By Lisa Riggs
Building Trauma-Sensitive Classrooms to Support Student Well-Being
As awareness grows about the long-term effects of childhood trauma, school districts are increasingly prioritizing trauma-sensitive learning environments. These approaches aim to support students’ emotional health while improving academic outcomes by equipping teachers with practical strategies for self-regulation, coping skills, and classroom safety. At Gresham-Barlow School District in Oregon, leaders and educators are intentionally integrating trauma-informed practices and social-emotional learning (SEL) across the district to create more resilient learning communities.
Educators are not mental health clinicians, but they play a central role in shaping environments where students feel safe, supported, and able to learn. Gresham-Barlow has implemented targeted professional learning so teachers can recognize trauma responses and apply classroom-based interventions that reduce escalation and promote emotional regulation.
Integrating a Trauma-Sensitive Approach into the Learning Model
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) — including abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction — can significantly affect students’ emotional well-being, behavior, and academic progress. Research links ACEs to higher risks of chronic health conditions, mental illness, addiction, and social challenges. Thoughtfully designed classroom settings can mitigate many of these effects by building resilience, teaching coping skills, and providing predictable, calming routines.
Gresham-Barlow serves 11,879 students who speak more than 53 languages and represent a wide range of cultural and economic backgrounds. An increasing immigrant population has also shaped the district’s approach to trauma-informed care and culturally responsive instruction. The district’s model centers on SEL and trauma-sensitive practices, emphasizing adult readiness first: staff are encouraged to “put on their own oxygen masks” so they can better support students. This adult-focused training enables classroom-level interventions to be reliably implemented across schools.
In spring 2019, the district began training with the RULER program from the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. RULER is an evidence-based SEL framework that applies rigorous research to teach emotional skills. The program trains cohorts of administrators and teacher leaders via multi-day sessions with coaches; those trained then lead Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) and staff meetings to support schoolwide implementation. RULER’s methods are woven into the district improvement plan because leadership recognizes that effective SEL drives better outcomes.
Complementing RULER, Gresham-Barlow has engaged with culturally responsive teaching strategies advocated by Zaretta Hammond, author of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. Hammond’s work uses neuroscience to explain how trauma affects learning and emphasizes creating classroom conditions that increase bonding hormones like oxytocin while reducing stress-related cortisol. District leaders have incorporated Hammond’s principles to ensure instruction is culturally sustaining and trauma-aware.
Educators have also studied Patricia A. Jennings’ The Trauma-Sensitive Classroom: Building Resilience with Compassionate Teaching. Jennings’ research-based practices help teachers design compassionate classrooms that support healing, strengthen resilience, and promote positive relationships.
Addressing Trauma at the Individual and Classroom Level
Each student brings a unique history that shapes emotions, behavior, and cognition. Teachers need both training and sensitivity to identify trauma responses — such as inattentiveness, defiance, or emotional outbursts — and to respond with support rather than punishment. In some cases, educators must also identify students who may require referrals to outside services like social work or community mental health providers.
Alongside RULER and culturally responsive strategies, Gresham-Barlow uses practical classroom techniques to prevent escalation and promote calm. Common methods include:
- Teaching students simple breathing exercises to slow their heart rate and reduce anxiety.
- Implementing a soft start to the day with quiet music and breathing routines, which helps students transition from busy playgrounds or transportation into the classroom environment without becoming overwhelmed.
- Using positive, concise mantras — for example, “I can do this,” or “I’m proud of my work” — to reinforce self-efficacy and boost classroom confidence.
- Employing a mood meter that lets students self-report emotions (for instance, red or orange for high energy or anger, green for calm) so teachers can better understand and respond to emotional needs.
- Co-creating a classroom Charter that lays out how members of the classroom community want to feel and be treated, providing a shared SEL language and expectations that go beyond conventional rules.
These strategies, when combined with culturally responsive instruction and consistent SEL practices, create predictable, nurturing classrooms that reduce stress and build trust. The shared language and tools coming from RULER, Hammond’s equity-focused work, and Jennings’ trauma-informed practices help educators see students through a trauma-informed lens and adapt instruction to meet diverse needs.
By prioritizing teacher training, supporting adult wellness, and embedding trauma-sensitive practices into everyday routines, Gresham-Barlow is working to ensure that schools become places where students can recover, learn, and thrive.
About the Author
Lisa Riggs is Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment at Gresham-Barlow School District in Oregon.
This article was originally published by The Learning Counsel, a research institute and news media organization focused on the transition to digital curriculum in education.