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Trauma and low-income elementary students of color
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Trauma and low-income elementary students of color
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Content
Trauma and Low-Income Elementary Students of Color
By
Ashley Michelle Swanson
Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
A dissertation submitted to the faculty
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Education
December 2022
© Copyright by Ashley Michelle Swanson 2022
All Rights Reserved
The Committee for Ashley Michelle Swanson certifies the approval of this Dissertation
A’Tasha Christian
Don Trahan, Jr.
Marsha Boveja Riggio, Committee Chair
Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
2022
iv
Abstract
Trauma continues to rise in communities of color and further exposes gaps within the education
system. As a result, elementary students of color display extreme behaviors (i.e., aggression,
sadness, withdrawal, and poor attendance). All of these can lead to a disruption in the classroom
and in the students’ academic success. Many students of color come to school with various
traumas, and it is important for educators to recognize these traumas, understand the academic
impact, and help students build resilience. This study involved evaluating the ways in which
educators perceive trauma and its effects on students’ academic performance. Educators should
work towards making their classrooms and overall school environment safe for students
experiencing trauma related to grief/loss, homelessness, food insecurity, suicidal ideation,
incarceration, etcetera. The researcher monitored what educators have done in the classroom to
help build rapport and strengthen relationships with their students who are experiencing trauma.
Using a qualitative design, the researcher explored the perspectives of 10 elementary school
educators via semistructured interviews to gather more information of what more can be done to
provide educators the appropriate tools they need in order to feel confident when teaching low-
income elementary school students of color. Findings showed trauma behaviors and systemic
barriers as the two main themes that need to be addressed within the school setting along with
strategies to learn how to build rapport and increase trauma-informed support interventions.
v
Dedication
To my parents, Terrynce Wayne, and family and friends who laughed and cried with me through
the tough times. You are all much appreciated and loved, more than you know.
To anyone who thinks their dreams will never come true, just know it took me six times to pass
my social work clinical exam and complete a dissertation at the same time. Anything is possible
if you believe that the only way out is through.
vi
Acknowledgements
I would like to extend a special thank you to all of the University of Southern California’s
School of Rossier staff that supported me in this entire process. A very special thank you to Dr.
Marsha Boveja Riggio, my Dissertation Chair, and fellow committee members, Dr. A’tasha
Christian and Dr. Don Trahan, Jr. for your guidance and feedback throughout this process. Their
immense knowledge and plentiful experience encouraged me in all the time of my academic
research.
I am deeply grateful for my love, Terrynce Wayne, who led me to this program of study
and encouraged me to begin the process. Throughout this entire three-year doctorate program,
you also encouraged me through six clinical exams. Thank you for always being my light and
voice of reason. Thank you for knowing when to motivate me and when to allow me to find my
way. Thank you for believing in me, even when I fell short. I appreciate you beyond words, and I
love you very much.
To my mom and dad for instilling perseverance in me and encouraging me to keep going
until I reached the sky. I hope I have made you both proud! To my mom, I know you would have
as many degrees as I do, if you only had the same opportunities provided to you. Thank you for
all your sacrifices. You are always my inspiration! I love you very much.
To my siblings, nieces and nephew, family and friends, I am so thankful to you all. You
all mean so much to me and I appreciate all your prayers and words of wisdom during this entire
process. To my nieces and nephew, please know that you mean the world to me, and I will do
everything in my power to help support you in all your dreams and aspirations. To my many
brothers and only sister, I love you all and hope I have made you proud.
I would also like to thank Dr. Kawaguchi, the Sulphur Springs Union School District
vii
board members, district office administration, principals, and school staff who consistently
provided words of wisdom, encouragement, and unwavering support. Thank you for cheering me
on and supporting me throughout this entire process.
viii
Table of Contents
Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... iv
Dedication ........................................................................................................................................ v
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ vi
List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. xi
List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................................... xii
Chapter One: Overview of the Study .............................................................................................. 1
Background of the Problem ................................................................................................. 4
Statement of the Problem .................................................................................................... 8
Purpose of the Study .......................................................................................................... 13
Research Questions ............................................................................................................ 14
Significance of the Study ................................................................................................... 14
Assumptions, Limitations, and Delimitations ................................................................... 18
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 20
Organization of the Study .................................................................................................. 21
Chapter Two: Review of the Literature ......................................................................................... 22
Search Description ............................................................................................................. 23
Theoretical Framework ...................................................................................................... 23
Review of Research ........................................................................................................... 25
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 39
Research Design ................................................................................................................ 40
Research Questions ............................................................................................................ 41
Setting ................................................................................................................................ 42
Participants ........................................................................................................................ 42
Data Collection .................................................................................................................. 45
ix
Confidentiality ................................................................................................................... 49
Data Management .............................................................................................................. 50
Encryption ......................................................................................................................... 50
Dissemination of Findings ................................................................................................. 51
Data Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 51
Descriptive Analysis .......................................................................................................... 51
Thematic Content Analysis ............................................................................................... 52
Reliability .......................................................................................................................... 55
Dependability ..................................................................................................................... 55
Confirmability ................................................................................................................... 56
Validity .............................................................................................................................. 56
Credibility .......................................................................................................................... 57
Transferability ................................................................................................................... 57
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 58
Chapter Four: Results and Findings .............................................................................................. 59
Findings ............................................................................................................................. 59
Participants ........................................................................................................................ 60
Research Question 1 Analysis ........................................................................................... 61
Research Question 2 Analysis ........................................................................................... 66
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 70
Chapter Five: Conclusions, Discussion, and Suggestions for Future Research ............................ 71
Summary of Findings ........................................................................................................ 72
Discussion .......................................................................................................................... 73
Suggestions for Future Research/Recommendations ........................................................ 74
Limitations and Delimitations ........................................................................................... 78
x
Recommendations for Future Research ............................................................................. 78
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 80
References ..................................................................................................................................... 81
Appendix A: Email to Principal .................................................................................................... 87
Appendix B: Informed Consent ..................................................................................................... 89
Appendix C: Demographic Survey ................................................................................................ 91
Appendix D: Semistructured Interview Protocol .......................................................................... 92
xi
List of Tables
Table 1: Definition of Terms 2
Table 2: Demographic Survey Results 60
Table 3: Research Question 1 Themes 61
Table 4: Research Question 2 Themes 66
xii
List of Abbreviations
ACEs Adverse childhood experiences
TCA Thematic content analysis
SCT Social cognitive theory
SES Socioeconomic status
1
Chapter One: Overview of the Study
Successful school achievement in primary school years requires both academic and social
emotional competence (Pears et al., 2010). Students need academic support from educators
demonstrating how they can learn from their mistakes, and they also require social emotional
support within the classroom that enables them to learn appropriate ways to display emotions.
