A growing body of evidence highlights the connection betweenadverse childhood experiences and academic problems. The effects of trauma can impair a child’s cognitive ability, while the stress of a dysfunctional or unstable home life can make children act out or shut down in the classroom, according to recent child-development research.
While such findings are increasingly acknowledged, however, they have yet to broadly inform classroom practices or school-improvement initiatives, says Susan E. Craig, an author and school consultant. A former reading teacher, Craig has spent more than three decades exploring the relationship between trauma and children’s cognitive development. In her new book, Trauma-Sensitive Schools: Learning Communities Transforming Children's Lives, K-5(Teachers College Press), she seeks to share some of what she’s learned, with a particular focus on detailing what educators and policymakers can do to better respond to and support traumatized students and help them “regain their ability to achieve academic and social mastery.” For Craig, these are not peripheral issues for educators. To be effective, she argues, school improvement must be seen through a “trauma-sensitive lens.”
We recently spoke to Craig about the book and her advice for teachers. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
[For more of this story, written by Elisha McNeil, go to http://www.edweek.org/tm/artic...ts-schools-need.html]
Comments (0)