The mission of the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) is to ensure that every learner has access to a world-class education system that academically prepares children and adults to succeed as productive citizens. Further, PDE seeks to establish a culture that is committed to improving opportunities throughout the commonwealth by ensuring that technical support, resources, and optimal learning environments are available for all students, whether children or adults.
These pages contain resources for parents, educators, and professionals serving children and youth in the school and community settings.
Note: links shared that take users beyond this website to a non-PDE website, organization, product, process, service, manufacturer, or company does not constitute endorsement or recommendation by PDE, and, PDE is not responsible for the content featured on any of the sites or pages referenced.
Empowerment through common language in Pennsylvania
Access a dictionary of terms related to trauma-informed approaches in schools. (PDF)
Contact
For more information on Trauma-Informed Approaches in Schools, please contact Dr. Dana Milakovic: damilakovi@pa.gov
Physical Trauma and Sudden Injuries
Physical trauma is a serious injury to the body. The two main types of physical trauma are:
Blunt force trauma: when an object or force strikes the body, often resulting in concussions, deep cuts, or broken bones.
Penetrating trauma: when an object pierces the skin or body, usually creating an open wound.
Traumatic Brain Injury
PA Department of Health: Traumatic Brain Injury
The Pennsylvania Department of Health is committed to expanding public knowledge regarding Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and increasing coordination and integration within existing service delivery systems, thereby enhancing the infrastructure needed to persons with TBI and their Families.
To learn more about services available for individuals with brain injury and their families, please contact the toll-free Brain Injury Help Line at 1-866-412-4755 and speak with a Brain Injury Specialist. Specialists are available from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday.
BrainSTEPS: PA
Under contract from the Pennsylvania Department of Health and in partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the Brain Injury Association of Pennsylvania developed a Child and Adolescent Brain Injury School Re-entry Program called BrainSTEPS (Strategies, Teaching Educators, Parent and Students). BrainSTEPS is working to make sure that those who provide educational support to children with brain injury have a good understanding of brain injury, the resulting challenges, and supports and interventions that will assist these students achieve educational success through graduation.
Brain Injury Association of Pennsylvania (BIAPA)
BIAPA's mission is to foster a community of education, advocacy, support, and research to maximize the quality of life for those with brain injuries and their families. BIAPA's website provides education, advocacy, and program information.
Safety in Youth Sports Act (101 of 2011)
This law requires all school entities to develop return to play policies for student athletes with concussions. It also requires training for coaches.
Center for Disease Control (CDC): HEADS UP to Youth Sports
To help ensure the health and safety of young athletes, CDC developed the HEADS UP Concussion in Youth Sports initiative to offer information about concussions to coaches, parents, and athletes involved in youth sports. The HEADS UP initiative provides important information on preventing, recognizing, and responding to a concussion.
PA Coalition Against Domestic Violence
The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence (PCADV) is a private, nonprofit organization working at the state and national levels to eliminate domestic violence, secure justice for victims, enhance safety for families and communities, and create lasting systems and social change.
PCADV coordinates these efforts with its statewide network of programs, which provides 24-hour emergency hotlines, shelter, counseling, legal advocacy and representation, healthcare-based advocacy, children's programs, transitional housing and many other free and confidential services.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health, in consultation with the PA School Boards Association, the Pennsylvania Department of Education and other key stakeholders is providing information that will serve as the training course for athletic coaches to read and sign in compliance with Act 73 of 2020 - Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prevention Act. This Act contains three requirements:
Parents of student athletes in the public school system must read and sign a Pennsylvania Department of Health acknowledgment form (PDF) prior to their student participating in sports.
Coaches must complete an annual training course on sudden cardiac arrest. Sport Safety International's Sudden Cardiac Arrest Training is the only approved course.
Coaches must remove a player that exhibits warning signs of sudden cardiac arrest and may not allow their return until cleared by a licensed medical professional.
For more information, please visit the Pennsylvania Department of Health's website.
T.I.P. in School
These pages provide a resource guide for trauma-informed practices in schools. Please note: the information on these pages is not exhaustive and inclusion on this list does not indicate endorsement by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Information is provided to give school teams a starting point for addressing and implementing Trauma Informed programming in their school.
