Trauma Informed Practice

The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study has yielded significant insight and data around the prevalence of trauma in students and its corresponding impact on learning. Trauma-related symptoms can have an adverse impact on critical areas of student growth and development. This includes:

• Relationships: Students with trauma experience difficulty in building trust and advocating for support. They need guidance and support to build productive relationships with their teachers and peers.

• Student Behaviors: Traumatic experiences distort emotion regulation, leading to escalated behaviors that disrupt learning.  

• Academic Performance: Intrusive thoughts from previous trauma distract students in the learning process. Trauma also impacts executive functioning skills, leading to negative outcomes related to comprehension, memory, organization and engagement. 

As a school that strives to be trauma-informed, Revere High school recognizes that trauma affects staff, students, families, communities, and systems. Our team commits to providing organizational support, partnerships, and capacity-building to counteract the impact of trauma on student learning.  To reach our goal of supporting students to achieve educational excellence, we have an obligation to make our students feel safe, supported and ready to learn.  We also recognize that “not only are individual students impacted by traumatic experiences, but other students, the adults on campus, and the school community can be impacted by interacting or working with a child who has experienced trauma.”  As such, we believe that mental health and wellness are inexplicably connected to students’ ability to thrive in our school environment and continue to support the development of positions, partnership and school-based programs that position students to thrive.  

The Creating Cultures of Trauma-Informed Care (CCTIC) Self-Assessment and Planning Protocol outlines the following guiding principles and key questions to ensure organizations are supportive of those experiencing trauma as well as those, like educators, who experience secondary trauma in their work.  In designing interventions and consequences, Revere High School strives to ensure that these principles and questions guide the development of our Restorative Framework for Accountability and Support.  Our understanding of Trauma Informed Practice at RHS is shaped by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD).  The crosswalk of these three frameworks should serve as a guide for self assessment as we do this work.  

References and Resources to Explore: