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Seeing Race in the Research on Youth Trauma and Education: A Critical Review

June 2020
Review of Educational Research 90(5):003465432093813

June 2020
90(5):003465432093813

DOI:10.3102/0034654320938131

Authors:

Rowan University

The growing body of scholarship on youth trauma in educational contexts has yielded promising discoveries about resources, programs, and practices that may improve success outcomes for trauma-exposed youth in U.S. schools. However, there is a lack of systematic review of this research from a race-conscious perspective. This article uses a racialization framework to examine how trauma is discussed in the literature with respect to youth in preK–12 educational contexts. This review sheds light on the potential ways a structurally racist and White supremacist system can shape students’ experiences with trauma and the dominant explanatory frames for discussing and addressing trauma. Finally, this article contributes ideas for conducting race-conscious trauma research, shifting trauma discourses, and building race-conscious pathways for supporting trauma-exposed youth.

Themes, codes, and conceptual summary of reviewed literature.

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Review of Educational Research

Month 201X, Vol. XX, No. X, pp. 1 –44

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654320938131

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Seeing Race in the Research on Youth Trauma

and Education: A Critical Review

Adam Alvarez

Rowan University

The growing body of scholarship on youth trauma in educational contexts

has yielded promising discoveries about resources, programs, and practices

that may improve success outcomes for trauma-exposed youth in U.S.

schools. However, there is a lack of systematic review of this research from a

race-conscious perspective. This article uses a racialization framework to

examine how trauma is discussed in the literature with respect to youth in

preK–12 educational contexts. This review sheds light on the potential ways

a structurally racist and White supremacist system can shape students’ expe-

riences with trauma and the dominant explanatory frames for discussing and

addressing trauma. Finally, this article contributes ideas for conducting

race-conscious trauma research, shifting trauma discourses, and building

race-conscious pathways for supporting trauma-exposed youth.

Keywords: race, trauma, school, education, equity

Over the past several decades, research has illustrated that trauma-exposed

youth experience a host of challenges across multiple domains inside and outside

of school (Administrative Offices of the Court, 2014; Barrett et al., 2012; Dutro,

2008; Ford, Chapman, et al., 2012; Pynoos et al., 1987; Terr, 1983; Wissman &

Wiseman, 2011). Until recently, research on youth trauma in educational contexts

had not been systematically reviewed. However, the first of these reviews stressed

a critical need to understand and recognize the impact of youth trauma on school

functioning (De Pedro et al., 2011; McBrien, 2005; Perfect et al., 2016; Sullivan

& Simonson, 2016). Additionally, subsequent systematic reviews on youth trauma

have contributed to the body of scholarship by exploring effective trauma-based

interventions; in short, these reviews have recommended that trauma-based inter-

ventions (a) use codified curricula that are co-constructed with caregivers for con-

textual specificity, (b) be delivered by trained staff, and (c) incorporate more

intersectional data points for analyses of program and student success outcomes

(Rodger et al., 2019; Thomas et al., 2019; Yohannan & Carlson, 2019). Collectively,

this growing body of scholarship on youth trauma in educational contexts has

generated sizeable concern among school-based actors, while also underscoring a

need for stronger interdisciplinary work that can advance future discoveries about

938131RERXXX10.3102/0034654320938131AlvarezTrauma and Education

research-article2020

Alvarez

equitable resources, programs, and practices for improving success outcomes

among trauma-exposed youth in U.S. schools. In short, this research has shaped

the dominant discourse on youth trauma in the United States.

However, this body of research rarely acknowledges that trauma has been con-

structed and studied within a social context where structural racism and White

supremacy have permitted White racial actors to define and normalize systemic

advantages, social relations, status markers, cultural practices, and ways of know-

ing (Bonilla-Silva, 1997; Mills, 20031). Moreover, Bonilla-Silva’s theoretical

explanations on structural racism in the United States highlight the ongoing con-

flict between White racial actors, who seek to maintain racial dominance, and

Black, Brown, and other marginalized people of color who seek to disrupt racial

injustices. Therefore, when researchers report that supporting trauma-exposed

youth will require an interdisciplinary group of voices to engage in deeper discus-

sions about systems, policies, and practices (Thomas et al., 2019), we should be

asking whose voices are included and whether those voices can acknowledge how

systems, policies, and practices unjustly affect the lives and school experiences of

many Black and Brown children in the United States (Anyon, 2014; B. W. Fisher

et al., 2018; Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995; Milner, 2012, 2015; Noguera, 2003;

Pearman, 2019; Seider & Huguley, 2009). Drawing on these theoretical insights,

my core argument is that race must be central to the research on youth trauma.

Without centering race in a historically racialized, White-dominant context,

researchers and school-based actors may (un)intentionally criminalize or patholo-

gize trauma-exposed youth, especially Black and Brown youth, for their responses

to overwhelming conditions they do not control.

As a Latinx parent and former teacher of 6 years at an elementary school in a

residential psychiatric facility, I approach the intersection of race, trauma, and

education with familiarity, criticality, and hopes of contributing to a deeper collec-

tive understanding of trauma within the racialized context of U.S. preK–12

schools. By centering race, I maintain answerability, meaning I am responsible

for holding researchers and research accountable for reproducing racial inequity

through Westernized, colonial logics of knowledge production and dissemination

(Patel, 2015). To be clear, my goal is not to negate what other researchers have

found; instead, my goal is to shed light on the potential ways a racialized social

system can shape students’ experiences with trauma and the dominant explana-

tory frames for discussing and addressing trauma. Essentially, by conducting this

systematic review, I hope to contribute ideas about (a) engaging in race-conscious

trauma research, (b) shifting trauma discourses, and (c) developing pathways for

race-conscious approaches to supporting trauma-exposed youth. I focus this criti-

cal review on the following question: How is trauma discussed in preK–12 edu-

cational contexts and how is the dominant trauma discourse racialized?

Throughout this article, when I refer to discourse, I am referring to a written or

spoken communication form, generally. Also, when I use “dominant trauma dis-

course,” I mean White-dominant “mainstream” ways of thinking about and dis-

cussing youth trauma.

In what follows, I begin with a conceptual framework for understanding trauma

within a racialized social system. After detailing my methodological approach, I

thematically organize the findings of my synthesis of the literature in three

Trauma and Education

sections addressing the Prevalence and Sources of Trauma (including rate of

exposure, violence, ecological stress, and racism); Manifestations of Trauma

(including academic, behavioral, health, and social); and Approaches to

Addressing Trauma (at both the micro and macrolevels). Finally, I close with

recommendations for advancing race-conscious education research on youth

trauma.

Conceptual Framework for Understanding Trauma Within a Racialized

Social System

To contextualize this review and the importance of a race-focused approach, it

is imperative to know how trauma is defined and used (see the appendix). Trauma

typically refers to an outcome related to threats, high stress, and danger (American

Psychological Association, n.d.). For instance, children can experience trauma

from multiple, ongoing, or cumulative experiences to harmful conditions (Pynoos

et al., 1999; Terr, 1991). To determine if a child is experiencing trauma, clinicians

use survey instruments with scaled responses to age-appropriate prompts or pic-

tures. Surveys are scored and mapped onto the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual

to make an assessment (see ptsd.va.gov for several examples of measurement

tools). Trauma can also be used to describe a predictor, as in “exposure to multiple

traumas has also been linked to academic and behavioral issues in the school set-

ting” (Administrative Office of the Court, 2014, p. 2). The usage in this context

allows researchers to collect a raw number of experiences to predict other out-

comes. For instance, when Felitti et al. (1998) examined relationships between

number of adverse childhood experiences (ACE) and health outcomes among

more than 13,000 participants, they found that participants with four or more

ACEs were up to 12 times more likely to abuse alcohol and/or drugs, experience

depression, and attempt suicide. Although trauma may be surfacing more today in

the educational lexicon, it is critical to understand that its use has been influenced

by a racialized social system.

For Bonilla-Silva (1997), racialized social systems, such as the United States,

refer to “societies in which economic, political, social and ideological levels are par-

tially structured by the placement of actors in racial categories or races” (p. 469).

White racial group members establish a structural framework for attributing privi-

leges along constructed racial lines at all levels of society. This racial structure defines

and normalizes systemic advantages, social relations, status markers, cultural prac-

tices, and ways of knowing. As such, White racial group members control access to

employment, education, and economic resources. In addition, dominant and margin-

alized racial group members’ collective social positions reflect the totality of racial

structures across time and space. Furthermore, to explain racial group members’ col-

lective position in the racial hierarchy, a White-dominant racial ideology becomes

the organizational map for understanding how to think, talk, and respond to social

issues, including trauma. Essentially, White racial group members have the power

and resources to (a) shape the conditions in which students live, learn, and experience

trauma; (b) assess students’ responses to said conditions and trauma-exposure; and

Thus, it is necessary to situate the dominant trauma discourse and research

within a racialization framework to disrupt White supremacist notions of normality

Alvarez

and deficit beliefs about people of color (Milner, 2007). In centering race as an

analytic tool, I can focus on if and how trauma research literature discusses race,

how students of color and urban communities of color are depicted, and, ultimately,

whether readers of the research (education researchers and school-based actors)

can come to better understand the conditions that shape the realities and experi-

ences of some students of color as they relate to trauma. Moreover, this racializa-

tion framework addresses dangers of race-neutral research. Some of these dangers

may be obvious, such as intentionally avoiding race as if race were inconsequential

to a research design or one’s onto-epistemology. Other dangers may not be obvi-

ous. An unseen danger could emerge if a researcher does not have the capacity or

knowledgebase to “see” or make sense of how race operates, for instance. A con-

sequence of this type of unseen danger could be that researchers implicitly permit

a race-neutral perspective because they may not have the language or understand-

ing to critically deconstruct a “raced” situation. Finally, unforeseen dangers can

emerge when researchers perpetuate racism unintentionally through misrepresen-

tation of research data. Ultimately, a race-conscious approach to reviewing litera-

ture can shed light on the White-dominant norms, assumptions, and ideologies that

shape the dominant discourses within a racialized social system, including the dis-

course related to trauma.

Method

To identify how trauma is discussed with regard to students and preK–12

school settings in the United States and how the dominant discourse on trauma is

racialized, I conducted a systematic review. Systematic reviews critically assess

the research literature on a specific topic through (a) transparent search strategies

and explicit inclusion/exclusion criteria and (b) systematic coding and analysis

(Onwuegbuzie & Frels, 2016).

Search and Screening Strategy

I searched ERIC, SOCIndex, LegalTRAC, and Academic Search Premier using

the key terms trauma, education, school, and mental health. I also visited key web-

sites that emerged from a simple Google search of the word trauma, which included

American Psychological Association, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services

Administration, National Institute for Mental Health, National Library of Medicine,

National Center for Trauma-Informed Care, and the Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention. This initial screening generated roughly 1,300 peer-reviewed arti-

cles. I sampled the first 300 titles and abstracts (sorted by relevance) and located

three new terms, adverse childhood experience, complex trauma, and post-trau-

matic stress disorder (PTSD), which added 51 unique articles to screen with inclu-

sion/exclusion criteria. From this collection of articles, I selected recent articles

(published since 2000) focused on “trauma” as the body’s response to threats, high

stress, or danger (American Psychological Association, n.d.). Therefore, articles

associated with physical trauma to the body and head, such as traumatic brain

injury, were not included because they typically involved adults, rehabilitation

practices, and medical treatments at acute care settings.

Additionally, to be included, articles needed an explicit focus on students or

preK–12 school contexts in the United States (as determined by title, abstract, or

Trauma and Education

filtering subject area in database). I focused on preK–12 contexts in the United

States primarily so that this review can contribute to relevant school debates con-

cerning evidence-based programs and policies related to trauma. Moreover, I

acknowledge that race and racism exist globally, but I rationalize my decision to

focus on the United States exclusively because of its unique racialized history.

Bonilla-Silva’s (2014) work identifies the uniqueness of race and racism in the

U.S. context, and he argues that imperialism and previous forms of discrimination

across global contexts have been conflated with xenophobia and ethnocentrism.

My sampling technique and screening criteria resulted in the exclusion of impor-

tant contributions regarding trauma in education research, which highlight critical

hope and healing as factors in addressing trauma (Duncan-Andrade, 2009;

Ginwright, 2018) and a much-needed focus on the perils of medicalizing trauma

discourses in school (Dutro, 2017). In all, my search and screening strategy yielded

a total of 88 articles in this review.

Typically, assessing the quality of reviewed studies is a common screening

practice used to eliminate any studies with validity threats biasing the overall

claim. However, given this review’s central aim—to understand the potential

racialization underpinning the prominent trauma-related discussions regarding

students and preK–12 schools, I decided against a standard quality assessment.

My reasoning was that, regardless of their quality, these peer-reviewed publica-

tions have already contributed to the field. As such, I focused more on assessing

how this research fit within a broader racialization framework.

Coding and Analysis

In preparation for analysis, I used an Excel spreadsheet to organize informa-

tion I extracted from each article, such as the disciplinary focus of the journal, the

article’s empirical features, and population of interest. Next, using binary indica-

tors, I coded (using a “1” or “0”) whether the article was (a) published in a journal

of education, health, law, psychology, or sociology; (b) focused on educators

(adults in working with students), students, or schools (schools or outside of

school organizations); and (c) conceptual, mixed-methods, qualitative, or quanti-

tative. During this extraction process, I found that many of the articles referred to

urban schools and communities, teachers in urban schools, or students of color in

urban settings. In response, I added a new column for “urban-focused” articles.

Using the organizational matrix in this preanalysis phase provided a descriptive

overview.

To identify themes in the research literature, I used a constant comparative

analysis (Onwuegbuzie et al., 2012). First, after detailed readings of each article,

I developed a short synthesis based on in vivo codes and basic open-coding strate-

gies (Miles et al., 2013) to capture each article’s main findings. For example, from

Ford’s (2008) article, I noted, “A link between racism, trauma and PTSD urges

educators to be culturally competent as they design interventions for students.” A

similar process was used in Langeloo et al.’s (2019) review of literature on

teacher-child interactions with multilingual young children, except the authors

used “key sentences” to establish central themes from reviewed articles. Next,

using codes to classify my syntheses, I either used an existing code or developed

a new code. In some cases where codes overlapped, I based my coding decision

on the article’s main argument. For example, although many articles referred to

violence, I only coded them as such if violence was a variable of interest. After

reaching a point of saturation, I reduced 14 codes to 10, and then established three

major themes from the literature.

Figure 1 illustrates the 10 final codes I used to construct the three major themes.

Additionally, the figure represents a conceptual relationship between the major

themes I discuss in the following results section and the associated codes within

each theme. Briefly, my analysis suggests that if youth are exposed to violence,

ecological stressors, or racism, they may experience trauma. If youth experience

trauma, it may manifest itself across several domains, including academics,

behavior, health, and social outcomes. Based on my coding strategy, academic

outcomes included performance, attendance, and graduation. Behavioral out-

comes included anger, depression, or detachment. Health outcomes included risky

behavior, substance abuse, and obesity. Social outcomes included isolation or dis-

connectedness. To support trauma-exposed youth, the literature referred to micro

level approaches, such as improving relationships or resilience, or macrolevel

approaches, such as programs, policies, and practices.

Finally, I considered how these three prominent themes from the trauma

research literature fit within a racialization framework. I used the following guid-

ing questions:

 How does this research contribute to or disrupt deficit racial narratives

involving youth of color?

 How does this research describe racialized social, historical, political, and

economic systems?

FIGURE 1. Themes, codes, and conceptual summary of reviewed literature.

 How does this research assist readers in understanding how structural rac-

ism influences students’ lives and experiences?

Essentially, this analytic approach, according to Milner (2007), is critical for

empowering and assisting readers, researchers, and policy makers to avoid further

marginalizing, silencing, and misrepresenting people and communities of color.

Results

This section synthesizes three prominent themes from the trauma research lit-

erature with regard to preK–12 school contexts in the United States. The first

prominent theme will discuss the high-prevalence rates of youth trauma and three

common sources of trauma. The second prominent theme will discuss the ways

youth trauma can manifest across several domains. Finally, the third prominent

theme will discuss approaches to addressing youth trauma. I situate each of these

prominent themes within a racialized context and, throughout, I refer to exemplar

articles from Table 1 to illustrate how these themes may contribute to the national

youth trauma discourse between and among actors across schools and various

social contexts.

Prevalence Rates and Sources of Trauma

The first prominent theme I identified from 27 of the articles in this review

refers to high prevalence rates and sources of trauma among school-age youth.

Traumatic exposure for children across the United States varies and seems to

depend on the social context. While about half of U.S. children have reported at

least one traumatic experience (National Survey of Children’s Health, n.d.), esti-

mates increase for children who live in alternative settings, such as foster homes

or juvenile justice settings (Greeson et al., 2011; E. A. Miller et al., 2011). The

urgency to acknowledge the presence of trauma among school-age youth in vari-

ous social contexts is clear, but this dominant discourse tends to be race-evasive.

For example, Wilson et al. (2013) conducted a correlational study and analyzed

rates of trauma exposure among 61 adolescent youth in transitional juvenile jus-

tice settings with the PTSD Reaction Index and found that 93% reported at least

one traumatic experience and, on average, the sample reported four traumatic

events. Despite acknowledging that a small sample of almost all Black partici-

pants limited the generalizability of the findings, the authors concluded, “These

findings provide important new information relevant to the vast majority of

arrested youth who are placed on probation following arrest and return to their

communities” (p. 475). The need for a better trauma-screening process for youth

in juvenile justice settings and other alternative settings is certainly important, but

this research exemplifies how studies make implicit racial assumptions that can

reify deficit narratives. In addition, a better trauma-screening process would

require researchers to go beyond reporting surface-level results. For instance,

after analyzing Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths data to understand how

prevalent trauma was among a large racially diverse youth sample involved in

Child and Family Services (n = 14,103), Griffin et al. (2011) found that 78% of

youth reported at least one traumatic experience; yet, their results provided no

disaggregated breakdown by race. Without centering race in the research on youth

TABLE 1

Overview of reviewed studies with major themes and relevant findings.

Author(s) Method Theme Relevant findings

Anderson et al.

(2015)

Interviews with urban, elementary school

staff (n = 16)

Addressing Trauma Workplace environment create barriers for classroom

staff to implement new strategies and make use of the

knowledge and skills gained in the workshops.

Báez et al. (2019) Explanatory sequential design with follow-

up interviews; Social Skills Improvement

System Rating Scales and Adverse

Childhood Experiences questionnaire data

from middle school students (n = 500)

Addressing Trauma Students with low initial trauma had fewer behavioral

problems and those with high initial trauma had worse

behavioral and social outcomes after intervention.

Banks & Meyer

(2017)

Participant observation data from teacher

candidates (n = 60)

Addressing Trauma Collaborative discussions with a sandplay therapist–

enhanced trauma-informed knowledge.

Barlow & Becker-

Blease (2012)

Conceptual review Addressing Trauma Awareness of trauma may depend on understandings,

needs, and motivations related to trauma.

Barrett et al. (2012) MANOVA; Child Health and Illness Profile,

Adolescent Edition and teacher survey data

from middle-/high school–based actors

(n = 46 students, n = 43 teachers)

Addressing Trauma Displaced students with the greatest improvements in

well-being attended new schools with a cooperative

environment where teachers were attentive without

essentializing or generalizing about students’ needs.

Bethell et al. (2014) Multivariate regression; National Survey of

Children’s Health data from youth aged

0–17 years (n = 95,677)

Addressing Trauma Children with adverse childhood experiences show

poorer school engagement and higher rates of chronic

disease; resilience may moderate trauma effects.

Blitz et al. (2016) Interview data from educators in an urban

elementary school (n = 42)

Addressing Trauma Understanding impacts from intergenerational trauma

and race and class bias are potential components of a

culturally responsive trauma-informed approach.

Blodgett & Lanigan

(2018)

Binary logistic regression, ANOVA and

generalized estimating equations; Adverse

Childhood Experiences survey data from

elementary youth (n = 2,101)

Manifestations of

Trauma

Increasing trauma exposure was associated with greater

rates of academic failure, attendance problems, and

school behavior problems.

Brendel et al.

(2014)

Systematic review (n = 22) Addressing Trauma Research on intervention supports for students of

military families is underexplored.

(continued)

Author(s) Method Theme Relevant findings

Brunzell et al.

(2016)

Systematic review (n = 142) Addressing Trauma Teacher strategies focus on student regulation; teacher-

student relationships; and increasing students’

psychological resources.

Burke et al. (2011) Logistic regression; Adverse Childhood

Experiences data from adolescents

(n = 701)

Manifestations of

Trauma

More trauma correlated with increased risk of learning/

behavior problems and obesity.

Buxton (2018) Retrospective record review of IEP data from

youth aged 12–18 years (n = 12)

Manifestations of

Trauma

Almost all IEPs contained trauma-related behavioral

functions in academics, relationships, and

self-regulation.

R. T. Carter (2007) Conceptual review Prevalence/Source

of Trauma

Racism can have effects on stress and may manifest in

avoidance or dissociation.

Cassiman (2006) Conceptual review Prevalence/Source

of Trauma

Poverty is a manufactured form of trauma.

Cohen &

Mannarino

(2011)

Conceptual review Addressing Trauma Strategies included enhancing safety, enhancing parental

engagement, and enhancing acknowledgement and

support in processing.

Conner-Warren

(2014)

t-Test; Child Health and Illness Profile,

Cumulative Trauma Scale data from

African American adolescents aged 12–16

years (n = 175)

Manifestations of

Trauma

No differences in BP/HR among male/female with

multiple traumas; no significant changes in

physiology when recalling traumatic experiences.

Crosby (2015) Conceptual review Addressing Trauma Ecological perspectives offer insight for trauma-

informed education practices.

Crosby et al. (2015) Focus group data with teachers (n = 27) Addressing Trauma Trauma-based PD helped teachers recognize the

importance of positive relationship building,

knowledge of self-care (for teachers), and critiquing

typical practices that obstruct students’ healing.

Crosby et al. (2018) Conceptual review Addressing Trauma Attending to curriculum, school, and classroom

environments, teachers can provide safe, equitable,

and meaningful learning experiences.

TABLE 1 (continued)

(continued)

Author(s) Method Theme Relevant findings

Delaney-Black

et al. (2002)

Multivariate regression; Test of Early Reading

Ability, Wechsler Primary and Preschool

Scale of Intelligence data from first-grade

youth in an urban area (n = 299)

Manifestations of

Trauma

Experiencing violence and trauma-related stress predicts

negative change in IQ and reading achievement.

Dods (2013) Qualitative interview data with adolescents

(n = 4)

Addressing Trauma Individualized supportive relationships: teacher driven,

authentic caring, and attuned to students’ wellness.

Dotson Davis

(2019)

Conceptual review Addressing Trauma School policies and practices can use trauma-informed

perspectives to understand and work with students.

Fitzgerald & Cohen

(2012)

Conceptual review Addressing Trauma Educators should recognize triggers; find supportive

resources; provide in-school intervention.

Flannery et al.

(2004)

Hierarchical regression; Trauma Symptoms

Checklist for Children data from youth

Grades 3–12 (n = 5,969)

Manifestations of

Trauma

School violence related to trauma symptoms.

Flett & Hewitt

(2013)

Conceptual review Addressing Trauma Trauma-exposed students who are ineligible for services

may benefit from better screening processes.

Ford (2008) Conceptual review Addressing Trauma Educators must be culturally competent as they design

interventions for students given the link between

racism, trauma, and PTSD.

Ford, Chapman,

et al. (2012)

Conceptual review Manifestations of

Trauma

Trauma is associated with hyperarousal, impaired

information processing, and impulse control.

Ford, Steinberg,

et al. (2012)

Regression analysis; trauma measure battery

data from female youth (n = 59)

Addressing Trauma TARGET and ETAU programs for girls with PTSD

enhance optimism, self-efficacy; reduce anger.

Frye & Liem

(2011)

Latent growth analysis; trauma history and

CES-D scale data from students

(n = 1,143)

Addressing Trauma Race, poverty, gender, and trauma history as risk factors,

do not predict depressive symptom trajectories.

Furr et al. (2010) Meta-analysis (n = 96) Prevalence/Source

of Trauma

Despite variability, disasters have a significant effect on

youth traumatic stress.

Garcia & Dutro

(2018)

Conceptual review Prevalence/Source

of Trauma

Social and political issues may increase youth trauma.

TABLE 1 (continued)

(continued)

Author(s) Method Theme Relevant findings

Garo et al. (2018) Spatial analysis; trauma variability index data

from Charlotte, North Carolina (n = 1)

Prevalence/Source

of Trauma

Concentrated poverty and violence are greater for

racially diverse neighborhoods.

Garrett (2011) Qualitative interview data with teachers

(n = 6)

Prevalence/Source

of Trauma

Teachers showed a race-neutral attitude when discussing

Hurricane Katrina.

Graham et al.

(2017)

ANOVA; Traumatic Symptoms Checklist for

Children data from students (n = 112)

Addressing Trauma School-based services for students with multiple traumas

reduced post-disaster trauma symptoms.

Green et al. (2016) Multivariate and generalized estimation

equation; teacher perception survey data

from Boston area K–12 teachers (n = 147)

Addressing Trauma Teacher reports of outreach to school-based mental

health service providers were associated with their

observations of heightened classroom distress and

potential trauma.

Greeson et al.

(2011)

Logistic regression; PTSD Reaction Index

and Trauma History Profile data from

trauma-exposed youth in foster placements

aged 0–21 years (n = 2,251)

Prevalence/Source

of Trauma

High rates of youth trauma for White youth in foster

care is associated with internalizing problems,

posttraumatic stress, and clinical diagnoses.

Griffin et al. (2011) Incident rate ratios; Illinois Department of

Children and Family Services data from

youth aged 0–17 years (n = 14,103)

Prevalence/Source

of Trauma

Youth in child services have rates of trauma and mental

health illness.

Grinage (2019) Interview, observation, and document data

from Black 12th-grade students at a school

in a suburban area (n = 5)

Prevalence/Source

of Trauma

Racial trauma in school should be explored as an

antideficit phenomenon that challenges pathological

conceptions and foregrounds survival and resilience.

Harden et al. (2015) Interview and survey data from high school

youth in an urban area (n = 44)

Addressing Trauma Program participants increased school/community

involvement, personal and sociopolitical awareness.

Harpaz-Rotem et al.

(2007)

Generalized estimation equation model;

police report data from across 10 U.S.

cities (n = 7,313)

Prevalence/Source

of Trauma

Youth witness more violence but adolescents

experienced more violence; compared with Whites,

African Americans were more likely to be offenders.

Hoover et al.

(2018)

Case Study; Trauma Exposure Checklist,

Child PTSD Symptom Scales and Ohio

Scales data from CBITS youth (n = 350)

Addressing Trauma High treatment completion rate (90.3%) and marked

improvements in PTSD symptoms, behavioral

problem severity, and functioning.

TABLE 1 (continued)

(continued)

Author(s) Method Theme Relevant findings

Howard (2016) Conceptual review Addressing Trauma Typical behavior management strategies may be

ineffective for trauma-exposed youth.

Jaycox et al. (2007) Qualitative interview data from school

administrators (n = 30)

Addressing Trauma Schools’ intervention approaches depend on their mental

health infrastructure, personnel’s perceived needs of

students, structural and interpersonal barriers.

Jessar et al. (2017) Hierarchical linear regression; Children’s

Depressive Inventory, Childhood Trauma

Questionnaire and Emotional Clarity

Questionnaire data from youth (n = 204)

Manifestations of

Trauma

Emotional neglect significantly predicted decreases in

emotional clarity, whereas decreases in emotional

clarity mediated the relationship between emotional

neglect and increases in depressive symptoms.

Kalmakis &

Chandler (2014)

Conceptual review Manifestations of

Trauma

Adverse childhood experiences disrupt children’s

physical and psychological health and development.

Kang & Burton

(2014)

Hierarchical regression; Spencer

Discrimination Scale, Childhood Trauma

Questionnaire and Trauma Symptoms

Checklist data from Black, male youth in

juvenile justice settings (n = 189)

Prevalence/Source

of Trauma

Trauma and racial discrimination are significantly

related and predict elevated rates of criminogenic

activity.

Kataoka et al.

(2009)

Multivariate regression; Life Events Scale

and Child Posttraumatic Scale data from

Latinx middle school students (n = 1,601)

Prevalence/Source

of Trauma

English language fluency showed significantly positive

relationships with violence exposure and PTSD

symptoms.

King-White (2019) Conceptual review Addressing Trauma Tiered systems of support are needed to successfully

implement practices supporting youth mental health.

Kiser & Black

(2005)

Conceptual review Prevalence/Source

of Trauma

Living in high stress or traumatic conditions can disrupt

family structure, relations, and coping.

Kisiel et al. (2006) Hierarchical linear modeling, MANOVA;

Social Skills Rating System–Elementary

Level, Youth Coping Inventory, and

Normative Beliefs About Aggression data

from fourth-grade students (n = 140)

Addressing Trauma Program participants improved prosocial behaviors,

decreased hyperactivity and internalizing symptoms,

while comparison group students reported an increase

in aggression, hyperactivity, and internalizing

symptoms.

TABLE 1 (continued)

(continued)

Author(s) Method Theme Relevant findings

Kohli (2009) Qualitative interview data from teachers of

color with traumatic histories (n = 12)

Prevalence/Source

of Trauma

Teachers’ racial trauma in K–12 school settings and

teacher education influenced their views on schooling.

Lane et al. (2017) Descriptive analysis; Civilian PTSD

Checklist data from residents in high

gunshot cluster areas (n = 111)

Prevalence/Source

of Trauma

More than half of respondents knew at least 10 murder

victims.

Lanktree et al.

(2012)

ANOVA; Trauma Symptoms Checklist for

Children data from youth with trauma

histories who live in an urban area

(n = 151)

Addressing Trauma ITCT program significantly reduced students’ anxiety,

depression, posttraumatic stress, anger, dissociation,

and sexual concerns.

Larson et al. (2019) Descriptive analysis; California Healthy

Kids Survey data from youth in Grades

6–12 (n = 639,925)

Manifestations of

Trauma

Victimized youth report significantly higher reports

of substance use, depression, and eating disorders

compared with nonvictimized youth.

Levinson (2015) Conceptual review Prevalence/Source

of Trauma

When school policies undermine marginalized students,

teachers are forced to perpetuate wrongs.

Lewis (2003) Conceptual review Addressing Trauma U.S. schools have adopted militarization and

criminalization practices to promote safety.

Loomis (2018) Conceptual review Addressing Trauma Trauma-informed policies, programs, and practices for

preschool-aged children are scarce, but could become

more robust by exploring workforce development,

parent engagement, and access to targeted

interventions.

Lowe et al. (2016) Bivariate and multilevel regression; CTQ,

PSS-I, Beck Depression Inventory, and

census data from adults in Georgia

(n = 3,192)

Prevalence/Source

of Trauma

High levels of youth trauma predict depressive

symptoms and symptoms are exacerbated in areas

with high crime.

Martin et al. (2017) Conceptual review Addressing Trauma Trauma-informed, school-based pregnancy prevention

programs may provide more needs-specific

approaches to supporting students.

TABLE 1 (continued)

(continued)

Author(s) Method Theme Relevant findings

Masko (2005) Qualitative interview data from a Black girl

(n = 1)

Prevalence/Source

of Trauma

Student’s feelings of anger and sadness were associated

with emotional trauma from racism at school.

Merritt & Klein

(2015)

Multivariate regression; NSCAW II and

Preschool Language Scales–3 data from

children aged 0–5 years in Child Welfare

Systems (n = 1,652)

Addressing Trauma Youth in Early Childhood Education (ECE) programs

had better language development outcomes at an

18-month follow-up than youth who were not in ECE

programs.

E. A. Miller et al.

(2011)

Logistic regression; Child Trauma

Questionnaire data from youth across five

public sectors of care aged 11–18 years

(n = 1,135)

Prevalence/Source

of Trauma

High incidence of maltreatment across all sectors

indicated that all youth in public sectors of care

should be screened for a history of maltreatment.

Motta (2012) Conceptual review Prevalence/Source

of Trauma

Youth can experience secondary trauma from parents

and in turn potentially influence secondary trauma for

school-based actors.

Ozkol et al. (2011) Bivariate and structural equation analyses;

Children’s Report of Exposure to Violence,

CROPS, and Aggression Questionnaire

data from fourth-grade students living in

urban areas (n = 259)

Manifestations of

Trauma

Traumatic stress and attitudes toward violence are

mediated by the relationship between violence

exposure and aggressive behavior.

Pillow (2019) Conceptual review Addressing Trauma Witnessing, as a reparative form, must take on a

decolonial approach.

Plumb et al. (2016) Conceptual review Addressing Trauma Trauma-sensitive school logic model focuses on

resources, activities, outputs, and outcomes.

Porche et al. (2011) Logistic regression; Collaborative

Psychiatric Epidemiology Survey data from

young adults aged 21–29 years (n = 2,532)

Manifestations of

Trauma

Youth trauma was significantly related to school dropout

and psychiatric diagnoses, with greater impacts for

students of color with substance use histories.

Randall & Haskell

(2013)

Conceptual review Addressing Trauma Legal work should be focused on restorative justice

and trauma-informed practices to repair the harms to

individuals and relationships that result from conflict,

crime, or other wrongdoing.

TABLE 1 (continued)

(continued)

Author(s) Method Theme Relevant findings

Rawles (2010) Conceptual review Prevalence/Source

of Trauma

Trauma from violence exposure is a consequence of

social injustice and economic inequality.

Rheingold et al.

(2004)

Univariate and logistic regression; National

Survey of Adolescents, including trauma,

substance abuse and exposure to violence

data from youth aged 12–17 years

(n = 4,023)

Prevalence/Source

of Trauma

Past-year death of a friend was related to substance

abuse/dependence, but not to trauma; likelihood of

loss of a friend was highest for girls, older youth,

youth in low-income households, and non-White

youth.

Roberts et al.

(2014)

Multiple regression; Child Behavioral

Checklist and Traumatic Events Screening

Inventory data from youth (n = 306)

Prevalence/Source

of Trauma

When youth are exposed to the arrest of a caregiver, they

are likely to experience greater behavioral and mental

health outcomes than nonexposed youth.

Rodger et al. (2019) Systematic review (n = 98) Addressing Trauma Effective school-based, mental health programs: (a)

occurred over a period of weeks or months; (b)

required some training and ongoing supervision; (c)

drew on caregiver support; and (d) were manualized.

Rosenthal et al.

(2009)

Hierarchical multiple regression; Trauma

Symptoms Inventory and protective factor

survey data from 12th-grade students in an

urban area (n = 1,066)

Addressing Trauma Social and emotional supports have a larger effect on

reducing trauma, than exposure to violence does on

increasing trauma.

Saldaña (2013) Qualitative interview data from Mexican-

American teachers (n = 5)

Prevalence/Source

of Trauma

Schools can be a source of racial trauma.

Santiago et al.

(2015)

ANOVA; parent and student participation,

satisfaction, and coping survey data from

two groups of parent-student dyads

(n = 40)

Addressing Trauma CBITS+ parents reported higher satisfaction; had gains

in coping, family loyalty, and closeness; and attended

more sessions than CBITS parents.

Scheeringa et al.

(2011)

Regression analysis; Preschool Age

Psychiatric Assessment and Adverse

Events Checklist data from two groups of

youth aged 3–6 years (n = 64)

Addressing Trauma Compared with wait-listed group, TF-CBT group

improved significantly more on symptoms of PTSD;

after wait-list, group effect sizes were large for PTSD,

depression, separation anxiety, and oppositional

defiant disorders.

TABLE 1 (continued)

(continued)

Author(s) Method Theme Relevant findings

Schnurr & Lohman

(2013)

Longitudinal study, linear regression;

Woodcock-Johnson and Conflict Tactics

Scale data from youth aged 2–4 years

(n = 600)

Manifestations of

Trauma

Increases in exposure to domestic violence over time

predicts lower school engagement and more problem

behaviors in middle childhood.

Schwerdtfeger

Gallus et al.

(2015)

Linear regression; Center for Epidemiologic

Studies–Depression and Traumatic Events

Screening Inventory data from seventh-

grade students in an urban school

(n = 1,712)

Addressing Trauma Parent and school connectedness are associated

with fewer depressive symptoms; high parent

connectedness had a stronger protective effect for

youth with fewer depressive symptoms.

Sciaraffa et al.

(2018)

Conceptual review Addressing Trauma Educators can support trauma-exposed youth through

strong relationships, safe environments, and

improving their resilience and self-efficacy.

Settlage et al.

(2014)

Qualitative interview data from preservice

teachers (n = 18)

Addressing Trauma After participating in a mediated Spanish-language

physics lesson used as a trauma pedagogical tool,

English-speaking preservice teachers describe their

heightened anxiety and feelings of isolation.

Slopen et al. (2016) Regression analysis; National Survey of

Children’s Health data from a national

youth sample (n = 84,837)

Prevalence/Source

of Trauma

Youth of color and youth in low-income homes

experience more adversity than White and wealthier

youth and White youth experience a stronger

protective effect from income than youth of color.

Talleyrand &

Vojtech (2019)

Conceptual review Addressing Trauma Regarding immigration policies affecting the status of

undocumented youth, school counselors can take

proactive roles in addressing current student needs

by creating a positive and safe atmosphere in their

schools.

TABLE 1 (continued)

(continued)

Author(s) Method Theme Relevant findings

Thomas et al.

(2019)

Systematic review (n = 33) Addressing Trauma More evidence is needed to establish (a) dominant

frameworks for implementing trauma-informed

programs and practices, (b) measurements of

effectiveness for programs and teaching practices,

and (c) systems-wide discussions of future trauma

research.

Wall & Musetti

(2018)

Single case study of a southern California

elementary school; observations,

interviews, focus groups, surveys, and

school-level data

Addressing Trauma Teachers need a holistic approach to educating

Latinx ELs through trauma-sensitive approaches,

sociocultural understanding, and equity-based

practices.

West et al. (2014) Qualitative interview data from female, high

school students (n = 39)

Addressing Trauma Students seek encouraging respect and alternative

behavior management strategies to enhance their

engagement and reduce negative behaviors.

Wilson et al. (2013) Linear regression; PTSD Index and self-

report data from incarcerated youth aged

13–17 years (n = 61)

Prevalence/Source

of Trauma

Nearly all incarcerated youth reported at least one

traumatic experience and 12% met diagnostic criteria

for PTSD.

Yohannan &

Carlson (2019)

Systematic review (n = 41) Addressing Trauma Many school-based interventions are based on cognitive

behavior therapy and tend to have high rates

feasibility and acceptability; yet more evidence is

needed on participant demographics and follow-up

with intervention participants.

Yoshikawa et al.

(2012)

Conceptual review Prevalence/Source

of Trauma

Poverty is linked to worse youth outcomes, but schools

and poverty reduction strategies can have a positive

impact on children’s health.

Note. ANOVA = analysis of variance; CBITS = Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools; CES-D = Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale; ELs =

English Learners; IEP = individualized education program; ITCT = Integrative Treatment of Complex Trauma; MANOVA = multivariate analysis of variance;

PD = professional development; PTSD = posttraumatic stress disorder; TF-CBT = Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

TABLE 1 (continued)

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trauma, the underlying message could be that race is inconsequential to trauma

exposure. Evidence suggests otherwise.

According to the National Survey of Children’s Health (2012), compared with

White children (44%), Black children were much more likely to report one or

more traumatic experience (60%). These racial differences vary by state as well.

For instance, in Pennsylvania, almost 60% of White children reported having no

traumatic experiences, compared with only about 25% of Black youth. When con-

sidering the intersection of race and social context, it becomes clearer that trauma

exposure is much greater for youth of color, particularly Black children. Three

potential explanations for such racial disparities in prevalence rates of trauma

exposure are violence (Flannery et al., 2004; Harpaz-Rotem et al., 2007; Rheingold

et al., 2004; Schnurr & Lohman, 2013), nonviolent ecological stressors (Garcia &

Dutro, 2018; Grinage, 2019; Levinson, 2015; Motta, 2012), and racism (R. T.

Carter, 2007; Kang & Burton, 2014; Kohli, 2009).

Exposure to Violence

Several studies explained that exposure to violence can lead to trauma. These

studies often suggest that Black children in urban environments are “vulnerable”

or “at-risk” for experiencing trauma from exposure to violence (Flannery et al.,

2004; Garo et al., 2018; Rheingold et al., 2004). However, such outcomes may be

dependent on other factors. When students experienced a shooting at an elemen-

tary, urban school, for example, levels of trauma, according to Pynoos et al.

(1987), were much higher among children who were at the playground (site of

shooting), when compared with students who were in class or at home at the time

of the incident. This suggests that predicting high rates of youth trauma in urban

areas without considering proximity, severity, and frequency of violence exposure

could be a gross overgeneralization.

To better understand youth exposure to violence in the context of trauma, race

must be a central component. For instance, using a generalized estimation equa-

tion model to examine more than 7,000 police report incidents across 10 U.S.

cities, a study reported that adolescents were significantly more likely than young

children to be directly victimized—to the degree that they sustain physical inju-

ries—and young children had a greater chance of witnessing acts of violence

(Harpaz-Rotem et al., 2007). A race-focused analysis reveals that because only

18% of the sample was White, Black people had a statistically higher chance of

being involved in a police report from a referring officer. Moreover, recognizing

that most police officers in the United States are White (Data USA, 2017) helps

contextualize the potential bias and credibility of these data compiled from refer-

ring police officers. Nonetheless, this study illustrates how youth trauma research

is often racialized.

As the previous six studies illustrate, children of color in urban communities

are often pathologized for living in “high-crime communities” (Lowe et al.,

2016). This is unfortunate because no evidence supports the claim that children

of color in urban contexts, for instance, engage in violence because they are

exposed to violence (Schnurr & Lohman, 2013). Also, understanding the source

of violence is rarely discussed. West et al.’s (2014) study revealed that “anger

and aggression” among a small group of female students (mostly Black) were, in

Trauma and Education

fact, related to students’ perceptions of environmental stress and overwhelming

triggers.

