Trauma Informed Education

Reviewed by Melanie Park, Associate Professor of Education, Huntington University on 6/17/24

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The book provides an excellent overview of various trauma informed educational practices. Because the text is based on a podcast, the chapters are actually interviews with various experts in the field. Consequently, the content is limited to specific strategies and approaches used by each person being interviewed. The strategies in some chapters would be difficult to generalize to a traditional general education setting where funding is limited. For example, the first chapter describes a residential program servicing students affected by trauma. Leaping into a description of a very specialized form of care seems out of place when trauma informed education has not yet been explained in the book. However, the text would work wonderfully if a professor were willing to provide a more general introduction to trauma informed education followed by more detailed explanations of how trauma affects the brain. After the professor lays the foundation, the readings in the book would provide specific examples of trauma informed practices.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The expertise of each person interviewed was evident. I appreciated having the QR codes for each person being interviewed to further study their background and analyze the work they have completed in the field of trauma informed education. The content was accurate and aligned with practices I am currently seeing in elementary schools in the United States. References to zones of regulation and social and emotional learning demonstrate the real-world applications of the practices mentioned.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

A few references to specific trauma responses to the Covid pandemic may become quickly outdated. I love the use of QR codes for further study, but I wonder how long the links will be available.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is very easy to read and comprehend. The unique nature of the book being written as an interview transcript makes the content accessible and easy to follow.

Consistency rating: 5

Each expert being interviewed shared the same foundational belief that schools must respond to trauma in informed ways so that children are being better serviced.

Modularity rating: 5

One of the greatest strengths of the book is the ability to use each chapter as stand-alone content. Because each chapter is a different interview transcript, the content does not build on previous readings. A professor could easily use different portions of the book at different times, and no confusion would occur.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The structure is easy to follow. I think a broader introduction discussing trauma informed education through a wider lens would be helpful. However, the organization is easy to follow with each chapter being a different interview in the podcast.

Interface rating: 4

The embedded QR links were functional and easy to use. I like that the links all provided opportunities for a deeper dive into the content. Some of the images did not align closely with content. I would prefer images that directly support understanding; several of the pictures seemed like stock photos that did not clearly match the text content.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not find any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I appreciated the reference to the First Nation people groups in Australia; diverse response to the unique needs of students from various races, ethnicities, and backgrounds was acknowledged.

Comments

I think the book would provide excellent readings for a course on classroom management and/or educational psychology. Since an entire course would probably not be dedicated to trauma informed education, the book would best be used as part of a unit. I appreciated the readability and detailed descriptions of approaches that can be implemented to attend to the needs of students who have experienced trauma.

Reviewed by Rachel Feldwisch, Associate Dean, College of Education & Behavioral Sciences, University of Indianapolis on 1/29/24

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The book offers a selection of interviews from educators, health and mental health professionals. However, the topic of Trauma Informed Education remains consistent. An important point of clarification is that the book seems specific to K-12 education. Information regarding other educational contexts (e.g., higher education, training programs) is not included. The book includes a table of contents, but I did not find an index or glossary included.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The information presented does seem to be accurate, yet because of the interview format it is not well cited. At times, the interview transcriptions do seem to have a biased feel because they are presented from each interviewees frame of reference and lacking literary citation. The authors do include recommended readings by each subject area expert, and give QR codes to websites related to their work.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

Updating the text may be extremely difficult because each chapter is based upon an interview. However, adding a foreword or epilogue to each chapter would be feasible.

Clarity rating: 5

Conversational style of the book is clear and straightforward.

Consistency rating: 5

The format, terminology, and framework is consistent from chapter-to-chapter.

Modularity rating: 5

A single chapter could easily be assigned as reading for one week or topic of a course.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The interactive piece was enjoyable, but at times I wondered why the authors chose to link to a definition (e.g., of attachment) instead of providing a definition and citing the source. Busy students and those who want to highlight definitions directly in the text might find the added work annoying or burdensome.

