As state education agencies, districts and schools across the country grapple with the effects of trauma exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the mental health crisis, and more, many have shifted to a trauma-informed care approach to promote healing environments for students and staff. One of NCSSLE’s Project Prevent Cohort 3 (P2C3) grantees, Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS), has made particularly noteworthy progress in implementing this approach district-wide.
Background
Jefferson County is located in Louisville, KY; a city with a long-standing history of redlining, urban planning decisions, and other factors that have led to racial segregation and areas of concentrated poverty. According to a 2015 report from the Greater Louisville Project, 1 in 7 Louisvillians live in concentrated poverty. Louisville’s history of institutional racism and segregation has had—and continues to have—a significant impact on its multidimensionally poor neighborhoods and the populations concentrated within them, with black citizens in Louisville much more likely to live in multidimensionally poor areas than white citizens.
JCPS is the largest school system in Kentucky, and its district demographics strongly represent those of greater Louisville. With a predominantly non-white student body and majority (66.6%) of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals, according to JCPS, students experience varying levels of trauma due to the systemic racism and poverty in the city.
With the COVID pandemic disproportionately affecting low-income students and the killing of Breonna Taylor in her Louisville apartment shaking the city in 2020, JCPS worked to address this collective trauma through their P2C3 grant.
Trauma-Informed Care Plans
The JCPS Project Prevent (P2) grant consists of 4 areas of focus. These components include Behavior Support, Case Management Support, Trauma-Informed Training, and Community Events. Since being awarded the grant in 2022, JCPS has used P2C3 funds to implement trauma-informed care plans in 9 elementary schools throughout the district to address offer trauma-informed training, which provides professional development for school staff, focusing on trauma and the effects of community violence. Schools work to become trauma sensitive by:
- Completing six Trauma Informed Care Modules,
- completing a 1-hour racial trauma professional development,
- creating a trauma team and meeting regularly with JCPS Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Resource Teachers to develop realistic implementation goals,
- consulting with a JCPS SEL Resource Teacher to determine school needs,
- conducting a climate survey that includes items on inclusiveness, diversity, belonging, respect, safety, and being cared for by adults in the building, and
- sharing student climate survey data with district and school stakeholders and identifying and discussing areas of strength and opportunities for growth.
The six training modules cover a basic understanding of what defines trauma and creating trauma informed schools, in addition to information on resiliency, coping strategies, trauma and the brain, trauma-informed responses, advanced childhood experiences (ACEs), effective communication, psychological safety, and other related topics.
By creating a unique 5-year Trauma Training Implementation Plan with each school, these schools can better prepare staff to both support students and families who have experienced trauma, as well as to cope with the trauma they experience personally. Schools are kept accountable through this implementation plan by filling it out with their SEL Resource Teacher, ensuring implementation goes smoothly. The goal is that school staff not only complete the required training modules, but that they become trauma aware/sensitive in practice with their students.
Impact and What’s Next
Currently, all but 4 of Jefferson County’s 161 schools have started working on their trauma-informed care plans. As of October 2023, around 8,000 staff have been trained on trauma informed care practices. Feedback from staff is overwhelmingly positive, with teachers reporting that the trauma-informed strategies are helpful, and the training is making them more aware of how their actions might impact their students.
Excitingly, all 9 JCPS Project Prevent schools have completed trauma training this year (FY23), and the hope is that these schools will serve as a model for the rest of the district.
JCPS plans to continue to update their modules annually, as well as introduce new modules about topics such as English Language Learners, LGBTQ+ students, and more, equipping staff with the tools to respond to student needs.
To learn more about JCPS’ Trauma Informed Care Plans, listen to their Episode of In Session.