Exposure to Nonviolent, Ecological Stressors

Recently published National Survey of Children’s Health data (Sacks &

Murphey, 2018) shows that economic hardship and separation from caregivers

were the most common traumatic experiences, not exposure to violence. Kiser

and Black (2005) explained that living under chronically harsh and stressful con-

ditions, such as having too few financial resources, can negatively affect family

subsystems and relationships. One argument suggests that poverty has a direct

causal effect on students’ mental, emotional, and behavioral health (Yoshikawa

et al., 2012). For Kiser and Black (2005), however, social support may be a better

predictor of trauma among youth in high-poverty areas, which is consistent with

sociological studies showing that high-poverty communities with a greater con-

centration of organizations or services for young people and communities with a

strong sense of interconnectedness can minimize the impact that poverty can have

(Emory et al., 2008; Molnar et al., 2008; Sampson, 2012).

To explain differences in trauma exposure, investigating socioeconomic sta-

tus (SES; or presence of poverty conditions) seems to be a valid argument.

From a large sample of more than 80,000 children, Slopen et al. (2016) used

regression analyses to report incident density ratios in traumatic exposure for

children at various socioeconomic groups. The evidence showed that children

in the lowest socioeconomic group (<100% of the Federal Poverty Line) were

almost 4 times more likely than children in the highest socioeconomic group

(>400% of the Federal Poverty Line) to experience multiple traumatic experi-

ences. Where the SES argument deteriorates is in how economic capital influ-

ences trauma exposure across racial lines. According to the data, Black and

Latinx children experience statistically different income effects than White

children. For White children in the highest income quartile, the potential for

traumatic exposure reduced by almost 5 times compared with White children

in the lowest income quartile. The income effects were markedly smaller for

Black (2.3 times) and Latinx (2.9 times) children in the high-income quartile,

compared with their within–racial group counterparts in the lowest SES quar-

tile. In other words, within the highest income strata, Black and Latinx children

may still be significantly more likely than White children to experience multi-

ple traumatic events.

Another example of an ecological trauma-related stressor is witnessing the

arrest of a parent. One study of more than 300 children aged 0 to 11 years showed

that witnessing a parent being arrested had differential impacts on youth depend-

ing on age (Roberts et al., 2014). In contrast, younger children who witnessed the

arrest of a parent tended to show signs of internalizing behaviors, such as emo-

tional stress and hyperarousal, whereas older children showed more externalizing

behaviors, such as increased irritability and developmentally inappropriate behav-

iors. It is important to note that this study not only minimizes how structural rac-

ism has operated within policing practices (M. Alexander, 2010) but also suggests

that race is inconsequential. For instance, Roberts et al. (2014) provide no conjec-

tures about why, when compared with White children, Latinx children who were

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exposed to a parental arrest had significantly worse internalizing outcomes,

according to the Child Behavior Checklist instrument they used.

Exposure to Racism

Studies show that many students of color connect race-related incidents, some-

times occurring daily in school, to trauma (C. B. Fisher et al., 2000; Grinage,

2019; Kohli, 2009; Masko, 2005; Romero & Roberts, 2003; Sorsoli, 2007).

Indeed, when teachers are inadequately prepared to recognize the impact of rac-

ism, sometimes they may unintentionally perpetuate it. One in-depth case study

highlighted a 12-year-old Black girl (Masko, 2005) who, when asked about her

racial experiences, responded, “I think about it all the time” (p. 341). She explained

that her peers’ words and actions caused her to feel uncontrollably angry and sad.

Whereas race-related trauma can stem from teachers’ attitudes, inactions, or lim-

ited knowledge about race, some youth of color may also grapple with hearing

explicit racial slurs from peers (Kohli, 2009). For example, Masko (2005)

described how the Black girl in her study was often called “nigger” by her class-

mates, who also mocked her for the way she talked. Kohli (2009) and Masko

(2005) agree that school staff often rationalized these hurtful actions, responding

that kids are just being kids and they would grow out of it.

When educators ignore traumatic race-based incidents, students of color are

reminded of their place in the racial hierarchy (Sorsoli, 2007). Others find that

when teachers are race-neutral or race-evasive, they may be exacerbating youth

trauma. For instance, after six preservice, social studies teachers watched a docu-

mentary film that highlighted race and politics to tell a story about the devastation

of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans, Louisiana, in 2005, Garrett (2011) found

that some teachers made no connections to how Black students were dispropor-

tionately affected by the disaster and how slow the government response was in

sending relief support. For students of color who experience trauma from indi-

vidual acts of racism in school settings or from macrolevel policy decisions, it

may be a struggle to feel safe when schools and school-based actors take up race-

neutral or race-evasive positions.

Exposure to racism could be further complicated for students of color whose

first language is not English. For example, through life histories, five Latinx

teachers revealed their memories of psychological and emotional trauma from

their racist schooling experiences (Saldaña, 2013). To be clear, this evidence does

not suggest a relationship between linguistic practices and experiencing trauma;

rather, Saldaña’s (2013) argument is that schools and teachers may be responsible

for some Latinx students’ experiences of extreme isolation and forced disconnect-

edness. Other trauma research on Latinx students illustrates confounding evi-

dence related to trauma and language fluency. From a convenience sample of

about 1,600 middle school Latinx students, Kataoka et al. (2009) concluded from

their analysis of demographic data, Life Events Scale and Child Posttraumatic

Symptom Scale that students with higher English language fluency reported

higher exposure to violence and greater PTSD symptoms than their less fluent

peers. Kataoka and colleagues claimed when Latinx students become more accul-

turated, they are more likely to be exposed to violence, engage in risky behavior,

and experience trauma.

Manifestations of Trauma

The second prominent theme I identified from 13 articles described how

trauma can manifest across multiple domains, including academic, behavioral,

social and health outcomes. Psychologists report that when students experience

trauma, they tend to think, feel, and react differently than they typically would to

people, situations, or conditions around them (Cook et al., 2005; Ford, Chapman,

et al., 2012). These atypical reactions often emerge from a disruption in students’

sensemaking process. The idea is that when a child is overexposed to high levels

of stress, the brain signals a physiological response to the body (Shonkoff et al.,

2012). For example, a student might escalate to shouting, using profanity, or flip-

ping a desk after a teacher attempts to redirect for talking. From a psychological

perspective, a student with this kind of response may in fact be experiencing states

of hyperarousal, causing difficulties in deciphering the situation, the level of

threat, and generating appropriate responses (Ford, Chapman, et al., 2012).

Although some studies have found that trauma-exposed youth may demon-

strate atypical behavior, such as aggression (Flannery et al., 2004; Ozkol et al.,

2011), others argue that there is no clear causal path from experiencing trauma to

demonstrating aggressive behavior (Schnurr & Lohman, 2013). In other words,

trauma-exposed students should not be viewed as dangerous. Still, the relation-

ship between trauma and aggression is insightful and points to a need for a greater

understanding of social context factors, both inside and outside of school.

Trauma-exposed students may also experience negative outcomes associated

with school. When Delaney-Black et al. (2002) tested the relationship between

trauma and achievement for 299 first-grade students in an urban school, they

reported that experiencing trauma predicted a 7.5-point decrement in IQ and a

10-point decrement in reading achievement. Others find that trauma-exposed

youth from 0 to 5 can experience delays in language development (Ford, Chapman,

et al., 2012). For students with two or more traumatic experiences, they may be 3

times as likely to repeat a grade (Bethell et al., 2014). In addition to lower success

on standardized success measures, studies link trauma to lower student engage-

ment in school.

Lack of focus, for instance, is shown to be a common indicator of trauma.

Research suggests that trauma may lead some students to become overly focused

on cues that function as reminders of a traumatic event, such as sirens or people

talking/yelling, making learning difficult (J. C. Alexander et al., 2004). As chil-

dren are processing trauma, some may detach, or separate from once meaningful

relationships with peers or adults. It is also possible that students experiencing

trauma completely disengage from school. In a study of more than 2,500 students

who experienced trauma, 16% of the sample dropped out of school, and 75% of

those who dropped out were Black and Latinx (Porche et al., 2011). Other find-

ings indicate that experiencing trauma may also predict contact with juvenile jus-

tice systems, mental health facilities, and drug/alcohol use services (E. A. Miller

et al., 2011), in addition to increased chances of becoming obese (Burke et al.,

2011).

Approaches to Addressing Trauma

The third prominent theme I identified from 48 articles concerns the ways in

which youth trauma is addressed. This research often refers to “protective factors”

to characterize a range of micro and macrolevel support mechanisms for trauma-

exposed students, which I discuss in more detail below. To illustrate, Rosenthal

et al. (2009) examined the interactive effect of multiple variables on the reports of

trauma from a sample of approximately 1,000 high school students in an urban set-

ting. Their findings showed that protective factors, such as social support (macro)

and self-efficacy (micro), had a positive effect that was almost 3 times stronger than

the predictive, negative effect from exposure to violence. Essentially, micro and

macrolevel supports are meant to mitigate the impact from traumatic exposure. I

characterized microlevel supports as skills or individual practices that can support

trauma-exposed youth. Additionally, macrolevel supports focus on programmatic

structures and large-scale initiatives that include varying levels of social support.

The following subsections provide examples of both types of support.

Microlevel Supports

Although the majority of studies focus on teacher-specific supports (Brunzell

et al., 2016; Crosby et al., 2018; Dotson-Davis, 2019; Green et al., 2016), improv-

ing student resilience was another approach to addressing youth trauma (Sciaraffa

et al., 2018). Resilience, for Bethell et al. (2014) was defined as “staying calm and

in control when faced with challenges” (p. 2108). To analyze National Survey of

Children’s Health data on ACE for more than 95,000 children, Bethell and col-

leagues used several multivariate and multilevel regression models to examine

associations among ACE scores and resilience. Resilience was shown to amelio-

rate the harsh impact of trauma on grade repetition and school engagement.

Whereas Bethell and colleagues touted resilience for addressing student trauma,

McGee and Stovall (2015) argued that research on resilience can sometimes fail

to recognize the sociological factors that affect students, placing undue responsi-

bility for “bouncing back” on the student.

Another microlevel support refers to teacher-student relationships, which may

be vital for supporting students during a healing process. Take, for instance, stu-

dents’ traumatic displacement experiences after the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disas-

ter in New Orleans, Louisiana; Barrett et al. (2012) were interested in tracking the

social and psychological well-being of 46 students (92% Black) who were evacu-

ated after the traumatic event. Students with the greatest improvement in well-

being, according to the Child Health and Illness Profile for Adolescents, had

positive teacher-student relationships, described as cooperative and proactive, but

also not essentializing or pathologizing.

In addition to promoting resilience and building relationships with students,

the literature describes other ways teachers can support trauma-exposed youth.

