PREPARING SCHOOLS TO MEET THE NEEDS OF STUDENTS COPING WITH TRAUMA AND TOXIC STRESS - Brief No. 17 - May 2021

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jacob

Brief No. 17 in the EdResearch for Recovery series addresses how K-12 decision makers and advocates can prepare schools to serve students coping with trauma and toxic stress. It examines how trauma disrupts cognitive, social-emotional, and behavioral competencies needed for academic success, and how unaddressed trauma can appear as internalizing and externalizing behaviors. It highlights needs for staff training, outlines effective whole-school Tier 1 supports and select Tier 2 interventions, and warns against overreliance on clinical staff or disconnected “one-shot” professional development.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages7

Reading Time18 min

AccessFree to download

Central Question

Key Insights

Breaking Down the Issue

Strategies to Consider

Strategies to Avoid

EdResearch For Recovery May 2021 PREPARING SCHOOLS TO MEET THE NEEDS OF STUDENTS COPING WITH TRAUMA AND TOXIC STRESS Micere Keels, Sonya Dinizulu, and Shipra Parikh | University of Chicago Tynisha Jointer | Chicago Public Schools Brief No. 17 This brief is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the novel coronavirus pandemic. Click here to learn more about the EdResearch for Recovery Project and view the set of COVID-19 response-andrecovery topic areas and practitioner-generated questions. ~~ ~~CENTRAL~~ ~~QUESTION~~ ~~ What policies, procedures, and practices coupled with professional development can prepare schools to meet the needs of students coping with trauma and toxic levels of stress? KEY INSIGHTS Breaking Down the Issue Trauma disrupts the development of core cognitive, social, emotional, and behavioral competencies that are needed to succeed in school. Trauma is broadly experienced across the U.S. student population, but disproportionately concentrated among members of racially and ethnically marginalized and lower-income communities. The pandemic has placed increased pressure on schools to provide mental health support, especially for schools serving racially and ethnically marginalized students, and those living in lower-income communities. Many teachers and staff members report that they need more training in recognizing and responding to student trauma. Strategies to Consider Investments in staff mental health can improve outcomes for both students and staff members. Whole-school (Tier 1) strategies for addressing trauma tend to be more effective than strategies that focus only on identifying individual students for secondary intervention. A limited set of school-based trauma-focused Tier 2 interventions have demonstrated effectiveness in helping children and youth recover from traumatic experiences. Schools can increase their capacity to meet the needs of students coping with trauma by creating a school-wide plan that includes all staff, in addition to family and community stakeholders. Strategies to Avoid Plans that place the burden for supporting students on clinical staff, such as school social workers and counselors, are unlikely to be effective. One-shot awarenessbuilding professional development that doesn’t connect to strategies for how educators can respond to students’needs are unlikely to lead to improved student outcomes. EdResearch for Recovery-May 2021 1 EdResearch For Recovery Although there is a substantial research base on the science of trauma and its effects on children, many of the strategies for translating this knowledge into the daily work of schools are still being developed and evaluated. Therefore, the evidence in this brief includes a mix of findings from extant studies and learnings from expert researchers and practitioners who are actively working to implement practices in schools. ~~ ~~BREAKING~~ ~~DOWN~~ ~~THE~~ ~~ISSUE~~ ~~ Trauma disrupts the development of core cognitive, social, emotional, and behavioral competencies that are needed to succeed in school. Unaddressed trauma can show up as internalizing and externalizing behaviors. The externalizing behaviors can often show up as challenging behavior in school. Trauma refers to the psychological, emotional, and spiritual wounds that are created by one or more events that overwhelm a person’s abilities to cope. Students experiencing trauma often externalize their feelings of distress into oppositional behaviors that can be challenging for educators. These include aggression, defiance, attachment disruptions, relational mistrust, and emotional dysregulation. Challenging student behaviors escalate when responded to with punitive and exclusionary discipline. Students experiencing trauma can also internalize their f

FAQs

What central question does the brief address?

What policies, procedures, and practices—paired with professional development—can prepare schools to meet the needs of students coping with trauma and toxic levels of stress?

How does trauma affect students’ readiness to learn?

Trauma disrupts core competencies needed to succeed in school and can reduce students’ ability to benefit from rigorous instruction by keeping them out of a regulated “learning brain” state.

Which approaches are most effective for addressing trauma in schools?

Whole-school (Tier 1) strategies are described as more effective than approaches that focus only on identifying individual students for secondary intervention, and a limited set of school-based Tier 2 trauma-focused interventions has shown effectiveness.

What strategies should schools avoid?

The brief warns against placing the burden primarily on clinical staff (e.g., social workers and counselors) and against “one-shot” professional development that does not connect training to concrete strategies for how educators respond to students’ needs.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jacob