Impacts of a Culturally Responsive Trauma-Informed Professional Development for Educators in Underserved Schools

Overview: This presentation highlights changes in educators’ perceptions of racial trauma and student engagement after participating in a culturally responsive trauma-informed professional development series. The culturally responsive trauma-informed professional development series included educators’ discourse and critical reflection to acknowledge racial trauma as a source of education inequity.Proposal text:

Background: This empirical study describes a qualitative study exploring changes in educators’ perceptions of racial trauma and student engagement after participating in a culturally responsive trauma-informed professional development (PD) series. Trauma-informed PD for educators delivered by helping professionals such as social workers and mental health providers has been increasing interest as an interdisciplinary and collaborative way to address the harmful impacts of childhood adversity and trauma (Crosby, 2015; Crosby et al., 2018). Trauma-informed training for educators has been implemented to enhance teachers’ awareness and understanding of general trauma and trauma’s impact on children (Christian-Brandt et al., 2020; McIntyre et al., 2019; Whitaker et al., 2019). Considering that equitable education for all students is a human right, PD for educators must be developed using frameworks grounded in racial equity and cultural responsiveness that enhance educators’ racial awareness and responsiveness to trauma’s impact on racially marginalized students (Blitz et al., 2020; Gherardi et al., 2020). Therefore, this presentation describes how a culturally responsive trauma-informed PD series (emphasizing racial trauma in schools) impacts educators’ perceptions of racial trauma and student engagement among racially/ethnically marginalized students.

Methods: The researcher engaged in a qualitative study consisting of 7 diverse educators from various regions of the United States (U.S.). The educators participated in a culturally responsive trauma-informed PD series consisting of three two-hour training sessions facilitated by the researcher. The PD discussed trauma, racial stress and racial trauma, racially traumatic experiences, school practices, and their impacts on students. The series incorporated case studies to demonstrate examples of racially traumatic schooling experiences. Educators engaged in critical reflections and discourse centered around the case studies and their personal interactions with students. The PD also provided educators with strategies and skills to respond to challenging classroom behaviors using strengths-based trauma-informed approaches. The series was provided virtually using the Zoom video conferencing platform. Data collection for this study included pre-and-post semi-structured individual interviews (n = 14), focus groups (direct participant observations of culturally responsive trauma-informed PD sessions; n = 3), educators’ journal reflection entries (n = 14).

Findings: Using thematic analysis, the researcher identified two primary themes: The culturally responsive trauma-informed PD 1) ignited a transformation from trauma-informed awareness to critically conscious trauma-informed attitudes and behaviors, and 2) enhanced transformative self-awareness. These transformations were greatly influenced by the series’ case studies and educators’ engagement in critical reflection and discourse.

Conclusion: This study reveals that trauma-informed PD emphasizing racial trauma as a source of inequity in schools and incorporating critical self-reflection and dialogues can positively transform educators’ perceptions surrounding racially/ethnically marginalized students. Furthermore, the study demonstrates the feasibility of interdisciplinary collaborations between social workers (i.e., researchers and practitioners) and educators (i.e., teachers), even in virtual spaces. While this PD in this study was applied to K-12 educators, social work educators can use the series as a framework for developing culturally responsive trauma-informed courses or certificate programs grounded in racial equity.