One way is for teachers to learn how to recognize the dynamic nature of traumatic

experiences (Dods, 2013). Teachers should also examine their own ideological

views to avoid overlooking students’ needs, or trying to implement a “one-size-

fits-all” approach to addressing students’ needs (Barlow & Becker-Blease, 2012).

In general, recognizing trauma triggers, supporting school-based treatments, and

Trauma and Education

maintaining good communication with parents are other key contributions teach-

ers can make (Cohen & Mannarino, 2011; Talleyrand & Vojtech, 2019).

Indeed, parent and school connectedness, defined as students’ perceptions of

familial support and feelings of safety at school, can be important microlevel sup-

ports. Using the 10-item version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies–

Depression Scale and the seven-item version of Traumatic Events Screening

Inventory–Child Report Form as outcome measures, Schwerdtfeger Gallus et al.

(2015) used linear regression models to assess the association between parent and

school connectedness on depressive symptoms for approximately 1,600 middle

school students in an urban school district. Overall, higher levels of parent and

school connectedness were associated with fewer depressive symptoms. Among

students with low levels of traumatic exposure (−1 SD), rather than high exposure

(+1 SD), high parent connectedness (+1 SD) more effectively moderated depres-

sive symptoms. Although the evidence showed a significantly weak positive cor-

relation between Black students and reports of trauma, the regression models

indicated that Black students, particularly boys, reported significantly fewer

depressive symptoms than White students (p < .001). Including perceived sup-

port variables, however, did not dampen the significant racial differences in pre-

dicted depressive symptoms. In fact, it is estimated that White girls who experience

economic hardships and perceive low school and parent connectedness would

likely experience the greatest depressive symptoms.

Collectively, the above-mentioned studies illustrate the importance of under-

standing the sociocultural context in which microlevel supports are implemented

and they allude to potential barriers. According to 16 elementary-level educators

in an urban school, two potential barriers may be having too little knowledge

about supporting trauma-exposed students and working in schools where staff

reject new strategies, approaches, and interventions that might assist them in bet-

ter serving their students who have been exposed to trauma (Anderson et al.,

2015). Still, a third barrier is secondary or vicarious trauma, which can occur

when working closely with trauma-exposed youth (Motta, 2012). Considering

these and other potential barriers, some educators are situated in challenging and

unethical predicaments when it comes to responding to the needs of their trauma-

exposed students (Levinson, 2015). Addressing some of these barriers may require

broader macrolevel supports.

Macrolevel Supports

Unlike microlevel support mechanisms for addressing trauma, studies focus-

ing on macrolevel supports are concerned with broader impacts. Policies are one

macrolevel support for addressing student trauma (Lane et al., 2017; Plumb et al.,

2016; Randall & Haskell, 2013). For example, schools have increased security

presence to prevent or reduce violence. Lewis (2003) critically examined such

improved school safety measures after two White, high school boys killed 12

students and a teacher in 1999 at Columbine High School, a predominantly White

school in Colorado. Lewis argued that overmilitarizing schools is a façade for

school safety when, in fact, increasing police presence, cameras, and metal detec-

tors often make students feel less safe. In effect, to reduce problematic and

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perhaps violent behavior in schools, policy discussions are often grounded in a

trauma-informed framework.

Take school discipline policies, for instance. Howard (2016) suggested that

educators may become overburdened when trying to manage difficult behaviors

related to unaddressed student trauma. Rather than using typical exclusionary,

punitive approaches, discipline policies could be more trauma informed by focus-

ing on increasing supports for trauma-exposed students. However, without mind-

ing the social, historical, and cultural context of society and schools, such policies

are likely to be influenced by biases (Ford, 2008). One mixed-methods study

investigated perceptions of student behavior, trauma, and self-reported stress

among approximately 40 educators in an urban, northeast elementary school

using Cultural Ecology, Perceptions of Student Behaviors and Stress Level,

Efficacy and Confidence questionnaires with unstructured interview data (Blitz

et al., 2016). Essentially, the evidence revealed that educators’ willingness to

engage in equity-centered policy discussions about supporting trauma-exposed

youth depended on educators’ understanding about structural racism.

A second macrolevel support for addressing youth trauma is through profes-

sional development with educational stakeholders (Banks & Meyer, 2017;

Crosby et al., 2015; Wall & Musetti, 2018). It is necessary for professional devel-

opment opportunities to help school-based actors develop the capacity to under-

stand and learn how to respond to students’ potential trauma experiences. To

establish multilayered support systems, some argue for a tiered approach in

which educators could work with school counselors to implement trauma-

informed school practices at varying levels of need (King-White, 2019). Others

suggest that teachers need to build knowledge and understanding about trauma

before they begin working in schools. As a pedagogical tool, for instance, one

study implemented a mediated Spanish-only physics lesson to illustrate to 18

preservice teachers how some emergent bilingual youth may experience anxiety

and feelings of isolation in classrooms that do not account for language needs

(Settlage et al., 2014). Based on interviews from school administrators who

served hurricane-displaced students, Jaycox et al. (2007) added that educators

must be prepared to communicate with parents, have strategies to avoid burnout,

and balance the needs of their current students who are not experiencing trauma.

The degree to which participants engage in professional development learning

opportunities for supporting trauma-exposed youth, particularly students of color

or emergent bilingual students, may depend on educators’ level of race-con-

sciousness (Blitz et al., 2016), sociocultural understandings, and perceptions of

equity-based advocacy (Wall & Musetti, 2018).

A third macrolevel support refers to various intervention programs aimed at miti-

gating the impact of youth trauma (Ford, Steinberg, et al., 2012; Scheeringa et al.,

2011). Indeed, to synthesize three recent systematic reviews of school-based inter-

vention programs across 171 articles (with some overlapping studies), it appears

that long-term programs with a codified curriculum that is co-constructed with care-

givers and delivered by trained staff are most effective, although what is still needed

are better frameworks for implementing and measuring effectiveness of said pro-

grams and protocols for more precise analysis of participant demographics (Rodger

et al., 2019; Thomas et al., 2019; Yohannan & Carlson, 2019). Unfortunately, I

Trauma and Education

found that when the primary focus is on investigating the best program intervention,

studies minimize underlying racialization problems or imply that race is inconse-

quential to understanding and responding to students’ trauma-related experiences.

For example, using a race-centered analysis, I found that 85% of the 21 U.S. study

samples (n = 1,359) in Yohannan and Carlson’s (2019) review were composed of

students of color; yet almost no intervention programs in the 98 studies Rodger et al.

(2019) reviewed were specifically designed for students of color.

These studies illustrate that a major component of large-scale intervention

research centers on finding a universal approach to supporting all youth.

Consequently, a common critique in the literature is that there are too few pro-

grammatic resources designed for specific subgroups, such as children with vary-

ing levels of trauma (Báez et al., 2019), children of military families (Brendel

et al., 2014), teens in pregnancy prevention programs (Martin et al., 2017) and

preschool-age children (Loomis, 2018). For example, Merritt and Klein (2015)

used a multivariate analysis of NSCAW II and Preschool Language Scales–3 data

from young trauma-exposed children in Child Welfare Services (n = 1,652) and

found that children who were enrolled in Early Childhood Education programs

had better language development outcomes at an 18-month follow-up than those

who were not participating in Early Childhood Education programs, although the

size of the observed effect was modest. The main point is that studies, such as

these, recommend that trauma intervention programs consider individual students

and their social contexts.

Lanktree et al. (2012) argued that existing empirically validated trauma inter-

ventions are not culturally sensitive. Analyzing pre- and postintervention Trauma

Symptoms Checklist for Children data from 151 program participants in an urban

setting, their findings showed significant reductions in anxiety, depression, post-

traumatic stress, anger, dissociation, and sexual concerns as a function of time in

the Integrative Treatment of Complex Trauma (ITCT) program. They posited that

the treatment intervention was equally effective for students regardless of race or

complexity of trauma history because of the program’s attention to cultural and

racial sensitivity practices. Although it was difficult to assess the uniqueness of

such intervention characteristics and practices beyond the claim that “ITCT espe-

cially focuses on social and cultural issues” (p. 820), a potential success factor of

the program was social support from caregivers.

Caregiver support emerged in another trauma-focused intervention program

study using Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools and Family

(CBITS+) with 21 predominantly Latinx parent-student dyads. Santiago et al.

(2015) found that after participating in the program, students reported fewer trauma

symptoms and parents reported improvements in coping, family relationships, and

school involvement. Notably, Santiago and colleagues explicitly stated that their

positive findings were in large part due to “efforts to engage families and present

concepts in culturally acceptable ways” (p. 35). Shifting the responsibility of pro-

gram success onto the intervention program facilitators, rather than to trauma-

exposed students, may be a factor worth considering in future program designs.

Finally, trauma intervention programs for students of color in urban areas have

implemented restorative and trauma-informed practices in the context of outside

of school time programs. One such program with 44 high school students, for

Alvarez

instance, focused on improving student leadership skills, media application, and

participatory action research over 9 months. Harden et al. (2015) found, from

analyzing postintervention survey and interview data, that students improved

school-community involvement, had more positive self-perspective, and were

able to name political issues affecting their communities. Moreover, the results

identified students’ growth in individual empowerment, especially in how stu-

dents understand and respond to violence in their communities. Another outside

of school, theatre-based program for 77 fourth-grade students in an urban com-

munity also showed marked success in prosocial behaviors, reduced aggression,

and decreased hyperactivity, according to pre- and posttest measures (Kisiel et al.,

2006). Unlike previously mentioned trauma intervention programs, these high-

interest programs involving students of color in urban schools and communities

were designed with specificity.

Discussion

This review builds on recent reviews of trauma (Rodger et al., 2019; Thomas

et al., 2019; Yohannan & Carlson, 2019) and extends this body of scholarship by

illuminating the ways in which dominant discourse on trauma prioritizes and

rationalizes a structurally racist and White supremacist pathological narrative. In

this section, I address three interrelated points that warrant an expanded discus-

sion. Specifically, I discuss how structural racism and White supremacy may (a)

shape the conditions in which students live, learn, and experience trauma; (b)

influence how students’ responses to said conditions and trauma exposure are

assessed; and (c) dictate the course of action for either supporting or criminalizing

trauma-exposed youth. Additionally, I outline several recommendations for future

research.

Shaping the Conditions in Which Students Live, Learn, and Experience Trauma

Youth of color have significantly more trauma exposure than their White coun-

terparts (Slopen et al., 2016). Although the literature infers that racial disparities

in trauma exposure may be due to violence exposure (Flannery et al., 2004; Garo

et al., 2018; Rheingold et al., 2004), Cassiman (2006) argued that violence encom-

passes not just actions on the part of individuals but also macrolevel policies that

permit harsh living conditions, inadequate resources, and limited opportunities to

persist. Therefore, as poverty may be a strong predictor of youth trauma and vio-

lence exposure, it is important to acknowledge that structural racism and White

supremacy may lay the groundwork for such conditions (Rawles, 2010).