Young children who are experiencing trauma (see Table 1) may feel scared, experience
concentration difficulties, and try to avoid reminders of their painful experiences; it is these
symptoms that can hinder their ability to learn (Alisic, 2012).
2
Table 1
Definition of Terms
Term Definition
Academic impact Decreased attendance, poor grades, and increased behavioral
concerns
Behavioral concerns Acts of aggression, anger, sadness, withdrawal, poor
concentration, disengagement
Doubled-up Multiple families living under one roof. Usually, each family is
confined to one room in the house they pay rent for. However,
their name is not on the lease of the home
Educators Title I school teachers, with 2 years of teaching experience in a
Title I setting
Elementary students Adolescents/youth who are in between the grades of
kindergarten–sixth grade
Intersections The intersection of race, income, and trauma
Low-income Those who are considered to be living below the poverty line,
low SES
Marginalized Students of color, made to feel less than their White peers.
Poor attendance Increased tardiness or absences
School mobility Moving from one school to another
Students of color Youth who are not of the Caucasian race
Thematic content analysis Descriptive presentation of qualitative data
Trauma/crisis Housing instability, food instability, suicidal ideation, loss of a
loved one, domestic violence, physical/sexual abuse
Trauma-informed training Providing educators a workshop on understanding the
prevalence of trauma, recognizing its effects, and learning
how to respond appropriately to those who are in need of
support
Undocumented Individuals who are not considered legal United States citizens
3
Adults are taught to hide their emotions or are told to leave their “emotional baggage” at
home. This has taught adults that their personal and public lives should be kept separate, which
only perpetuates the negative stigma of mental health concerns. This teaches those who are
suffering to continue to suffer in silence. However, students do not know how to isolate their
feelings and tend to bottle them up until they explode.
When evaluating students of color and the lack of positive adult interactions, student-
educator rapport becomes more prominent in their lives. These negative reactions are often the
result of multiple adverse childhood experiences (ACEs; Pears et al., 2010). Examples of ACEs
are physical/verbal/emotional abuse, domestic violence, parent(s) with substance abuse
problems, experiencing homelessness, and chronic food insecurity due to financial hardship (see
Table 1). As a result, students of color may have increased levels of crisis and might feel it is
difficult to control their emotions when in school. Given this, it is important for educators to
become more trauma-informed within the classroom environment so they can better identify
social emotional strategies and interventions that can help this subset of students gain their
deserved academic success.
According to Blitz et al. (2020), those who live in financially poor neighborhoods are
more often exposed to a range of traumas and losses that affect their community and its schools.
Elementary aged students of color who are low-income tend to experience more stress due to the
instability of their home life and basic needs (i.e., food, shelter, etc). This tension is often carried
over into the classroom where they are faced with having to make decisions and focus to be
academically successful. It is difficult for one to learn and be successful if they have not eaten,
are unsure of where they will sleep, or maybe they did not sleep well because they slept in their
car because of recently being evicted from their home. All these described factors (i.e., low-
4
income and unstable living environments) and more help demonstrate the ways in which trauma
and loss affect students.
Background of the Problem
Many families are separated by divorce, domestic violence, substance abuse,
neighborhood violence, and even the loss of close loved ones. Some of the social emotional
effects of these circumstances are displayed by students of color who are exhibiting these
symptoms of trauma while in school. When dealing with trauma, low-income elementary aged
students of color tend to display inappropriate behaviors while in school. If the educator is
unaware of the students’ personal situation, it might cause the educator to mislabel the student as
“disruptive.” Educators spend copious amounts of time incorrectly labeling traumatized students
of color, which has a severe impact on the students’ self-esteem and decreases the feeling of
safety in the classroom.
