Education

The resources below provide information for educators who want to integrate ACE concepts and trauma-informed practices into their education systems -- their classrooms, schools, and school districts.

We strive for these resources to be the most useful for the ACEs Connection community. If you have resources that you'd like to add, please send a message to Jane Stevens, ACEsConnection manager.

This isn't complete; it's just a start. We are looking for the best resources that will assist educators to integrate trauma-informed practices into their classrooms, schools and school districts.

Sections Index (scroll down to access):

Early Childhood
K-12
Teen
All Ages
Modules/Training
ACEsTooHigh Education Articles

1. Early Childhood

Executive Function

Source: Washington State Department of Early Learning

Description: This online education module, adapted from Harvard University's Center of the Developing Child materials, covers essential core skills; dimensions of, developing and disruptions in executive function; your role as adult caregiver; and examples of executive function.

Link: http://deltraining.com/courses...on/content-frame.htm

Ages: Early childhood

Recognizing and Addressing Trauma in Infants, Young Children and Their Families

Source: Georgetown University's Center for Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation

Description: Online education module. It covers simple and complex trauma, brain research, signs of trauma and provides tools for educators and mental health consultants who may be brought in to assist.

Link: http://www.ecmhc.org/tutorials/trauma/index.html

Ages: Early childhood

Tools of the Mind

Description: “A research-based early childhood program that builds strong foundations for school success by promoting intentional and self-regulated learning in preschool- and kindergarten-aged children.”

Link: http://www.toolsofthemind.org/

Ages: Early childhood

2. K-12

A Framework for Safe and Successful Schools

Source: Natl. Assn of School Psychologists, et al.

Description: “This joint statement provides a framework supported by educators for improving school safety and increasing access to mental health supports for children and youth. Efforts to improve school climate, safety, and learning are not separate endeavors. They must be designed, funded, and implemented as a comprehensive school-wide approach that facilitates interdisciplinary collaboration and builds on a multitiered system of supports. We caution against seemingly quick and potentially harmful solutions, such as arming school personnel, and urge policy leaders to support the following guidance to enact policies that will equip America’s schools to educate and safeguard our children over the long term.”

Link: http://www.nasponline.org/reso...ool_Environments.pdf

Ages: K-12

Calmer classrooms: A guide to working with traumatised children

Source: Child Safety Commissioner, State of Victoria

Description: “This booklet encourages teachers and other school personnel to forge those attachments through two key mechanisms: understanding traumatised children and developing relationship-based skills to help them.”

Link: http://www.ccyp.vic.gov.au/chi...almer_classrooms.pdf

Ages: K-12

Compassionate Schools: The Heart of Learning and Teaching

Source: Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, State of Washington

Description: An initiative in Washington State, the program provides training, guidance, referral, and technical assistance to schools wishing to adopt a compassionate schools infrastructure in their classrooms and among their staff. The approach focuses on students chronically exposed to stress and trauma in their lives.

Link: http://www.k12.wa.us/Compassio...Schools/default.aspx

Ages: K-12

Complex Trauma

Source: Washington State University Area Health Education Center

Description: Since 2008, AHEC faculty have delivered complex trauma training to more than 8,000 professionals including those in the K-12 education system, early learning, juvenile justice, social work, mental health, primary health care, and community members in Washington, Oregon, and California. AHEC is committed to equipping people in universal systems with awareness of complex trauma as a major health issue and with the skills to proactively respond.

Link: http://extension.wsu.edu/ahec/...s/ComplexTrauma.aspx

Ages: K-12

Creating Safe, Health, and Supportive Learning Environments to Increase the Success of all Students

Source: Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Description: This is a 173-page report that creates a trauma-informed framework for schools in Massachusetts. It is the basis of a bill requiring all Massachusetts schools to develop an action plan to integrate trauma-informed practices.

Link: https://www.pacesconnection.com/...lTaskForcereport.pdf

Ages: K-12

Creating Trauma-Sensitive Schools to Improve Learning

Source:Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

Description: Provides resources to help schools become more trauma-sensitive. The site features the Response to Intervention (RtI) model to successfully support students with a wide range of behavioral and emotional issues.

Link: http://sspw.dpi.wi.gov/sspw_mhtrauma

Ages: K-12

Healing Species

Description: “Teaching compassion, preventing violence, and changing lives through rescued dogs.”

Link: http://www.healingspecies.org/

Ages: 2nd grade +

Supportive School Discipline Webinar Series

Source: OJJDP

Description: Webinars in the series are open to anyone and will explore numerous topics, including current school discipline philosophies, policies, and practices, and emerging alternatives; addressing truancy and absenteeism; infusing restorative justice principles; the role of school resource officers (SROs) in supportive school discipline; the promise of trauma-informed practices; the importance of youth, family, and community engagement; and the need for professional development across all stakeholders.

