Trauma-informed schools provide benefit to students and families as they embrace restorative practices and social-emotional learning. These schools are trained to understand how traumatic stress affects neurological development and learning, and view misbehaviors as skill deficits. As a result, their responses are rooted in compassionate capacity building, rather than exclusionary discipline intended to maintain compliance. Lastly, these schools strive to have the resources needed to meet students’ social-emotional needs, including sufficient access to high-quality mental health providers. In short, these schools are models of institutions where you would want to send your child, regardless of their relationship with adverse childhood experiences.
Sadly, few schools in Memphis are certifiably trauma-informed. Yet, there is a growing local movement to change that. Shelby County Schools, as well as various charters, are working to educate school staff about the effect of ACEs and toxic stress. Some schools are already moving to the next step, using their new understandings to transform how they support students, particularly when it comes to discipline and building social-emotional skills.
An audience member speaks at “The Great Debate: Exploring the Role of Charter Schools in Memphis” on Tuesday, November 13, 2018.
Momentum Memphis Task Force Leaders planning for the October meeting.
Graduation success is one of the four platform areas that we focus on in our Momentum Memphis campaign. Research conducted by the University of Chicago revealed that student success in the first year of high school is a critical indicator for graduation. Studies showed that ninth graders who had high absentee rates or failed one or more […]
Stand for Children members support the students of Shelby County as they advocate for school discipline reform and safety considerations.
Let the Shelby County Commission know that funding students first is one of our community’s highest priorities by signing the pledge today.
