Fix School Discipline Toolkit for Educators | Page 59

Trauma Sensitive Schools and
School Districts
Children’s exposure to community and family
violence is a significant problem in many of our
communities around the state. Studies estimate that
between 3.3 million and 10 million children in the
U.S. witness violence in their own homes each year.44
Children who have experienced early, chronic trauma,
such as family or community violence, can develop
emotional, behavioral, cognitive and relationship
difficulties that can adversely affect their ability to
learn and function well in school (Cole, et al., 2005).
Exposure to trauma is associated with a higher risk
for school drop out (Porche, et al., 2011), and in turn,
dropping out of school increases the risk of being
imprisoned.45
Unfortunately, students who have experienced
violence and trauma may act out, refuse to obey
teachers, fight, be unable to pay attention or follow
directions. In fact, the area of a child’s brain that
is associated with the fear response may become
overdeveloped, causing the child to act using a
fight or flight response when triggered by a trauma
reminder, even when there is no actual threat to fear.
In Jenny Horsman’s book, Too Scared to Learn, an
adult survivor of childhood sexual abuse describes
how the trauma she experienced affected her ability
to learn:
I remember crying in the night. I found it difficult to
hear Mrs. Patterson when she spoke in the classroom.
I felt as if she were speaking from beneath tumbling
water, or from the end of a long tunnel. She assumed
I was daydreaming. I stopped imagining that I
might one day be a teacher . . . . No longer did my
imagination dance me through the leaves. The sound
of ringing church bells irritated me. Mostly I felt
ashamed, different.46
44 Carlson, B.E. (1984). “Children’s observations of interparental
violence.” In Roberts, A.R. (Ed.) Battered Women and Their Families (pp.
147-167). New York: Springer Publishing.
45 Cole, et al. 2005; Porche, et al, 2011; Center for Labor Market Studies, 2009.
46 Helping Traumatized Children Learn, A Report and Policy Agenda,
Massachusetts Advocates for Children: Trauma and Learning Policy
Initiative In collaboration with Harvard Law School and the Task Force on
Children Affected by Domestic Violence (2005). To purchase or download

The goal of creating a “trauma sensitive school” is to
reduce problem behaviors and emotional difficulties,
as well as optimize positive and productive
functioning for all children and youth. When schools
are able to address the behavioral health needs of
students in a proactive manner, rather than a reactive
one, they can increase the resources available to
promote educational goals. School leaders in such
Trauma Sensitive Schools recognize the importance
of behavioral health and dedicate resources as part
of an overall effort to reduce barriers to learning.
Measurable goals around attendance, academic
achievement, graduation rates, bullying incidents,
office referrals, suspensions, and expulsions are used
to determine whether behavioral health initiatives are
successful.47

Other key elements of a school that successfully
addresses trauma and behavioral health needs
include:
1. A School and Behavioral Health Support Team,
which refers to any team established to address
behavioral health needs and, like a Student
Support or Wrap-Around Services team, is used
to plan, coordinate and evaluate services.
2. Mapping of existing mental and behavioral
health services and their adequacy and utilization
of mental health resources inside and outside of
the school community, and training for staff, like
paraprofessionals, secretaries, bus drivers, and
others to provide ongoing support.
3. Employing a school curricula that includes
instruction in problem solving, life skills,
social-emotional development, interpersonal
community, self-regulation, and violence
prevention, such as Second Step (a Social
Emotional Learning curriculum).
please go to www.massadvocates.org or contact: Anne Eisner, aeisner@
massadvocates.org, ph: 617-998-0110.
47 The Behavioral Health and Public Schools Framework, Introduction to
the Framework, visit http://BPHS321.org, p. 2.

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