Supporting Students with Adverse Childhood Experiences - How Educators and Schools Can Help

Oct 15, 2026

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Discusses adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) as potentially traumatic events whose accumulation can cause toxic, stress-driven effects on children’s physical and mental development and can lead to long-term health and social outcomes. Highlights how stable, supportive caregiver relationships and school practices—such as fostering social-emotional skills and reducing exclusionary, punitive discipline—can buffer risk. Summarizes national and state prevalence estimates using 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health data, including key racial and ethnic differences and common ACE patterns.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages5

Reading Time13 min

AccessFree to download

Supporting Students with Adverse Childhood Experiences

How Educators and Schools Can Help

Prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences

Childhood Adversity, including ACEs, Can Have Profound Effects

Supporting Students with Adverse Childhood Experiences How Educators and Schools Can Help ILLUSTRAT IONS BY JING JING TSONG By David Murphey and Vanessa Sacks Adverse childhood experiences (typically referred to as ACEs) are potentially traumatic experiences and events, ranging from abuse and neglect to parental incarceration.* A growing body of research has made it increasingly apparent that ACEs are a critical public health issue that can have negative, lasting effects on health and wellbeing in childhood or later in life.1 However, more important than exposure to any specific event of this type is the accumulation of multiple adversities during childhood, which is associated with especially deleterious effects on development.2 One mechanism responsible for the effects ofACEs—toxic levels of stress—can be substantially buffered by stable and supportive relationships with caregivers. Schools and educators can also play a critical role by promoting these kinds of David Murphey is a research fellow at Child Trends and the director of the Child Trends DataBank. Vanessa Sacks is a research scientist in youth development at Child Trends. This article is adapted with permission from their research brief The Prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences, Nationally, by State, and by Race/Ethnicity (Child Trends, February 20, 2018), available at [https://bit.ly/2lJRCpO](https://bit.ly/2lJRCpO). caring relationships, as well as social and emotional skills, that support healthy youth development for all students; removing exclusionary and punitive disciplinary practices; and supporting the physical and mental health needs of students.3 Prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences There is growing interest in understanding the prevalence of these adverse experiences across different communities in the United States, as well as their implications for families, schools, and other child-serving institutions. A recent Child Trends research brief, The Prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences, Nationally, by State, and by Race/Ethnicity, from which this article is drawn, used data from the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) to estimate the prevalence of one or more selected adversities among children from birth through age 17, as reported by a parent or guardian. The study *Some researchers limit the term “adverse childhood experiences” to the 10 items included in the original 1998 study that defined the term, while others use screening tools that have included a larger or smaller number of ACEs. Our work is primarily with the items included in the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health, which are similar, but not identical, to those in the original ACEs study. In this article, we use “ACEs,”“adverse childhood experiences,” and “childhood adversities” interchangeably. 8 AMERICAN EDUCATOR | SUMMER 2019 team estimated the national and state-level prevalence of eight specific adversities: parental divorce or separation, death of a parent, parental incarceration, witnessing violence in the home, experiencing or witnessing violence in the neighborhood, economic hardship, living with individuals with substance use problems, and living with someone who is mentally ill. Our findings include: • Among the adversities included in the survey, economic hardship and divorce or separation of parents or guardians are the most common adversities reported nationally and in all states. • Just under half (45 percent) of children in the United States have experienced at least one adversity, which is similar to the rate of exposure found in a 2011–2012 survey.4 At the national level, about 1 in 10 children have experienced three or more ACEs. In five states—Arizona, Arkansas, Montana, New Mexico, and Ohio—as many as 1 in 7 children have experienced three or more ACEs. • Children of different races and ethnicities do not experience adversities equally. Nationally, 61 percent of black children and 51 percent of Hi

FAQs

What are adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and why are they a public health concern?

ACEs are potentially traumatic experiences such as abuse, neglect, and parental incarceration. Research links ACE accumulation to toxic stress and negative, lasting effects on health and wellbeing.

How do schools and educators help students affected by ACEs?

They can promote stable, supportive relationships and social-emotional skills, reduce exclusionary and punitive disciplinary practices, and support students’ physical and mental health needs.

What does the article report about how common ACEs are among children?

Using 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health data, it estimates that just under half of U.S. children have experienced at least one adversity, and about 1 in 10 have experienced three or more ACEs at the national level.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Dipper