Massey and Denton’s (1993) germinal study found that extreme poverty among

Black families in urban contexts was a direct result of racial segregation. This

evidence showed that, across time, some urban communities of color have become

more racially isolated and more concentrated. Of course, the vast racial disparities

in earned income are, to some degree, related to parents’ educational opportunities

and outcomes (Milner, 2013; Proctor et al., 2016); still, economic restrictions

influence where families live, what families eat, and what schools their children

can attend. In other words, macroeconomic policies can shape students’ realities

and exposure to trauma. Therefore, one cannot rule out that trauma associated

with economic hardship is the result of White supremacist policies meant to

Trauma and Education

intentionally isolate racially marginalized people in areas with concentrated levels

of poverty. Not only does this research on poverty, violence, and trauma leave little

room for alternative explanations (other than structural racism) as to why trauma

exposure for Black and Brown children tends to be higher than it is for White chil-

dren, but it is evidence of how the historical and contemporary roles of White

supremacy shape the conditions in which youth live, learn, and experience trauma.

Assessing Students’ Responses to Conditions and Trauma Exposure

It is critical to understand how trauma occurs and can manifest across aca-

demic, behavioral, social, and health domains, but I caution against researchers

and educators ignoring the racialization of trauma and how trauma is assessed. In

other words, race-conscious educators and researchers would recognize the his-

torical use of intelligence testing and standardized tests as mechanisms for nor-

malizing Whiteness (Dixon-Román & Gergen, 2013), and the ways in which

scientists have attempted to develop biological evidence supporting and rational-

izing White dominance (Omi & Winant, 2014). Whether or not readers agree with

such testing and measurement practices, another major challenge is that without

acknowledging the racialization of trauma assessment, educators and researchers

may rely on results from diagnostic tools to pathologize students of color for their

responses to conditions they generally do not control.

Consider how prominent Whiteness may be in several professional roles that

are essential to controlling and perpetuating the dominant discourse on trauma.2

According to national data, White people comprise 90% of elected U.S. officials

(Reflective Democracy Campaign, 2019), 86% of psychologists (Lin et al., 2018)

and most of the teachers (83%), police officers (77%), and school leaders (77%)

in the United States (Data USA, 2017). The reality is that, within a racialized

society, assessing students’ responses to social conditions and trauma can be a

mechanism for othering Black and Brown youth. Meanwhile, at the cost of main-

taining White racial group’s collective status and hierarchical position (Bonilla-

Silva, 1997), the statistically high incidents of self-inflicted gun injuries and

suicide rates among White youth in rural areas due to economic stress (Dresang,

2001; Herrin et al., 2018; Hirsch, 2006) are often overshadowed by racially coded

language (Haney-Lopez, 2014) and discourses of pathology targeting youth of

color in urban communities. Nonetheless, assessing youth trauma continues to be

a standard practice not just for diagnosing children but also to determine whether

trauma interventions are effective and various courses of action.

Dictating the Course of Action for Responding to Youth Trauma

When it comes to addressing youth trauma, I found that White-dominant insti-

tutions focus efforts more on supporting youth after a traumatic experience, such

as implementing program interventions, rather than minimizing the sources of

trauma from say poverty or structural racism. Furthermore, some of the most

prominent ways to address trauma focus on individuals, such as improving stu-

dents’ resilience (Bethell et al., 2014) or relationships with teachers (Barrett et al.,

2012), rather than disrupting oppressive systems around children. Clearly, it is in

the context of Whiteness that hegemonic racial structurings perpetuate racial

inequity using White-centered knowledge and logic (Jupp et al., 2016). That is to

Alvarez

say, in determining how best to serve trauma-exposed youth, White-dominant

institutions often contribute to racial inequities in special education referrals

(Artiles & Trent, 1994; Blanchett, 2006), exclusionary discipline practices (P. L.

Carter et al., 2017) and mass incarceration (M. Alexander, 2010). Rarely do sys-

tems of White supremacy provide adequate solutions for reshaping or improving

the conditions in which Black and Latinx children live, learn, and experience

trauma because doing so would disrupt the racial status quo (Bonilla-Silva, 1997;

Milner, 2020).

Moving forward, these several challenges should be addressed to advance

more race-conscious, equity-based trauma research pathways. To address these

challenges, I offer the following recommendations.

Recommendations

First, as explained throughout this review, race needs to be a more central com-

ponent of future education research on trauma. Although the race-trauma nexus

has been shown to be an important site of inquiry for advancing equity, justice,

and healing for youth of color (Alvarez, 2017; Annamma & Morrison, 2018;

Bucholtz et al., 2018; Kokka, 2018; Oldfield & Jackson, 2019), more research in

this area is needed. It is also concerning that there so little evidence on the trauma

experiences of White students in low-income earning families. Based on regres-

sion analysis of National Survey of Child Health data from more than 84,000

youth in the United States, Slopen et al. (2016) found that White students in the

lowest income strata were almost 5 times more likely to report at least two trau-

matic experiences than White students in the highest income strata (≥400% FPL

[federal poverty level]). Future studies should consider exploring White students’

traumatic experiences with ecological stressors in White, suburban, or rural areas

across various income strata. Additionally, given the vast differences in youth

exposure to trauma, future studies should include more precise data collection

protocols and intersectional analyses to examine how experiences and outcomes

vary across race, gender, and SES, for instance. Thomas et al. (2019) made a simi-

lar recommendation in their review of trauma-informed practices as they argued

that the absence of demographic and contextual information is an ethical issue

when considering policy implications and generalizations.

To engage in more race-conscious trauma research or to critically assess oth-

ers’ trauma research, the following questions can be useful:

 Does my/author’s race influence my/author’s interpretation of what trauma

is?

 Does my/author’s race influence my/author’s understanding of others’

experiences with trauma?

 Does my/author’s research disrupt deficit racial narratives?

 Does my/author’s research account for racially oppressive systems, poli-

cies, and practices?

Reflective questions such as these are essential to race-conscious trauma research.

As Ladson-Billings (2000) noted, racialized ways of knowing shape how research-

ers engage in educational inquiries. For this reason, Milner (2007) argued that

Trauma and Education

dangers can emerge when researchers fail to acknowledge their own racialized

positionality and cultural ways of knowing. A second reason such reflective ques-

tions are needed for future trauma research to be race-conscious is because they

allow researchers and literature reviewers to engage in what Patel (2015) refers to

as pausing. In the context of trauma research, pausing, might help researchers

disrupt, rather than reproduce, deficit racial narratives and trauma tropes of

dysfunctionality.

Second, education research should contribute to shifting the dominant dis-

courses on trauma away from White supremacist assessments, labels, control of

resources, and approaches for supporting trauma-exposed youth. For example,

what implicit racial message is sent by fetishizing the trauma-violence relation-

ship in research? In other words, why does research involving people of color

have such an excessive and irrational obsession with the trauma-violence relation-

ship? Much of how education researchers, school-based actors, and policymakers

approach this phenomenon is through a framework of fear, which can perpetuate

a false narrative that people of color are violent or they live and attend school in

violent communities (Noguera, 2003). DeLeon’s (2012) critique of racialized dis-

courses on violence suggested that even though mass killings typically occur in

suburban or rural schools by White males, such events are described as unex-

pected, “well-planned attacks” by isolated students who were outcasts or excluded

from social groups. Moreover, by framing Black violence in urban ghettos as

senseless and normal, DeLeon argued, attention is diverted away from “safe”

White communities. Implicit racial messages underpin much of the empirical

research on trauma, which means equity-focused education researchers and

school-based actors should be cautious to adopt new language, best practices, and

deficit-based narratives.

Some important ways to consider shifting the dominant trauma discourse

might include developing more race-conscious protocols and metrics. Quantifying

traumatic experiences can be useful, but it may ignore how systems of racism

influence traumatic exposure (Alvarez et al., 2016;3 McGee & Stovall, 2015;

Truong & Museus, 2012). Without accounting for the impact of structural racism,

typical trauma instruments are likely to continue pathologizing marginalized

youth who may be overexposed to systemic conditions related to segregation,

policing practices, unequal education, and various macroeconomic policies.

Moreover, there is an empirical need for narratives and various accounts from

youth who can speak to the ways in which economic struggle and racism may be

tied to their conceptualizations of trauma. Thus, education research must be will-

ing to name, measure, and disrupt racialized systems and coded language that

portray people of color and people facing economic struggles as dysfunctional or

damaged.

Third, future education research should explore a more race- and equity-

focused set of trauma-informed programs and practices at multiple levels. Prior

research has identified several promising practices for supporting trauma-exposed

youth, such as designing a safe classroom environment, learning about trauma

and related stressors, building positive teacher-student relationships, and main-

taining contact with parents (Barrett et al., 2012; Cohen & Mannarino, 2011;

Talleyrand & Vojtech, 2019). Indeed, the field has collated several trauma

Alvarez

resources and models (Plumb et al., 2016; Thomas et al., 2019), but these prac-

tices should be enhanced with a deeper understanding of race and its relationship

to the sociocultural and historical contexts where students live and attend school

(Duncan-Andrade, 2009; Ginwright, 2018). Moreover, school-based actors need

practices that help them overcome common barriers to doing trauma-based equity

work in school contexts, barriers such as burnout, resistant staff culture, and iden-

tity development (Anderson et al., 2015; Barlow & Becker-Blease, 2012; Motta,

2012). Ultimately, the success of trauma-informed practices may depend on

school-based actors’ perceptions of race, equity, and the social context (Blitz

et al., 2016; Wall & Musetti, 2018). Exploring these empirical sites would advance

the field of equity-based trauma work significantly.

In addition to improving race-conscious protocols and metrics, there is also a

need to establish criterion for assessing trauma intervention program effective-

ness (Thomas et al., 2019). In general, the literature finds that effective programs

tend to be long term, use a manualized curriculum that is co-constructed with

caregivers and delivered by trained staff (Rodger et al., 2019). However, some

empirical questions for future work might explore how structural racism interacts

with program participation or the extent to which caregivers are permitted to con-

tribute to program development and curriculum. While there is certainly room to

explore the nature and effectiveness of trauma programs from a race-conscious

perspective, in general, more can be done to ensure that trauma-exposure does not

further marginalize students of color and students who struggle with economic

hardships.