Interface rating: 4

A critique that I have of the book in PDF form of this text is that the images are stock photos that are not always well-connected to the material, and at times the images are not properly aligned with the text. Likewise, the videos (e.g., Brown’s video on empathy) may be excellent resources, but they are not always well-connected to the section or topic.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The book did not contain obvious grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The book did not contain material that I found to be culturally insensitive or offensive. Some terminology will need to be updated as times change.

Comments

The content of the chapters is guided by questions from the authors that were asked during podcast interviews. As an instructor in higher education, I typically utilize standard textbooks in my courses that review and cite literature in the field. However, I do supplement textbook learning with video recording and podcasts. The book is somewhere in between, as the material is written but you can also listen to the podcasts. Given the importance of multi-modal learning, I like that students have either the audio or written option. Overall, I enjoyed the book and found the subject matter to be engaging.

Reviewed by Rebecca Wylie, Affiliate Instructor, Metropolitan State University of Denver on 10/17/23

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The format of this textbook is quite unique. The textbook is based on recorded conversations from the Trauma Informed Education podcast. The textbook also features the original recording at the end of each chapter. There are also QR codes throughout the chapter that provide additional information.

Content Accuracy rating: 3

As each chapter is based o interviews, it can not be free from bias. Each expert also shares their opinion and experiences. While it is important to understand this as you start the textbook, it is also worthwhile to read about how schools and other individuals deal with trauma informed education.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

While the content is based on personal experiences, the ability to update the chapters can still be completed. There are many QR codes that lead to other information such as websites and articles, this can be easily updated.

Clarity rating: 5

This textbook is easy to read as soon as you realize that it is based on interviews and reads like a script. There are also many additions to each chapter, including videos, interviews, articles and websites for further reading. There is also a Chapter Summary with additional references.

Consistency rating: 5

By being able to read various viewpoints and how Trauma Induced Practices are used in the real world, this helps the reader understand what Trauma Induced Practice is as opposed to reading a textbook with a lot of specific jargon that is not easily understood or dry.

Modularity rating: 5

This textbook would be a great addition to any class as each chapter is it's own. You don't have to read the chapters in order and there are multiple additional resources that could also be assigned to read in each chapter as well as the original audio recordings. as such, you also could just assign one or two chapters out of the textbook if needed, or you could use this textbook in a indirect teaching way and assign students various chapters, which would allow them to come back to class to teach their peers what their learned through the specific chapter they read.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The textbook is very easy to read and follow.

Interface rating: 5

This textbook not only is easy to read, but also provides an "Accessibility Checklist" that provides details on various items in the text such as tables, font size and web-links. The QR codes are also very easy to use and access.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

This textbook is free of grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The textbook starts off with an "Acknowledgement of First Peoples", this sets the tone for including viewpoints that are not culturally insensitive or offensive.

Comments

This book is well organized and can be easy to assign either one chapter or several chapters to students. The inclusion of the original audio makes this text easy for students with visual impairments to also follow along. The addition of QR codes also helps with providing additional videos and information for students.

Reviewed by Caroline Toscano, Instructional Designer (PhD in Educational Psychology), Century College on 3/7/23

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This textbook provides a comprehensive review of several important issues in K-12 regarding trauma-informed practice. These issues include helping traumatized children learn, educating students with blocked trust, trauma-informed classroom management, teaching self-regulation, conscious discipline, preventing challenging behaviors, trauma-informed social-emotional learning, and creating sanctuary in schools. The three editors are from Australia, but much of the content is applicable to an international context. It uses neuroscience research and interviews by experts in trauma-informed education. These experts are from Australia, the UK, and the US. Several specific strategies for teaching children using a trauma-informed lens are mentioned. Also included are relevant considerations and chapter summaries listing the main points. Each expert listed in the textbook has a brief biography with an accompanying QR code for more information.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

Trauma-informed education is a constantly developing field, and the experts in the field hail from several interdisciplinary fields such as psychology, education, counseling, and neuroscience. The content appears to be accurate inasmuch as the field continues to change based on new findings in neuroscience and best practices in the classroom. There is some anecdotal evidence used throughout the textbook, which illustrates the experts' observations. There is an overarching view that schools must adopt a trauma-informed lens if they are striving to help all children learn.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

Given that trauma-informed practice in education is a relatively new field, the content appears up to date and relevant for the present and foreseeable future. A few external resources from 2013 (Brené Brown on Empathy video) and 2012 (Once upon a Mountain Trailer) are used. If the text is updated, it appears that it would be relatively easy for the authors to add updated resources and new findings. As researchers learn more about brain-based learning and the effects of trauma, it is very likely that this textbook will need successive editions.