Low-income elementary students of color are exhibiting increased signs of trauma in
school and as a result, school district officials are placing more expectations on educators to
recognize these warning signs to better support the socioemotional and academic needs of the
student. However, school district officials have long struggled to put more systematic trauma-
informed systems of support in place (Miller, 2011). This may result in educators being able to
normalize their students’ emotions, show them proper approaches to express their feelings
appropriately, and ultimately return their focus to their educational goals. The hope is that by
having an educator as someone they can talk to, it may help the student feel more attached to the
school and might even provide them with a sense of resiliency because they believe at least one
adult cares for them.
In particular, some low-income elementary students of color live in neighborhoods with
5
limited resources and restricted access to mental health services (Pears et al., 2010). As a result,
some low-income elementary students of color experience increased ACEs of suicide,
incarceration, foster care placement, unemployment, evictions, etc. These ACEs affect a student
in the classroom and can cause the student of color to feel isolated from their classroom educator
and peers. It can also be said that students of color who are in crisis, are not made to feel
respected due to educators not intervening fast enough to provide adequate care, refusing to
listen to the student of colors’ point of view, or feeling ignored and alienated in the classroom
due to the student’s seemingly poor behavioral responses.
Regarding mental health concerns, some elementary students of color might be mis-
diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder
(ODD), or even emotional disorders (i.e., anxiety/depression) instead of considering the notion
that the student may have some ACEs that might be the cause for the student’s traumatic displays
of emotions. Cooper (2008) highlighted that 20% of young individuals will experience a mental
health problem at some point in their life, and 10% will experience it to a level that is mostly
clinically recognizable.
Basic Needs and Self-Esteem
Crandall et al. (2020) agreed individuals have a multitude of individual characteristics,
which build upon each other. Characteristics or basic needs (i.e., food, clothing, shelter, love and
belonging) must be met for the individual to progress to a higher order of self-esteem.
Elementary students of color who come from low-income neighborhoods where crime rates are
increased, have parents who are struggling to provide these simple necessities for their families,
and are unable to provide love and affection to their own children due to their increased stress
levels. Crandall et al. described safety as a need that includes protection and living without fear.
6
Love and belonging allow adolescents to feel connected to others. For a child, the urgency of
safety, love, and belonging may take precedence over their academic needs. Traumatized
children are easily distracted and spend much of their time worried about their nonacademic
needs.
According to Dooley and Schreckhise (2016), Bandura’s social cognitive theory (SCT)
allows students to learn through imitation and modeling. In their early stages of learning, social
influences are dominant for elementary students, especially students of color. Educators can play
a huge role in their development of coping skills because their students are always watching and
learning from them. Educators have the unique ability to model proper behaviors and coping
skills within the classroom, which can be emulated into other areas of their lives. Students look
up to their educators, and they are viewed as positive role models.
Social Emotional Distress
A second identifiable warning sign of stress in a student experiencing trauma is
behavioral concerns (see Table 1) in school. These negative displays of behavioral conduct
within the school environment ultimately result in low academic performance because of how
much their focus is not directed toward academic classroom instruction. Educators are usually
the first line of defense in recognizing these warning signs and may not have the appropriate
tools to respond to their students’ immediate needs. However, without being equipped with
strategies to spot these signals, educators can quickly antagonize an already existing hardship
without knowing. Sometimes there are unspoken prejudices that individuals can have, which
may cause students to feel ashamed and/or embarrassed of their crisis situations. According to
Miller (2011), those who are in crisis are often labeled as “troubled individuals” who have
brought their conditions on themselves through the course of their own poor decisions and bad
7
judgment. It is this type of negative rhetoric that causes a student to feel anxious about sharing
their personal situation with someone who does not understand their trauma.
Sadness, anxiety, and anger are often manifested into behavior concerns. Angry students,
in particular may react aggressively (i.e., hitting, yelling, fighting, etc) to situations that could be
viewed by others as mild. Some marginalized students (see Table 1) exhibit signs of distress and
inability to regulate themselves in a timely manner. These students are quick to become angry
and are seemingly difficult to manage in a classroom setting. For example, an educator may ask
the student to answer a question during the lesson. This student might feel embarrassed because
they did not have a chance to do their homework the night before. In more detail, the student
witnessed a physical argument between parents and dad was subsequently arrested later that
night. Rather than explain their personal situation to the educator, they may choose to react by
yelling and using foul language in order to get out of having to answer the question. The student
has now successfully deterred the educator from putting them on the spot and asking any more
questions. As a result, the student might be sent out of the classroom and forced to meet with the
principal due to their considered “poor choice of words.” More importantly, while waiting to
speak with the principal, the student’s education will continue to be delayed, and they will
possibly experience feelings of shame when speaking to the principal and sharing the details of
the night before.
In regard to elementary students of color who exhibit signs of sadness or withdrawal
(using the same scenario as above) this student still feeling embarrassed, may stay quiet, or lack
participation in academic activities by putting their head down or falling asleep. The educator
may grow increasingly frustrated with trying to engage the student who is displaying trauma
symptoms and send them to the principal’s office for more extreme disciplinary measures. It is
8
this chastisement that keeps the student out of the class, away from all academic instruction, and
results in them feeling more estranged from the classroom and their peers. Miller (2011) stated
students who are traumatized are affected to a much greater extent by social/behavioral
dilemmas and are placed at a higher risk of academic failure.