Link: http://www.juvenilejustice-tta...nts/ssdwebinarseries

Ages: K-12

Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative

Source: Massachusetts Advocates for Children

Description: “Our mission is to ensure that children impacted by family violence and other adverse childhood experiences succeed in school. To achieve this mission, TLPI advocates for “trauma-sensitive schools” where school-wide trauma sensitivity is a regular part of how a safe and supportive school is run. TLPI works directly in schools to help them become trauma sensitive, providing training or technical assistance.” Includes information about and link to the report, “Helping Traumatized Children Learn.”

Link: http://massadvocates.org/tlpi/

Ages: K-12

3. Teen

Break the Cycle Education Programs

Description: Break the Cycle, a national nonprofit organization working exclusively on teen dating violence, provides great resources for educators who want to include a dating violence module into their classrooms, including a DVD-based curriculum and online resources for teens to use.

Link: http://www.breakthecycle.org/

Ages: Teens

LoveisRespect.org

Source: Break the Cycle and National Domestic Violence Hotline

Description: Break the Cycle's site for teens about dating abuse.

Link: http://www.loveisrespect.org/

Ages: Teens

4. All Ages

Attachment, Self-Regulation and Competency (ARC)

Source: Justice Resource Institute

Description: “ARC is a framework for intervention with youth and families who have experienced multiple and/or prolonged traumatic stress. ARC identifies three core domains that are frequently impacted among traumatized youth, and which are relevant to future resiliency. ARC provides a theoretical framework, core principles of intervention, and a guiding structure for providers working with these children and their caregivers, while recognizing that a one-size-model does not fit all. ARC is designed for youth from early childhood to adolescence and their caregivers or caregiving systems.”

Link: http://www.traumacenter.org/research/ascot.php

Ages: Early childhood through adolescence

Child Trauma Academy

Description: Free online courses on childhood trauma.

Link: http://childtraumaacademy.com/

Ages: All ages

Child Trauma Toolkit for Educators

Source: National Child Traumatic Stress Network

Description: “The National Child Traumatic Stress Network has developed tools and materials to help educators understand and respond to the specific needs of traumatized children.”

Link: http://www.nctsnet.org/resourc...onnel/trauma-toolkit

Ages: All ages

KnowBullying App

Source: StopBullying.gov

Description: “A new mobile app by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), encourages dialogue between you and your children and helps you start a conversation.”

Link: http://content.govdelivery.com...SSB/bulletins/caca50

Ages: All ages

Military Kids Connect Educators' Resource Guide

Description: A compilation of resources which include: Classroom and Counseling Activities, Videos, Special Populations, Trauma and Grief, Education-related Organizations, Continuing Education Opportunities, Social Networking Sites for Educators, Student Support, Fun Websites for Military Youth, Wellness Resources for Kids and Families, Family Support, and Books. Resources for parents here.

Link: http://militarykidsconnect.dco.../educators/resources

Ages: All ages

Resources for School Personnel

Source: National Child Traumatic Stress Network

Link: http://www.nctsnet.org/resourc...ces/school-personnel

Ages: All ages

Roots of Empathy

Description: An award-winning charitable organization that brings empathy-based (and evidence-based) programming to children. The program has shown dramatic effect in increasing positive social behaviour and decreasing aggression and bullying. The organization's mission is to create a caring, peaceful and civil society through the development of empathy in children and adults.

Link: www.rootsofempathy.org

Ages: All ages

Social Emotional Learning (SEL)

Source: Edutopia

Description: “Find and share resources for creating a healthy school culture by helping students develop skills to manage their emotions, resolve conflicts, and make responsible decisions.”

Ages: All ages

Link: http://www.edutopia.org/social-emotional-learning

Teaching Refugees with Limited Formal Schooling

Source: Calgary Board of Education

Description: “This resource is dedicated to enhancing the capacity of educators to work effectively with the sub-group of English Language Learners who face additional challenges as a result of the circumstances of their migration and their lack of opportunity for prior schooling.”

Link: http://teachingrefugees.com/

Ages: All ages

Trauma-Informed Care for Children Exposed to Violence: Tips for Teachers

Source: Safe Start and OJJDP

Description: A three-page handout for teachers on warning signs of trauma and how to respond.

Link: http://www.justice.gov/defendi...od/tips-teachers.pdf

Ages: All ages

Working with Military-Connected Youth: Toolkit Educator's Guide

Source: Beyond the Yellow Ribbon

Description: A list of resources for children affected by military deployments.

