Children in the District are disproportionately exposed to traumatic experiences, including poverty, homelessness and gun violence, that affect their ability to learn, a new report says.
But schools can help them by training teachers and employees to be responsive to their emotional needs, according to the report the D.C. Children’s Law Center released Tuesday.
“Education reforms in the District will not fully succeed if schools do not address the trauma that students bring with them to class,” the report says.
The report was released in advance of a roundtable discussion on trauma-informed schools organized by D.C. Council member David Grosso (I-At Large), chairman of the Committee on Education.
Advocates argue that trauma is a pressing issue in the city, where 1 in 4 children live in poverty, with household incomes of less than $24,000 a year. In Wards 7 and 8, the poverty rate is close to 50 percent.
Comments (0)