Building Trauma-Sensitive Schools Training Package
The Trauma-Sensitive Schools Training Package offers school and district administrators and staff a framework and roadmap for adopting a trauma-sensitive approach school- or districtwide. The Training Package includes a variety of resources for educating school staff about trauma and trauma-sensitive practices and for providing school leaders with a step-by-step process for implementing a universal, trauma-informed approach using package materials. School and district leaders are encouraged to begin by reviewing the Implementation Guide for an overview of the package components and their intended use.
National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments: Understanding Trauma and Its Impact
Educating all school staff on trauma and its effects on students, families, and staff is an essential first step towards becoming a trauma-sensitive school. The resources included in the Understanding Trauma and Its Impact component of the Training Package are designed to provide all school and district staff with a shared awareness and understanding of the prevalence and impact of trauma and implications for schools. Resources include an interactive e-resource and a companion slide presentation and activity packet for in-person training.
National Child Traumatic Stress Network
This section of the NCTSN Learning Center provides free access to NCTSN experts and up-to-date, science-based information in the areas of assessment, treatment and services, training, research and evaluation, and organizational and systems change for traumatized children, adolescents, and their families. Continuing education credits are available for many courses in this expanding online catalog that has been developed for mental health professionals, parents and caregivers, policymakers, and others who work with and care about children and adolescents.
Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative - Trauma-Sensitive Schools
This site offers videos that address trauma work being done throughout Massachusetts, as well as provide information regarding trauma, learning, brain-based behavior, relationships, and becoming a trauma-informed school system.
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction: Trauma-Sensitive Schools Online Professional Development
This is a free, online, on-demand system consisting of three primary components. Through this system, learners will understand the prevalence and impact of toxic stress on youth and those who care for them. Additionally, participants will understand how to infuse the values of safety, trustworthiness, choice, collaboration, and empowerment into various aspects of their existing equitable multi-level system of support. This infusion is what we call the trauma-informed lens.
National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments: Trauma Sensitive School Package
The Trauma-Sensitive Schools Training Package offers school and district administrators and staff a framework and roadmap for adopting a trauma-sensitive approach school- or districtwide. The Training Package includes a variety of resources for educating school staff about trauma and trauma-sensitive practices and for providing school leaders with a step-by-step process for implementing a universal, trauma-informed approach using package materials. School and district leaders are encouraged to begin by reviewing the Implementation Guide for an overview of the package components and their intended use.
SAMHSA's Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach
This manual from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration introduces a concept of trauma and offers a framework for becoming a trauma-informed organization, system, or service sector. The manual provides a definition of trauma and a trauma-informed approach and offers 6 key principles and 10 implementation domains.
Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative – Helping Traumatized Children Learn
Published in 2005, TLPI's landmark report summarizes the research from psychology and neurobiology that documents the impact trauma from exposure to violence can have on children's learning, behavior and relationships in school. The report also introduces the Flexible Framework, a tool organized according to six core operational functions of schools that can help any school create a trauma sensitive learning environment for all children.
Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative - Creating and Advocating for Trauma-Sensitive Schools
Volume 2 of Helping Traumatized Children Learn: Creating and Advocating for Trauma-Sensitive Schools, safe, supportive learning environments that benefit all children offers a guide to a process for creating trauma-sensitive schools and a policy agenda to provide the support schools need to achieve this goal. Grounded in theory and practice in schools and with families, the guide is intended to be a living document that will grow and change as more schools become trauma sensitive and add their ideas. The policy agenda calls for changes in laws, policies, and funding streams to support schools in this work. Together, the online learning community and the book are designed to complement each other, helping to build a growing and increasingly visible trauma-sensitive learning community.
Attitudes Related to Trauma Informed Care (ARTIC)
The ARTIC Scale, one of the first and most widely used tools available to measure TIC, has been administered globally to more than 20,000 professionals. The ARTIC Scale was developed by the Traumatic Stress Institute in partnership with Dr. Courtney N. Baker of Tulane University.
Wisconsin Trauma-Sensitive Schools Fidelity Tool (PDF)
This tool is intended to paint a picture of your school prior to the implementation of trauma-sensitive policies and practices. It may also help shape your school conversation around how to become more trauma-sensitive.
