Introduction
This short guide is intended to help school leaders and classroom teachers create trauma-informed learning environments. We answer three questions: What is a trauma-informed school? What can leaders do? and What can educators do?
Recommendations
Leaders can:
Offer staff training on trauma, self-awarness, and communication
Create a school culture that includes multilingual learners and students with disabilities in classrooms and whole-school activities
Implement a discipline model that is restorative and/or includes student voice and choice.
Create structures for regular staff and student input
Identify success metrics and monitor gaps in indicators like student belonging, attendance, referrals, and suspensions
Implement a screener to identify whether students have had exposure to trauma
Teachers can:
Create a safe and calm classroom environment by clearly communicating expectations, establishing transparent processes, and being consistent in your follow-through.
Provide students with appropriate opportunities for voice and choice in learning. This allows them to build self-regulation skills and cultivate a sense of competence.
Build strong relationships with your students and among your students. As a teacher, you can practice care, positive regard, and non-judgement while also maintaining firm and clear boundaries.
Watch and report signs of violence and other trauma. As a teacher, you can promote an environment of wellbeing, but you are not a mental health professional.
Model self-awareness and regulation. A dysregulated adult cannot support a dysregulated student.
See our report for a full list of recommendations and resources.
Conclusion
Being a trauma-informed school means shifting away from control and punishment toward empathy and relationship-building, while still maintaining firm and clear boundaries. It will take time for both students and teachers to adjust. However, the benefit is a learning environment that creates the conditions for students to experience success in school and beyond. Trouble-shooting implementation is beyond the scope of this guide, but see our resource list or seek out curriculum, training, and consultants who identify as trauma-informed.