Ausikaitis et al. (2015) highlighted depression and anxiety are increased in those who are
of low-income status. In looking at this, one might argue when students are in crisis, rates of both
depression and anxiety are increased due to their unstable personal situations. Additionally, the
stress that stems from their uncertain circumstances causes students to spend a reduced amount
of energy and resources on their academic responsibilities. Oftentimes, if this continues,
elementary students of color tend to feel isolated from their school environment and begin to
resent school. This is why marginalized students who are in crisis often experience school refusal
behaviors such as anger tantrums, crying, and increased worry/concern when it comes to
attending school.
Statement of the Problem
One of the first signs an elementary student of color is experiencing a crisis is poor
attendance patterns (see Table 1). Oftentimes, when elementary students of color are dealing
with heavy family situations (i.e., domestic violence, familial substance abuse, and
homelessness), they might find it difficult to sleep through the night due to feelings of increased
stress or sadness. The lack of sleep causes students to arrive at school late or sometimes not at
all. Trauma influences poor attendance patterns in that low-income elementary student of color
who are disconnected from their school miss school for traumatic/personal reasons (Miller,
2011). Those students of color who are living in shelters or in a doubled-up situation (see Table
1), often are forced to move around so as not to overstay their welcome. This results in
9
inconsistent attendance patterns and causes elementary students of color to miss school more
often than those who have stable familial situations (often their White and/or higher income
counterparts).
With each change in their life, low-income elementary aged students of color continue to
suffer more academic setbacks. These educational delays cause elementary students of color to
grow more self-conscious in their studies because they have missed so much of their schooling.
Many times, their anxiety rises as they begin to fall behind in their schoolwork. Negative
thoughts consume their minds of not being good enough or smart enough. In turn, this causes
them to feel academically inadequate compared to their peers. These already marginalized
students are then made to feel alienated from school due to their poor academic performance.
Cooper (2008) expressed weak attachment to school can lead to disaffection and alienation.
Cooper (2008) stated delinquency amongst adolescents often overlaps with mental health
concerns. Both of these areas seemingly relate to other ACEs because when elementary students
of color fail to attend school, they lack the ability to form positive social connections and lose
vital academic instructional learning opportunities. The ACEs they face outside of school
significantly affect their learning capacity due to their consuming fight or flight mentality.
Extreme stress causes the student to feel alienated from their peers who come from a more stable
environment. This can cause a negative behavioral disruption while in school. Students who feel
inferior to their peers allow their poor self-esteem to take over, which causes them to react
aggressively or withdraw from school activities. When parents are stressed, they might exhibit
signs of being stressed by becoming impatient, withdrawn, angry, etcetera. These behaviors are
observed by their children and displayed at school. Oftentimes, these students are only modeling
the behaviors they see at home because that is how they are trained to react and do not know
10
there are more positive ways to show emotions. Students of color who experience these added
challenges can come to school with a range of complex traumas that affect their learning.
According to Blitz et al. (2020), these traumas or toxic stress, directly contribute to the observed
academic impact (see Table 1) as it contributes to increased learning challenges. As these
stressors continue to grow, so does the sense of being overwhelmed. It is this feeling that causes
students of color to react in ways that are unfavorable compared to their White peers. Cooper
(2008) shared that youths of color who experience mental health problems or social defiance are
more likely to have difficulty engaging in school and in the absence of effective intervention,
they risk a greater chance of experiencing deterioration in their presenting academic difficulties.
When low-income elementary students of color are in crisis, much of their attention is
dedicated to their own survival rather than their educational needs. When faced with a traumatic
situation(s), low-income students of color tend to emulate unregulated behaviors. Such frequent
traumatic experiences can cause an overreaction to the body’s stress management system,
making students more susceptible to mental health and behavioral challenges. In school, these
behaviors are presented as aggression, poor concentration, sadness, and/or disengagement. It is
this seemingly negative classroom conduct that causes educators to incorrectly label these
students as “disruptive.” Students of color are less likely to feel supported by their educators,
which results in them experiencing more negative feelings about their school. Students of color
receive harsher and more punitive consequences than their White peers. Gushue (2004) stated
individuals from negatively stereotyped, low-status groups face a different set of judgment
outcomes, than those from positively stereotyped, high-status groups. The differences are
described as an increase in disproportionate discipline referrals, suspensions, and expulsions
(Blitz et al., 2020). These factors all tend to exacerbate the academic impact of poor attendance,
11
test scores, and matriculation rates.
In these low socioeconomic status (SES) communities, access to mental health/behavioral
health services are either limited, too costly, or too far in distance for the parent to utilize. As
their crisis situation continues, oftentimes attendance suffers and students continue to fall behind
in their academic studies and believe it will be impossible to catch up. They may feel ashamed to
ask questions in class because they fear drawing more attention to themselves for having missed
so much instruction. Cooper (2008) explained how social emotional and behavioral problems can
be displayed in noticeably disturbing outward behaviors (i.e., poor attendance and aggressive
conduct); they can also be internalized (withdrawal) and as a result, can be disruptive to the
individual’s own welfare. It is these behaviors that are a cause for concern not only academically
but also social-emotionally. If these basic needs are unmet, the individual is placed at an
increased risk for depression and are seemingly stuck, without the ability to progress.
