“Focusing
on academics while struggling with trauma is like trying to play chess in a
hurricane” (Wolpow, Johnson, Hertel, and Kincaid, 2011). Students in the
classroom today are coming to school with more and more complex needs. The drop
out rate continues to be a major concern in communities across the nation. One
in five students are living in conditions that expose them to trauma that has a
direct impact on their probability of graduating from high school. Research
shows that trauma has a significant impact on brain development and it is now
known that survival trumps new learning. How do we find time in our high stakes
assessment focused classrooms to meet the social emotional needs of our
students? We must find the time because social emotional learning is the
primary marker for academic success and graduation.
Complex
Trauma has a dramatic impact on the academic success of students. The
definition of Complex Trauma can best be described as the experience of
multiple or chronic/prolonged, developmentally adverse traumatic events, most
often of a personal nature (sexual or physical abuse, family violence, war,
community violence) and early life onset (WSU Area Health Education Center,
2007). With ever-shrinking funding for early childhood agencies, schools are
faced with the challenge of meeting the increasing diverse needs of students.
Only one in ten children with a diagnosed mental health disorder ever get
treatment. Only 50% of CPS referrals are investigated while less than 1/3 of
those referrals receive any services. Meanwhile, all of these students are
coming to school each day.
Several
studies have taken place over the past several years that provide some very
shocking information. In a study of middle school students in Philadelphia,
Johns Hopkins University (2009) found a direct correlation of the following:
If
a student is:
- Failing math or reading
- Developing an attendance problem
- Developing a behavior problem
Then:
- That student has only a 25% chance of graduating from high school.
This
is an alarming statistic! From this study, if we know this about our kids at an
early age, we must do something different so that we can change their path in
order to help them be successful. In a similar study, Washington State
University Area Health Education Center did an Incidence and Prevalence Study
in 2010. Classroom teachers were surveyed on a random sampling of 2100 students
in ten elementary schools around Spokane County. Five schools were Title I
schools while five schools were not. In this study, it was discovered that one
in 5 students have been exposed to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE’s). That
translates to a conservative figure of 15,000 students in Spokane County. The
study showed that there was a direct correlation in the number of ACE’s and the
increased risk of academic failure, severe attendance problems, severe behavior
problems, and frequent health problems. Nationally, there are roughly 30% of
children who experience complex trauma. In poverty areas, this exceeds 50%.
Interestingly, our state’s drop out rate hovers at about 30% or 309,000
students per year.
The
impact of complex trauma on brain development is significant. Researchers used
to believe that the brain only developed until about age three. However, new
research has shown that the brain continues to develop into young adulthood and
that it depends on rich relationships and mastery of emotional responses. When
children experience trauma, their brain often can only function at the very
basic level of fight or flight. There is often a lack of ability to get to the
reasoning or emotions part of the brain. Therefore, their ability to learn
becomes hindered by the trauma that has taken over their brain functions.
Persistent stress is epidemic in children and places brain development at risk.
This can be as high as 30% in the general population and 85% in marginalized
populations. If we address this in early childhood and K-12 systems, we have a
better chance of improving childhood development and system success. Many
students who have survived these early experiences and become resilient, point
to teachers as being the reason for their success (Blodget, Harrington, et al,
2010).
In
our high-stakes academic world, schools have been pressed to show results. This
pressure has often come at the expense of addressing the social emotional needs
of children. It is too often stated by teachers that they don’t feel they have time
to spend on relationships anymore because there are too many academic demands.
Dealing with the social emotional needs of students can often be viewed as
“something else on the plate”. I firmly believe that social emotional learning
IS the plate on which everything else should be placed. In the absence of a
firm foundation in social emotional learning and relationships, academic
success becomes an unattainable goal. The role of social emotional learning has
a big impact on the focus of high-stakes testing. We may not be able to control
how we feel, but we can learn to choose how we act. In his book, Mark Katz
(1997) states,
Looking through the
trauma-sensitive lens… Not realizing that children exposed to inescapable,
overwhelming stress may act out their pain, that they may misbehave, not listen
to us, or seek our attention in all the wrong ways, can lead us to punish these
children for their misbehavior… if only we knew what happened last night, or
this morning before she got to school, we would be shielding the same child
we’re now reprimanding.
Resiliency
must be the goal for our many students who are functioning in a world of
trauma. Resiliency buffers the effects of trauma. As educators, we must shift
our thinking from “what is wrong” to “what is right” with a child. This is a
shift from a deficit model to a strength model. Teachers must find ways to
always empower students and never dis-empower them. We must educate our
children with unconditional, positive regard in a safe and caring environment.
All students deserve an environment where high expectations are coupled with
high support and where consistent routines are the norm. It is our imperative
that we help calm the hurricane in order to guide our students to success.
IMPORTANT POINTS TO REMEMBER
- Keep the focus on the educational mission
- Build meaningful relationships
- Foundation to support learning and mastery
- Engagement to parents
- Create safety and predictability
- Promote skill development from where students are
- Accountability as an essential survival skill
- Meaning-making (reasoning and problem-solving)
- Development of universal trauma sensitive social emotional learning standards
References:
Anda and Felitti: Adverse
Childhood Experiences Study (1995 to Present)
Blodgett,
Harrington, et al. (2010). ACEs and their
Consequences in Spokane Elementary Schools (unpublished). WSU Area Health
Education Center, Spokane, WA.
Johns Hopkins study of Middle School Children
in Philadelphia (9/09)
Katz, M. (1997), On Playing A Poor Hand
Well. WW Norton and Company.
Wolpow,
Johnson, Hertel, and Kincaid (2009). The
Heart of Teaching and Learning: Compassion, Resiliency, and Academic Success. Washington
State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Blog written by:
Kevin
Peterson, Principal
Midway
Elementary School
Mead
School District
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