Clarity rating: 5

The contents of the textbook appear to be written in lucid, accessible prose. There is not a great deal of jargon used in the text. There is no glossary of terms, but there are book recommendations for readers who want to learn more about the topic.

Consistency rating: 4

There appears to be an internally consistent terminology and framework of trauma-informed practice. For example, there is the "Zone of Regulation" in Chapter 4 that serves as a foundational approach to working with traumatized children in terms of emotional regulation. Several other frameworks are consistent with the trauma-informed approach, such as Socio-Emotional Learning and Trauma-Informed Classroom Management.

Modularity rating: 4

In terms of the modularity, the textbook is arranged as follows: each chapter begins with a small biographical description of the expert being interviewed, along with a QR code to learn more about that expert. Then, the interview is broken up into smaller sections outlining the main points of the expert being interviewed. Some of the chapters appear as long blocks of text; those could stand to be broken down into shorter paragraphs for reading ease. Interspersed in these smaller sections, there is content (text, video, audio) within blue blocks with accompanying QR codes. There is a chapter summary at the end of each chapter with the main ideas listed in bullet points. There is a recording of the interview (QR code), and finally, a list of references.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The topics appear to be organized by the main theme of each expert being interviewed. For this reason, there is a logical, clear flow within each chapter. Among the chapters, the logic is less clear; nevertheless, the topics are related to one another. By chapter, they are organized as Helping Traumatized Children Learn, Educating Students with Blocked Trust, Trauma-Informed Classroom Management, Teaching Self-Regulation, Conscious Discipline, Preventing Challenging Behaviors, Trauma-Informed Social-Emotional Learning, and Creating Sanctuary in Schools. A reader with extensive experience in trauma-informed education practice may easily see the logic among the topics. However, a reader new to the field may be confused about what trauma is and how it manifests in the classroom. If the editors want to appeal to readers who are new to this subject, it would be good to have some terms and basic findings from research about how trauma affects the brain, and in turn, learning and behavior for students.

Interface rating: 4

The textbook is free of significant issues. It is easy to navigate using the up/down arrows for the PDF version. Some of the photos of the people highlighted in the book appear a little blurry; professional photos would be much better. Other open-source images are easy to view. Sometimes the text in the smaller blue content boxes spill outside of the box (e.g. p 9 Transition Toolkit) and a quotation in blue font spills into a blue content box (e.g., p. 17). There is an extensive list at the beginning of the textbook outlining the areas of accessibility and how the editors made sure these aspects were addressed, such as accessible tables, images, headings, weblinks, embedded multimedia, formulas, and font sizes. There are a few interactive H5P elements that cannot be used in the PDF version, but there is a Pressbooks links to access them.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The textbook is written in a professional manner. It is evident that it has been edited for grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

The textbook contains an acknowledgement of First Nations Australians, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, staff, Elders and visitors. Most of the textbook has a westernized psychological and sociological perspectives. This may be because the experts being interviewed are white-presenting men and women from the US and UK. It would be interesting to hear from BIPOC experts, as racial trauma is a significantly emerging area of trauma-informed practice. Page 37 shows illustrations of children from different races and ethnicities; yet, on p. 39, there is a photo of a white female teacher and a class of almost all white students except for one. It is important to represent a wide range of races, ethnicities, and backgrounds when discussing trauma-informed practice.

Comments

This textbook seems suitable for practitioners of trauma-informed practice who already have a background in it. As for students new to the field of trauma informed education, it might be a bit unclear if they do not have a pre-existing background in trauma-informed practice. I applaud the editors for creating this textbook, as this topic definitely needs a larger presence in education and society in general. It is an inherently interdisciplinary topic, and I hope that in later editions it will incorporate more of these perspectives (intergenerational, racial, historical) into the content.