Traumatic experiences like a natural disaster and the ongoing stress of living with an abusive or drug-addicted parent exact a high price on both children and schools. Students who experience traumatic stress perform worse academically and cognitively, and their teachers report that they behave worse in the classroom. And teachers themselves can experience secondhand stress as they struggle to deal with their students’ intense emotional and learning needs. Now a growing number of regular schools are adopting trauma-sensitive practices to better serve distressed students. What does a trauma-informed school look like in practice? And how can schools gear up to provide it?
Veronica Lyon, a math teacher at Lincoln Middle School in Clarkston, Wash., comforts one of her 7th graders after a lesson in fractions. Lyon interweaves social-emotional lessons and mathematics to support distressed students.
First grader Conner MacElhiney slaps the color block that represents his mood during physical education class at Bethlehem Elementary School in New Hampshire. The school is leading the way in a statewide experiment to build schools that are more supportive of students dealing with trauma.
A scene from an online simulation created to provide a crash course for Houston teachers on recognizing the emotional aftereffects of disasters in students and responding to them with sensitivity.
Coverage of whole-child approaches to learning is supported in part by a grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, at www.chanzuckerberg.com. Education Week retains sole editorial control over the content of this coverage.
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