Link: http://www.beyondtheyellowribb...s_Toolkit_July13.pdf

Ages: All ages

5. Modules/Training

Child Trauma Academy

Description: Free online courses on childhood trauma.

Link: http://childtraumaacademy.com/

Ages: All ages

Compassionate Schools: The Heart of Learning and Teaching

Source: Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, State of Washington

Link: http://www.k12.wa.us/Compassio...Schools/default.aspx

Ages: K-12

Complex Trauma

Source: Washington State University Area Health Education Center

Link: http://extension.wsu.edu/ahec/...s/ComplexTrauma.aspx

Ages: K-12

Creating Compassionate Schools

Source: CE Credits Online

Description: Online course developed by Steve Dahl, ACEsConnection member.

Link: http://www.cecreditsonline.org...ldt-state-university

Fix School Discipline webinars

Source: Fix School Discipline

Description: Series of webinars, including trauma-sensitive strategies and disproportionate discipline.

Link: http://www.fixschooldiscipline...kit/webinar-archive/

HEARTS Program: Healthy Environments and Response to Trauma in Schools

Source: UCSF

Description: Healthy Environments and Response to Trauma in Schools. Developed by Joyce Dorado and Miriam Martinez at UC San Francisco. Used in pilot program in three elementary schools in San Francisco, and integrated with restorative practices in San Francisco Unified School District.

Link: http://coe.ucsf.edu/coe/spotlight/ucsf_hearts.html

National Youth Screening & Assessment Project

Source: University of Massachusetts Medical School

Description: “A technical assistance and research center, dedicated to helping juvenile justice programs identify youths’ needs for behavioral health intervention and risk management.”

Link: http://www.nysap.us/Index.html

Supportive School Discipline Webinar Series

Source: OJJDP

Link: http://www.juvenilejustice-tta...nts/ssdwebinarseries

Ages: K-12

6. ACEsTooHigh Education Articles

Lincoln High School in Walla Walla, WA, tries new approach to school discipline—suspensions drop 85%

2012

http://acestoohigh.com/2012/04...-expulsions-drop-85/

Massachusetts, Washington lead U.S. trauma-sensitive school movement

2012

http://acestoohigh.com/2012/05...ive-school-movement/

The secret to fixing school discipline problems? Change the behavior of adults

2013

http://acestoohigh.com/2013/03...g-school-discipline/

A community play called ZERO tips Sacramento, CA, into tackling school suspensions

2013

http://acestoohigh.com/2013/05...-school-suspensions/

Punishment vs. compassion: A tale of two principals

2013

http://acestoohigh.com/2013/07...e-of-two-principals/

At Cherokee Point Elementary, kids don’t conform to school; school conforms to kids

2013

http://acestoohigh.com/2013/07...ol-conforms-to-kids/

Why I went from being a top student to an expelled dropout

2013

http://acestoohigh.com/2013/07...an-expelled-dropout/

There’s no such thing as a bad kid in these Spokane, WA, trauma-informed elementary schools

2013

http://acestoohigh.com/2013/08/20/spokaneschools/

Q-and-A with Suzanne Savall, principal of trauma-informed elementary school in Spokane, WA

2013

http://acestoohigh.com/2013/08...chool-in-spokane-wa/

Cornerstone Theater’s “Tangle” weaves childhood trauma into changing harsh school discipline

2013

http://acestoohigh.com/2013/09...h-school-discipline/

The Restorative Justice League of Le Grand High School jumps in to save the day

2013

http://acestoohigh.com/2013/09...e-grand-high-school/

In Vallejo, CA, schools — where referrals, suspensions, expulsions outnumbered students 5 to 1– there’s no place to go but up

2013

http://acestoohigh.com/2013/10/24/vallejoschools/

Suspensions plummet with peer mediation, but at this school, it’s just another program that’s going away

2013

http://acestoohigh.com/2013/12...am-thats-going-away/

New federal guidance should help slow the flow in “school-to-prison pipeline”, but much work remains

2014

http://acestoohigh.com/2014/01...t-much-work-remains/

At Reedley (CA) High School, suspensions drop 40%, expulsions 80% in two years with PBIS, restorative justice; but going the distance might require more tools

2014

http://acestoohigh.com/2014/01...-require-more-tools/

San Francisco’s El Dorado Elementary uses trauma-informed & restorative practices; suspensions drop 89%

2014

http://acestoohigh.com/2014/01...l-dorado-elementary/

Trying to make LA schools less toxic is hit-and-miss; relatively few students receive care they need

2014

http://acestoohigh.com/2014/03...eive-care-they-need/

Echo Parenting & Education rides the trauma wave

2014

http://acestoohigh.com/2014/04...des-the-trauma-wave/

In the middle of the night, finding resilience in a storm of ACEs