Additionally, low-income elementary students of color feel alienated from school
because they know they are negatively labeled as “trouble makers or disruptive” by educators,
school support staff, and/or their principal. Due to their lack of trauma-informed preparedness,
educators are unsure of how to properly identify these students and as a result, are unable to
support them in a way that is complementary to their success. Students of color experiencing a
crisis are often left feeling uncared for and isolated within their school environment. This same
population of students in crisis are matriculating to the next grade level without having a solid
academic foundation from their current grade and are forced to continue dealing with the same
cyclical trauma in the next grade. This causes more of a negative ripple effect due to no one
advocating for the student and the student feeling academically left behind in the classroom.
There is limited information regarding their trauma behaviors and how these behaviors
12
might affect their long-term academic success. Traumatized low-income elementary students of
color are negatively impacted due to their severe inattention to their educational responsibilities.
When faced with adverse situations, traumatized low-income elementary students of color are
often unable to shake those negative images and are seemingly stuck reviewing their trauma
repeatedly. In the classroom, these same students display signs of poor problem-solving skills
and difficulty when processing information (Koslouski & Stark, 2021).
These traumas affect all students; however, elementary aged students of color may be
even more affected due to their inability to care for themselves and the lack of resources within
their neighborhoods. Generally, low-income communities suffer greatly due to the lack of mental
health clinics, community centers where students can have a safe place to hang out rather than in
the streets, and gangs who rule those neighborhoods and streets. Last et al. (2019) shared low-
income students of color who live in poor crime-ridden neighborhoods are exposed to more
traumatic events, which causes them to be retraumatized and increases their functional
impairment. It is the lack of resources provided for students of color who reside in these low-
income communities to fall victim to gangs and other negative coping strategies that inevitably
cause them more trouble in their future. Students who participate in these unfavorable activities
tend to believe they are not good enough to achieve success, and resort to crime because negative
attention is better than no attention at all. In school, these are the students who are described as
“gang members” or “troublesome kids.” When in reality, these students are trying to find a sense
of belonging because they do not feel that at home or at school.
Safety is described as a basic need and when compromised, children are unable to
regulate themselves as quickly as those whose safety is not in jeopardy. Similarly, when children
grow up with a weak attachment to their parents or caregiver, it can cause them to feel unsafe in
13
their own homes because they might feel unwanted. Without any attachment, they believe no one
cares for them. As a result, they begin to behave as if no one could ever love them and lose hope
anyone ever will. When trauma occurs in life’s early stages, primary aged students of color are
more likely to develop disrupted patterns of attachment that cause continued feelings of shame,
helplessness, and poor sense of self (Koslouski & Stark, 2021).
Purpose of the Study
Finding trauma-informed interventions educators can implement in the school setting.
Many times, educators do not consider their own bias nor do they believe the improper labels
they place on low-income traumatized students of color. Gushue (2004) expressed strongly
endorsed stereotypes may affect stereotype related subjective judgments. This study helped to
bring those assumptions to light and lead educators to being receptive to strategies they can
begin to implement in their classrooms. This may result in those educators being able to
normalize their students’ trauma emotions and reactions, demonstrate appropriate strategies to
help express their feelings, and ultimately return their focus to their educational goals. The hope
is that by having an educator as someone they trust, it may help marginalized students feel more
attached to their school environment because they believe someone cares for them.
When in school, it is the job of the educator to find ways to break through those
emotional difficulties and help bring students’ attention back to their academic goals. Rather than
labeling students as defiant or aggressive, this study’s researcher aimed to show educators that
oftentimes those same students might be experiencing extreme emotional distress, which causes
them to react in negative ways. Many times, there are social emotional gaps displayed in the
school and classroom environment that can be identified by looking for those certain “emotional
triggers’’ that are harmful to those vulnerable students of color who may need a little extra
14
support. Schools want and need support in learning how to work effectively with students of
color who exhibit challenging behaviors arising from unmet attachment concerns (Kelly et al.,
2020). In trying to build more capacity for trauma behaviors within the school, this study’s
researcher demonstrated the importance of competence within educators to better identify
elementary aged students of color who are experiencing crisis.
One might understand that if a student has a strong relationship with an educator, the
student will begin to feel a stronger attachment to their school. By seeing positive interactions
and expression of thoughts and ideas modeled by educators, low-income students of color will
gain a greater understanding of what positive interactions and relationships are while in school. It
is this notion of building more secure relationships that allows elementary students of color to
feel secure when in school. Educators in school have the potential to enhance their educator-
child relationships, which results in school success and overall happiness of the student (Kelly et
al., 2020).
Research Questions
This study was guided by the following research questions:
1. What do educators perceive as the academic impact of trauma and the intersections of
low-income, elementary students of color?
2. What can educators do to address the academic impact of trauma and the intersections
of low-income, elementary students of color?
Significance of the Study
This study shows the importance of the kinds of relationships educators can build with
their marginalized students to help encourage trust and in turn, increase their academic abilities.