Finally, future education research should consider exploring broader pathways

for responding holistically to youth trauma. Responding holistically to youth

trauma would need to be a more comprehensive approach (Alvarez, 2017). In

other words, addressing youth trauma would proactively reduce the sources of

trauma while providing resources to mitigate the present impacts of trauma. As it

is, the literature focuses mostly on reactive approaches, rather than preventative

strategies. Moreover, it appears that preventative strategies for reducing trauma

favor a heavier police presence for culling violence (Harpaz-Rotem et al., 2007;

Lewis, 2003). This approach may have some merit, but improving community

organization presence has also been linked to reductions in neighborhood vio-

lence (Emory et al., 2008; Molnar et al., 2008; Sampson, 2012). Also, recent

research has found that improvements in environmental conditions and educa-

tional resources may reduce youth exposure to violence (Pearman, 2019). Future

research should examine social and economic resources as promising pathways

for responding to youth trauma exposure in a comprehensive way. In addition to

being comprehensive, a holistic response would be organic—not relying on

White-dominant, medical logics, and clinical treatments (Dutro, 2017). For exam-

ple, using Mexican Indigenous logics, Anzaldúa (2015) referred to trauma as

breaches in one’s reality from colonial abuses that are healed through recovering

energy and soul loss by grappling with disorientations to achieve wholeness.

From this perspective, healing from trauma is a spiritual and political act that

accounts for historical colonial abuses and realities (Brave Heart, 1998). Ideally,

future research would explore theoretical relationships and conceptual dimen-

sions of holistic understandings and responses to youth trauma in educational

contexts by reaching to and through various disciplines and ways of knowing.

Conclusion

Race must be considered when examining equity issues in educational con-

texts and trauma is no exception. Trauma may be one of the most underexplored

racial equity issues in education. The substantial body of trauma research over the

past several decades has contributed to the dominant discourse about what youth

trauma is, what it looks like, and how best to respond. However, to move these

trauma discussions forward in the most equitable way, education researchers and

school-based actors must pause and take note of how structurally racist and White

supremacist social systems shape the construct of trauma, the contexts in which

children experience trauma and the institutional approaches to addressing trauma.

APPENDIX

Summary of trauma terms.

Terms Description Reference

Abuse Extreme childhood experiences related to

physical, emotional, or sexual harm

Felitti et al. (1998)

Adverse

childhood

experience

A negative experience related to abuse,

neglect, or household dysfunction

Felitti et al. (1998)

Allostatic load Wear and tear on the body and brain

promoting ill health, involving not

only the consequences of stressful

experiences themselves but also the

alterations in lifestyle that result from a

state of chronic stress

Bloom (2014)

Attachment

trauma

Trauma from experiences that affect the

ability to connect with a companion

Kira (2001)

Complex trauma An outcome resulting from multiple,

ongoing, or cumulative experiences or

exposure to harmful conditions

Pynoos et al. (1999);

Terr (1991)

Cultural trauma An outcome experienced by a group of

people that collectively affects group

consciousness, memory, and identity

J. C. Alexander et al.

(2004)

Disconnectedness

trauma

Trauma from experiences or events that

threaten a person’s social and support

network

Kira (2001)

Historical trauma The outcome of cumulative emotional

and psychological wounds across

generations

Brave Heart (1998)

Identity trauma Trauma from experiences that shatter

emotional, social, and behavioral

independence

Kira (2001)

Insidious trauma Trauma from the subtle and constant

nature of racism

G. H. Miller (2009)

(continued)

ORCID iD

Adam Alvarez https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8723-770X

Notes

1For Mills (2003), White supremacy stems from White, settler colonialism and refers to

the domination of White people over Black, Brown and other marginalized people of color

across domains, such as economic, cultural, cognitive-moral, somatic and, in a sense, even

Terms Description Reference

Maltreatment Extreme childhood experiences related to

abuse or deprivation

Perry & Szalavitz

(2017)

Micro-aggression Daily, subtle verbal or behavioral assaults

or insults

Sue (2009)

Neglect An act, or failure to act, that results in an

imminent risk

Felitti et al. (1998)

Posttraumatic

stress disorder

(PTSD)

Typically, an outcome of a single

major event resulting in flashbacks,

nightmares, or avoidance of things

van der Kolk (1989)

Potentially

traumatic

experience

Experiences that can lead to produce

trauma

Roberts et al. (2014)

Race-based

trauma

PTSD-like outcome related to

experiences of racism

Mizock et al. (2011)

Risk factors Situations or conditions, such as family

mental health history, level of exposure

to stress, or lack of health care access

Alim et al. (2006)

Shell shock An earlier iteration of the diagnosis

PTSD, characterizing soldiers’ postwar

mental state

van der Kolk (1994)

Stress When coping and adaptation fail, one

experiences stress

R. T. Carter (2007)

Stressors Situations, conditions, or events that may

lead to trauma

R. T. Carter (2007)

Survival trauma Trauma from a direct or indirect threat

to self or significant others’ lives

(e.g., witnessing and escaping a mass

shooting)

Kira (2001)

Trauma General term referring to either an

experience or the outcome of an

experience

American

Psychological

Association. (n.d.).

Traumatogenic

stimuli

An event that could lead to experiencing

trauma

Kira (2001)

APPENDIX (continued)

Trauma and Education

reality. Mills argues that the social world is racialized and that one’s race, in effect, puts one

into a certain relationship with social reality, forming one’s concept of self and consciousness.

2While I am making an argument here for a better racial representation of voices in the

various critical professional roles that have a say in how youth trauma is discussed, I am

also drawing on Bonilla-Silva et al.’s (2006) notion of White habitus to illustrate the impli-

cations of White racial groups dominating the conversation. White habitus refers to the

ways in which racially segregated White people develop racial expressions, insights, and

cognitions about people of color and then perpetuate among themselves deficit narratives

that are often unsubstantiated by evidence.

3This coauthored chapter examined the intersectionality of race and trauma in schools

to discuss daily stressors that some youth of color may experience and how these race-

related stressors might be linked to behaviors in the classroom. As such, it provides a host

of resources for teachers.

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a0028015

Author

ADAM ALVAREZ is an assistant professor of urban education in the Department of

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Education at Rowan University, 201 Mullica

Hill Road, Glassboro, NJ 08028, USA; email: alvareza@rowan.edu. His research

examines issues of race, exposure to violence, and trauma in K–12 schools with an

emphasis on understanding how race shapes the social context of teaching and learning.

His research aims to support schools and teachers in building equitable policies and

practices that recognize and disrupt historically marginalizing systems of oppression.

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Attention to childhood trauma and the need for trauma-informed care has contributed to the emerging discourse in schools related to teaching practices, school climate, and the delivery of trauma-related in-service and preservice teacher education. However, though trauma-informed systems of care include schools, empirical work informing trauma-informed teaching and teacher education that is reflected back to those audiences is less established. This interdisciplinary overview and synthesis of literature examined interventions used in schools to determine the dominant framework used for promoting and practicing trauma-informed care in schools and the effectiveness of school-based supports for trauma-affected youth to identify implications for changing teaching practice. While multiple disciplines conduct research using different methodologies examining trauma-informed practices in schools, educators are underexamined in this work. Additionally, education researchers began engaging in research on trauma-informed practices in schools more recently, and as such, research emanating from education researchers comprises a small portion of this review. Drawing across the work, we offer recommendations for a more robust, interdisciplinary research agenda with the intentional purpose to change teacher practice.

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Recommendations derived from research evidence regarding program implementation in school-based mental health [SBMH] require knowledge of the intervention outcomes as well as the potential to translate program components into schools. The Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) analysis was applied to major areas of the SBMH literature in addressing the areas of effectiveness and the strength of recommendation in implementation. Nine areas were addressed: emotional intelligence, stigma reduction, mindfulness, anxiety, depression, addictions, suicide prevention, trauma, and eating disorders. Ninety-eight studies were retrieved across the nine areas. Effect sizes based on reported outcomes and estimates on the strength of recommendation were generated in each of the nine areas of interest. These results provide an overview of the quality of the evidence that will be of relevance to school personal in making program selections.

Potential Stressors of Undocumented Latinx Youth: Implications and Recommendations for School Counselors

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The immigration process for undocumented youth often results in multiple academic, personal, and career stressors including experiences of trauma, loss, language barriers, and limited postsecondary schooling or work options. Further, the ongoing political debate regarding immigration may exacerbate these stressors for undocumented youth living in the United States. We address potential stressors of undocumented Latinx youth, provide school counseling implications and recommendations for this underrepresented population, and include an illustrative case study.

Epistemic witnessing: theoretical responsibilities, decolonial attitude and lenticular futures

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Wanda S. Pillow

Pillow explores complexities of witnessing in research linking theoretical oppression to inadequate, arrogant witnessing. Weaving narrative and reflection, Pillow considers what is engrained in theoretical oppression and reviews trauma studies engagement with witnessing as a case example. Thinking with feminist, queer and decolonial scholars, Pillow argues for epistemic witnessing based on ethical onto-epistemological responsibility driven by decolonial attitude and reparative reading. The essay is written in five phrasings, which may be read consecutively or randomly, and concludes with ideas for epistemic witnessing as reparative lenticular archives for past–present–futures.

Racial formation in the United States: Third edition

Book

Jun 2014

Twenty years since the publication of the Second Edition and more than thirty years since the publication of the original book, Racial Formation in the United States now arrives with each chapter radically revised and rewritten by authors Michael Omi and Howard Winant, but the overall purpose and vision of this classic remains the same: Omi and Winant provide an account of how concepts of race are created and transformed, how they become the focus of political conflict, and how they come to shape and permeate both identities and institutions. The steady journey of the U.S. toward a majority nonwhite population, the ongoing evisceration of the political legacy of the early post-World War II civil rights movement, the initiation of the 'war on terror' with its attendant Islamophobia, the rise of a mass immigrants rights movement, the formulation of race/class/gender 'intersectionality' theories, and the election and reelection of a black President of the United States are some of the many new racial conditions Racial Formation now covers.

Understanding the Necessity of Trauma-Informed Care in Community Schools: A Mixed-Methods Program Evaluation

Article

Feb 2019

Community schools provide integrated services and supports, often through partnerships with community-based organizations, to mediate health and psychosocial barriers to learning faced by children from low-income families. Wediko Children's Services conducted a program evaluation with over 500 students at two schools in low-income communities in New York City to measure the impact of trauma-informed supports on students' social skills and problem behaviors. Wediko used a mixed-methods intervention explanatory sequential design with a pre- and posttest quantitative assessment using the Social Skills Improvement System Rating Scales (SSIS-RS) and a modified Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire with qualitative data collection through student interviews after the intervention. The Wediko community school partnership was the intervention, with social workers providing assessments and tiered supports. The evaluation found that students reported lower social skills and higher problem behaviors as the level of reported traumatic experience increased. In addition, students with higher reported levels of trauma reported more problem behaviors over the course of a school year, in spite of receiving additional interventions. This article discusses the impact of trauma and community school supports on self-reported social skills and problem behaviors. It concludes with a discussion of the implications and recommendations for trauma-informed community school partnerships.

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