A novel evaluation of trauma-informed practice implementation in K-12 education

Abstract

Background: The school system is one of many possible protective factors that prevent or mitigate the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), which are events that occur before the age of 18 that may be traumatic, such as abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction. Training school personnel in trauma-informed practice (TIP) should decrease ACEs and buffer against the impact of ACEs. Objective: We hypothesized that training all school system employees would change disciplinary actions in response to student behavior incidents in a rural south-central Appalachian school system. Methods: TIP training took place in Spring 2019 for all principals, assistant principals, and general administrative staff in a south-central Appalachian school system. All teachers were trained in Summer. Routinely collected student behavior incident and staff disciplinary response data were compared for the falls before (Fall 2018) and following (Fall 2019) TIP training. Results: There were 615 and 617 behavioral incidents and disciplinary actions in fall 2018 and fall 2019, respectively. The Chi-Square Test for Independence found no change in student behavior incidents between fall 2018 and fall 2019, X2 (10, n = 1232) = 16.035, p = 0.099, Cramer’s V = 0.114, but did find differences in disciplinary actions, X2 (6, n = 1232) = 44.485, p < 0.001. Cramer’s V = 0.190. Graphs of frequencies and examination of showed differences in removed at teacher’s request and other. The frequencies of students being given detention, in-school suspension, and out of school suspension were lower in 2019 than in 2018, but the difference was not statistically significant. Conclusions: These findings could be evidence of change in teacher responses to misbehavior due to TIP training, but further study is needed to confirm this.