According to Koslouski and Stark (2021), non-instructional strategies center around building
15
relationships with students to strengthen their sense of safety and trust in the classroom. This
study’s researcher aimed to provide insight on what educators perceive as the academic impact
of trauma on low-income, elementary students of color and what can be done to address such
impact. The result would create a more trauma-informed classroom experience for low-income
elementary students of color so they can learn to overcome obstacles, push through their trauma,
and return their focus to their academic success. School could be the platform, which enables
low-income students of color in crisis to latch onto someone stable who can help guide them and
shift their focus, even for a few moments a day towards their education. Students of color are
less likely to feel supported by their educators, which results in them experiencing more negative
feelings about their school. Students of color receive harsher and more punitive consequences
than their White peers. As a result, there is an increase in disproportionate discipline referrals,
suspensions, and expulsions (Blitz et al., 2020). These factors all tend to exacerbate the academic
impact of attendance, test scores, and matriculation rates. The hope is with better support
systems in place, schools will become a place where low-income students of color can go to
receive the correct emotional support and resources.
Gushue (2004) stated one would expect a more prejudiced individual to be more
influenced to a greater extent by racist social stereotypes. Many times, these racist social
stereotypes are seemingly unrecognizable. After evaluating educators’ biases and negative
assumptions regarding students of color, increased educator trauma-informed training (see table
1) would help educators to identify these negative perceptions proactively, in hopes to eradicate
the often-incorrect labels placed on students of color who are experiencing trauma. This may
result in educators being able to recognize and reduce their biased assumptions, normalize their
students’ emotions, show them proper approaches to express their feelings appropriately, and
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ultimately return their focus to their educational goals at a much faster rate.
It is imperative that educators become more trauma-informed within the classroom so
they can learn to better identify social emotional strategies and interventions that can help this
subset of students gain their deserved academic success. It will result in a more positive school
environment as this intervention will lead to a greater focus on their learning due to having at
least one positive attachment to school. One result of a more positive school setting is students of
color will gain a profound attachment to their school and classroom. It is this attachment that can
cause a student of color who already feels isolated in their home environment due to their
emotional strain, to want to engage more and possibly interact with others. According to Cooper
(2008) positive educator-student relationships are seen as a protective factor in the lives of those
who are experiencing trauma. Educators will understand what it means to be responsive to each
student’s emotional needs and look for instrumental changes within the classroom to implement
positive change and social emotional awareness.
Reinke et al. (2011) shared educators are natural implementers who can greatly influence
mental health outcomes in students through the use of evidence-based practices. This insight can
provide the confidence educators need in order to provide trauma-focused solutions for low-
income elementary students of color who are in crisis and in need of emotional support/resources
within the school environment. By focusing on their social emotional needs, educators will learn
how to empathize and use appropriate trauma-informed interventions to help the student
overcome their emotional pain and find their academic success. The hope is that by having an
educator as someone they can talk to may help the student feel more attached to the school and
might even provide them with a sense of resiliency because they now know someone cares about
their success.
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The present study’s researcher aimed to provide insight on what educators feel may be
needed for a more social emotional curriculum and trauma-informed practices within the
classroom. It explains the need for resiliency skills and the importance of educator-student
relationships. Koslouski and Stark (2021) expressed affirmative educational outcomes are often
threatened for students experiencing personal hardships and trauma. Their study highlighted the
importance of how schools can be a resource to all families who are struggling to improve their
daily living situation(s). The school’s administrators can begin to build more partnerships in their
community that can provide services within the school. Resources (i.e., food, clothing, school
supplies, and/or therapeutic/behavioral health services) can all be provided by the school in
partnership with local churches, community organizations, and local mental health agencies. This
will assist in providing better access for marginalized students living in low-income
neighborhoods who lack the ability to partake in such services whether because the service is too
costly, transportation is a concern, or it simply does not exist in their neighborhood. This study
will aid in helping schools recognize their increased need to provide additional support services
to their low-income student population, more specifically their students of color who are in
crisis. Schools provide exceptional settings for addressing the important connection between
children’s mental health and their academic performance (Reinke et al., 2011).
Lastly, the goal was to help students feel emotionally safe while in school so they can
continue to learn while experiencing a crisis. By providing low-income elementary students of
color increased emotional support and building an environment of trust and safety, they may
begin to release the worry they feel when thinking about outside challenges. The hope is to
return their attention towards their educational goals. The researcher intended for this study to
reduce the bias and stereotypes felt specifically by students of color who are in crisis and unfairly
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labeled as “troublesome and unruly.” The research opened the door to the many hardships
marginalized students and their families face who are entrenched in poverty and lack sustainable
resources within their neighborhoods as well as the cyclical barriers that keep them in poverty
and make it difficult for them to achieve stability. For students of color, social emotional
learning is just as important as academic instruction. Educators and schools need to work
towards pairing these two types of learning for their students to thrive. Educational environments
should be responsive to the needs of the student by implementing effective learning practices and
system changing strategies (Koslouski & Stark, 2021).
Assumptions, Limitations, and Delimitations
The first assumption was most educators are not already implementing some trauma-
informed interventions in their classrooms to the best of their ability. The researcher was aware
that some educators may include or try to add some social emotional learning within their
classroom curriculum. Another assumption was students of color are being referred to school
support services (i.e., therapy) appropriately. As stated above, students of color are increasingly
misdiagnosed as having mental health concerns when they simply need better emotional support
and attachment to at least one supportive adult. No one takes the time to look at a student of
color’s ACEs and try to understand the numerous barriers students of color endure every day.
