Trauma in Schools: A Review of the Impact of Childhood Trauma and Assessment of a Potential Intervention

Abstract

According to the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH), nearly 30 million children in the United States have experienced one or more types of significant childhood trauma. In the average public school, this statistic translates to as many as half of the students in a given teacher’s classroom. Children exposed to the toxic stress of trauma often experience negative consequences that affect their academic, psychological, socioemotional, and behavioral health. To aid educators in addressing this reality, trauma-informed care practices have increasingly begun to be translated into professional development opportunities for educators. Using the theoretical frameworks of trauma theory and transformational learning theory, this review of the literature provides a brief overview of trauma theory, the short- and long-term effects on children, the mechanisms involved in how trauma affects developmental outcomes, and the relevance of trauma in an educational setting. It also reviews the implementation of trauma-informed care as professional development in educational settings, examines research on educators’ awareness of beliefs and attitudes, and reviews how/whether knowledge and change in attitudes affect behavioral change.