Title: How Trauma-Informed Schools Help Every Student Succeed
Headings: How Trauma-Informed Schools Help Every Student Succeed
How Trauma-Informed Schools Help Every Student Succeed
Trauma-informed schools have become essential to successfully addressing the broadening spectrum of ACES.
“Promoting trauma-sensitive school approaches has the greatest potential to positively impact all students, regardless of trauma history.”
The value of trauma-informed schools is rooted in the universal best practices of trauma-informed care.
Trauma-informed schools incorporate policy, procedure, and curriculum into a holistic approach that supports every student’s potential.
Trauma-informed schools are safer, more successful, and support stronger communities—and crisis prevention training can play an important role.

Content: In fact, a trauma-informed school fosters better critical thinking in its students when it comes to core curriculum. Say the authors of one trauma-informed school initiative, “…Instruction is not limited to the classroom. Students are empowered to translate their coursework into action in the community.” Example: Ninth grade algebra and geometry students facilitated an urban planning project to demonstrate how achieving measurable violence reduction was possible. Safer schools are more successful schools—when they include community collaboration. Developing an effective and coordinated approach to trauma-informed care requires an awareness of the environmental, social, and economic factors that may be fueling adverse events that subsequently impact a child’s performance in school. Example: Aware of safety concerns in a school’s neighborhood, the principal gathered information from community members to facilitate structured dialog between the city council, police department, and parents. Over time, engagement ratings improved, as did school climate and safety metrics.