For example, rather than trying to grasp how one might act when dad is not around and does not
provide financially, it causes more stress to mom. Mom works all the time and when mom gets
home, she is too exhausted to sit and provide her child with undivided attention. This child goes
to school and believes that negative attention is better than no attention at all. So the child is
disruptive in class and has a difficult time paying attention because no one provides them with
any extra support both in and outside of school. Educators are tired of discipling the child all day
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due to their disruptive behavior. Mom is too tired to help the child with their work at home.
School perceives this child as disruptive and believes that the lack of focus is caused by ADHD,
or it could be the student is “attention seeking” because school is the only place that provides
him attention. Gushue (2004) stated White educators who subscribe to the most preferred norms
and values of the dominant culture may view the values and behaviors of members of other
cultural groups as deviant rather than simply different from their own. Most often, deviance is
diagnosed as ADHD, which could not be more incorrect when working with students of color
who simply lack discipline and attention.
There were four limitations to this study. The first limitation was finding educators who
were open to talking about how trauma awareness is becoming more prevalent in their
classrooms. There is a possibility that by recognizing this, their workload will increase. This may
cause a rift between them and some of the more seasoned educators who do not admit to this
being part of their job description. Educators may believe their job is only to teach, not provide
support services. The second limitation was educators may also feel stifled in their participation
being they represent the school district and may not want to openly share their experiences with
race, for fear of retaliation and push back from certain administrators who did not share their
vision as the interviews were recorded.
Timing was another limitation because once school begins, educators quickly become
inundated with acclimating to their new classroom of students, lesson planning, creating a
positive classroom environment, and all the back-to-school requirements, etcetera. The planned
semistructured interview may be cut short due to the educator’s lack of time. The researcher had
to find more creative incentives to entice educators to take some time to help provide their
insight for this study.
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The last limitation was having to address certain biases some educators adhere to without
recognition. This study’s findings uncovered some uncomfortable feelings or hidden biases that
shed light on some unfavorable situations where educators caused more trauma or shamed a
student without any awareness of what was truly going on behind the scenes. It is these biases
that are difficult for them to recognize, and the data may not be as accurate.
There were two delimitations of this study; the first was only educators from Title I
schools (see Table 1) were interviewed that the researcher excluded other educators who may
have Title I experience who taught at a non-Title I school at the time of this study, excluded
them from possibly sharing valuable experience and information for this research. The researcher
chose to focus on educators who taught grades 4–6 to show students who are a bit older and
more expressive with their trauma reactions. This led to the second delimitation in that it reduced
the number of educators who could participate in the study. The researcher hoped to gain more
insight into this slightly older, elementary school aged population of students of color who are in
crisis.
Conclusion
As trauma continues to rise, low-income students of color more than ever need the
support from all areas of their lives (i.e., home, community, and school). Schools are supposed to
be a safe haven for students to come and grow both academically and socially. However, when
crisis finds its way into the lives of children, there are a host of problems that inhibit them from
being successful when in school.
Educators can be the first line of defense in allowing students of color an outlet to express
themselves emotionally. With training, educators can provide security for those marginalized
students who are struggling with personal trauma and who need a little extra academic support in
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order to succeed. In looking at all of the behaviors that are exhibited in school, educators should
place more thought behind how students are labeled and why.
Organization of the Study
This research study is organized into five chapters. Chapter One is the introduction,
which contains the statement of the problem, purpose of the study, research questions,
significance of the study, assumptions, limitations and delimitations as well as definitions of
terms. Chapter Two contains an extensive review of the literature surrounding the topics of
students of color, social emotional trauma, low-income elementary aged students, and school
performance. Additionally, it includes the theoretical framework, which helps ground the study
in relevant theory and practice.
Chapter Three is the methodology section, which describes the research design, research
questions, participants, data collection, and data analysis. Chapter Four details the research
findings, which allows for scientific interpretation of the data collection process. Chapter Five is
the conclusion section that explores a summative analysis of the findings, implications for
practice, and recommendations for future research.
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Chapter Two: Review of the Literature
Study of the intersectionality of trauma and socio-emotional outcomes in low-income
elementary students of color shows a higher probability that students who are traumatized or
have experienced emotional anguish will have increased rates of behavioral concerns (Pavlakis et
al., 2017). In school, behavioral challenges related to students of color who are in crisis are
associated with the stress of not having a steady routine. Marginalized students expressed
concern over the persistent unknowns within their personal situations. It is these factors that
perpetuate the social-emotional problems students of color face when in school. It is these
concerns that cause marginalized students to displace their attention from school and onto
outside circumstances that are out of their control.
This section contains a literature review of the following topics surrounding students of
color: including (a) social emotional trauma, (b) low-income elementary aged students, and (c)
poor academic school performance. Additionally, it includes the theoretical framework that helps
ground the study in relevant theory and practice. The researcher used Bandura’s Social Cognitive
Theory as the theoretical framework. According to Bandura (2005), SCT uses the notion that
individuals model their cognitions and behaviors after individuals they are closest in relation to.
SCT consists of three factors, which include: (a) social (environmental factor), (b) cognitive
(personal factors), and (c) personality (behavior).
The following are the two research questions:
1. What do educators perceive as the academic impact of trauma and the intersections of
low-income, elementary students of color?
2. What can educators do to address the academic impact of trauma and the intersections
of low-income, elementary students of color?