Trauma Information
Building Trauma-Sensitive Schools Training Package
The Trauma-Sensitive Schools Training Package offers school and district administrators and staff a framework and roadmap for adopting a trauma-sensitive approach school- or districtwide. The Training Package includes a variety of resources for educating school staff about trauma and trauma-sensitive practices and for providing school leaders with a step-by-step process for implementing a universal, trauma-informed approach using package materials. School and district leaders are encouraged to begin by reviewing the Implementation Guide for an overview of the package components and their intended use.
Resource Guide to Trauma-Informed Human Services
This Trauma Informed guide was developed by the US Department of Human Services and is a web-linked compilation of resources from a range of Health and Human Service agencies, federal partners, and respected sources outside government. The site will contain both information and resources for human services leaders at the state, tribal, territorial, and local levels on recent advances in our understanding of trauma, toxic stress, and resiliency and specifically what these advances mean for program design and service delivery.
Some general trauma resources in the guide, which are applicable to all human services programs, include:
- What is Trauma?
- What are Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES)? How are they different from trauma experienced at other times during the life course?
- What is Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?
- How does exposure to trauma affect brain development?
- What do we mean by trauma-informed services and why is such an approach important?
PDE collaborates with HEAL PA to support our early education settings, K-12 schools and colleges to become trauma-informed and healing centered. Resources for educators can be found on HEAL PA’s Education Action Team’s site: https://www.healpa.org/education
Crisis Response Planning
Emergencies come in many forms, from natural disasters to medical emergencies to behavioral incidents. While we can't predict everything, we can be prepared. By proactively planning and implementing effective crisis prevention strategies, we can:
- Minimize the impact of a crisis on students, staff, and the entire school community.
- Promote a culture of safety where awareness and preparedness are the norm.
- Empower educators and staff to respond effectively in stressful situations.
- Enhance student well-being by fostering a secure and supportive learning environment.
This page offers frameworks and guidance that have been created to aid schools in crafting effective emergency operations plans that will provide support in the event of a crisis. Additional resources are available to facilitate the creation of supportive learning environments, which are proven to enhance physical and psychological safety within schools and mitigate the occurrence of crises within the school community.
Note: links shared that take users beyond the Pennsylvania Department of Education's website to a non-PDE website, organization, product, process, service, manufacturer, or company does not constitute endorsement or recommendation by PDE, and, PDE is not responsible for the content featured on any of the sites or pages referenced.
A Framework for Safe and Successful Schools
The author organizations and cosigners of A Framework for Safe and Successful Schools represent the educators and community partners who work day in and day out to keep our children safe, ensure their well-being, and promote learning. The partnership between our organizations seeks to reinforce the interdisciplinary, collaborative, and cohesive approach that is required to create and sustain genuinely safe, supportive schools that meet the needs of the whole child.
Our joint statement outlines evidence-based policies and practices 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 and must be designed, funded, and implemented as a comprehensive school-wide approach. We urge policy leaders to support this guidance to shape meaningful policies that will genuinely equip America's schools to educate and safeguard our children over the long term.
Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans
In 2013, the White House and six Federal agencies (U.S. Departments of Education; Homeland Security, led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency; Justice, led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Health and Human Services) released guidance for creating, reviewing, and maintaining customized and comprehensive school emergency operations plans (EOPs). Schools can use the Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans (School Guide) to create new plans as well as to revise and update existing plans and align their emergency management planning practices with those at the national, state, and local levels. The intended audience of this guidance document is school safety leaders and members of core planning teams at K-12 schools (public, nonpublic, charter, rural, etc.). The School Guide may be accessed in two formats on the REMS TA Center Website.
The role of Districts in Developing High-Quality School Emergency Plans: A Companion to the School Guide
This guide recommends that districts apply the same planning principles; follow the same six step process and complete the tasks associated with each step, that underlie the planning process described in the School Guide. The District Guide, however, provides more district-focused information. This guide also contains a checklist of activities and responsibilities for districts that allows them to stay on course and track their progress.
Guiding Principles for Creating Safe, Inclusive, Supportive, and Fair School Climates (PDF)
Developed by the U.S. Department of Education, this guide provides guidance on how to maintain safe, inclusive, supportive, and fair learning environments for students and school staff. This guide includes specific recommendations for evidence-based practices to give students what they need to learn and grow.