–6 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-016-9184-1

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Published : 03 February 2016

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-016-9184-1

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