Trauma-Informed Practices in Schools Across Two Decades: An Interdisciplinary Review of Research

Abstract

Attention to childhood trauma and the need for trauma-informed care has contributed to the emerging discourse in schools related to teaching practices, school climate, and the delivery of trauma-related in-service and preservice teacher education. However, though trauma-informed systems of care include schools, empirical work informing trauma-informed teaching and teacher education that is reflected back to those audiences is less established. This interdisciplinary overview and synthesis of literature examined interventions used in schools to determine the dominant framework used for promoting and practicing trauma-informed care in schools and the effectiveness of school-based supports for trauma-affected youth to identify implications for changing teaching practice. While multiple disciplines conduct research using different methodologies examining trauma-informed practices in schools, educators are underexamined in this work. Additionally, education researchers began engaging in research on trauma-informed practices in schools more recently, and as such, research emanating from education researchers comprises a small portion of this review. Drawing across the work, we offer recommendations for a more robust, interdisciplinary research agenda with the intentional purpose to change teacher practice.

Seeing Race in the Research on Youth Trauma and Education: A Critical Review

“…A third macrolevel support refers to various intervention programs aimed at mitigating the impact of youth trauma (Ford, Steinberg, et al, 2012; Scheeringa et al, 2011). Indeed, to synthesize three recent systematic reviews of school-based intervention programs across 171 articles (with some overlapping studies), it appears that long-term programs with a codified curriculum that is co-constructed with caregivers and delivered by trained staff are most effective, although what is still needed are better frameworks for implementing and measuring effectiveness of said programs and protocols for more precise analysis of participant demographics (Rodger et al, 2019; Thomas et al, 2019; Yohannan & Carlson, 2019). Unfortunately, I found that when the primary focus is on investigating the best program intervention, studies minimize underlying racialization problems or imply that race is inconsequential to understanding and responding to students’ trauma-related experiences.…”

“…However, the first of these reviews stressed a critical need to understand and recognize the impact of youth trauma on school functioning (De Pedro et al, 2011; McBrien, 2005; Perfect et al, 2016; Sullivan & Simonson, 2016). Additionally, subsequent systematic reviews on youth trauma have contributed to the body of scholarship by exploring effective trauma-based interventions; in short, these reviews have recommended that trauma-based interventions (a) use codified curricula that are co-constructed with caregivers for contextual specificity, (b) be delivered by trained staff, and (c) incorporate more intersectional data points for analyses of program and student success outcomes (Rodger et al, 2019; Thomas et al, 2019; Yohannan & Carlson, 2019). Collectively, this growing body of scholarship on youth trauma in educational contexts has generated sizeable concern among school-based actors, while also underscoring a need for stronger interdisciplinary work that can advance future discoveries about equitable resources, programs, and practices for improving success outcomes among trauma-exposed youth in U.S. schools.…”

“…Moreover, Bonilla-Silva’s theoretical explanations on structural racism in the United States highlight the ongoing conflict between White racial actors, who seek to maintain racial dominance, and Black, Brown, and other marginalized people of color who seek to disrupt racial injustices. Therefore, when researchers report that supporting trauma-exposed youth will require an interdisciplinary group of voices to engage in deeper discussions about systems, policies, and practices (Thomas et al, 2019), we should be asking whose voices are included and whether those voices can acknowledge how systems, policies, and practices unjustly affect the lives and school experiences of many Black and Brown children in the United States (Anyon, 2014; B. W. Fisher et al, 2018; Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995; Milner, 2012, 2015; Noguera, 2003; Pearman, 2019; Seider & Huguley, 2009).…”

Moving Policy Toward a Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Approach to Support Children Who Have Experienced Trauma

“…48 Whereas little is known about the impact of whole-school trauma-informed strategies, there is significant empirical support for clinical interventions for those identified as needing support in tiers 2 and 3 of a MTSS. 41,45 For example, cognitive behavioral interventions for trauma in schools and trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy are well-established with multiple rigorous evaluations. 19 However, such targeted approaches may not be able to serve the needs of all students who are experiencing trauma.…”

“…Recent reviews of trauma‐informed approaches in schools have all concluded that there is a dearth of evidence about what works for nonclinical staff. That is not to say that there is a lack of guidance on best practices; rather, very little of the guidance references strong evidence 19,41 . Previously, most research focused on educators examined efforts to build knowledge around the effects of trauma and to link students to more targeted interventions and supports 41 .…”