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Search Description
In order to identify scholarly articles for this study, the researcher used different search
engines such as USC libraries and Google Scholar. The researcher typed in keywords such as:
academic success and homelessness, social cognitive theory and poverty, social emotional
education and homelessness, parental support and homelessness, trauma in elementary aged kids
and education, social emotional risk factors on kids and education, parental stress and attachment
and children, and adverse childhood experiences and elementary students of color.
Theoretical Framework
The researcher used Bandura’s SCT. According to Dooley and Schreckhise (2016), SCT
is a triadic model with human behavior as an interaction among environmental, behavioral, and
personal factors that all intersect. SCT creates assumptions about learning and displayed
behaviors. These assumptions help to address the role that self-regulation plays when students
who are in crisis have to control their traumatic behavioral responses. SCT allows educators to
think about the personal, environmental, and behavioral components that make up the whole
child in the education system. Otaye-Ebede et al. (2020) explained how SCT represents the co-
interaction of personal, environmental, and behavioral factors, which help to regulate human
behavior.
In more detail, the social component can be described as any trauma a student
experiences (i.e., divorce, food insecurity, substance abuse, street violence, loss of close loved
one(s), homelessness, domestic violence, incarceration, and abuse). It is these social influences
that cause a student to feel stress and in turn, shifts their focus from their academic goals (i.e.,
good attendance, increased class participation, and high grades) to their experienced trauma(s).
Oftentimes, these social factors can collide and begin to cause the student to feel helpless. For
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example, a student whose parents are divorcing may be forced to leave their only known place of
residence and move into a room in the house of another family or family members. Mom may
have to work multiple jobs, which causes attachment concerns about who will care for the
student and/or their siblings when she is away.
Cognitive (personal factors) are shaped by the thoughts one has based on the experienced
social factors that affect the individual’s self-efficacy. According to Schunk (2020), self-efficacy
can be defined as personal feelings about one’s competence to learn or perform actions at
specific intervals. Oftentimes, cognitive factors are associated with feelings of insecurity and fear
of failure. In this case, students who experience any one of the social factors may cognitively
believe they are not good enough academically because they miss too much school or when in
attendance, they are faced with falling behind in the curriculum. When in school, they are
greeted by their peers who may come from two parent households, safe neighborhoods, have
financial and food stability, etcetera.
These peers are seemingly more adjusted due to their personal stability at home and in
school. These expressed cognitive factors may help to negatively influence academic
performance in students with low self-efficacy who may avoid attempting certain tasks. Tasks
such as assignment completion, school participation, and attendance may all be affected.
Schunk (2020) explained students who doubt their academic achievement capabilities feel less
efficacious about learning and do not expend much effort or persistence when they encounter
social hardships.
Personality (behavior) can be disrupted by certain actions that can cause the student to
feel dysregulated in school. Behaviors such as withdrawal, anger, sadness, poor attendance
patterns, low marks on assignments, poor assignment completion, and lack of class participation
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are signs of experienced environmental concerns. According to Schunk (2020), students’
behaviors often alter the classroom environment. Students of color who display these behaviors
tend to receive unfavorable reputations by educators who may not understand the depth of what
the student is experiencing. Often these traumas have ramifications that are deeper than what is
being displayed in the classroom.
Review of Research
This research review presents literature organized by the research questions. Within this
section, the researcher discusses low-income elementary students of color and how trauma
continues to cause an extreme amount of turmoil in their lives. It shows the current challenges
they face and raises awareness about why this problem is so prevalent. This section also shows
how educators have the greatest advantage to help students overcome their trauma and return
their focus towards their academic success.
Elementary School Educators
Educators are the first line of defense when working with traumatized children because
they are the first ones (in a school setting), who should notice positive/negative student behaviors
and interactions. Educators have the most interactions with their students each day. Therefore,
they would know if something was amiss regarding their behavior. This enables educators to
easily identify mood swings, tantrums, and other disruptive behaviors more efficiently.
Educators are expected to build immediate rapport with their students, which will help them feel
more secure when having to work with students experiencing trauma. With all of the interactions
the educator has with the student, the researcher believes they should be trained in rapidly
identifying any student who is in crisis and find appropriate interventions to help support them.
As educators, Barlow and Becker-Blease (2012) found identifying the needs and motivations of
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students is the top priority when working with those who present with various levels of trauma
exposure.
Elementary Aged Students
ACEs can impair self-regulation skills (Wagner et al., 2020). When students endure
trauma, it is difficult for them to concentrate on anything but their crisis. Academic
responsibilities tend to become secondary, when confronted with any adverse childhood
experience. Wagner et al. (2020) shared impairment in self-regulation amongst low-income
students of color can lead to detachment from school, student-teacher discord, and poor
academic performance.
Low-Income Elementary Students of Color
There are many hardships low SES students encounter when it comes to dealing with
different types of crises. Oftentimes, when they are facing homelessness, domestic violence, or
the loss of a loved one (to name a few), these experiences bring about many difficult obstacles.
For example, when looking for stable housing, many homeless population of students have
parents who are undocumented (see Table 1). Due to the threat of deportation, when applying for
housing, undocumented parents are asked to complete a background check, which causes
increased fear in this specific population of individuals. As a result, these parents choose not to
seek out these resources. They looked for “outside the box” options such as renting a room from
someone else’s home. As a result, they decide to move their entire family into one room for rent
and live “doubled-up” in a home with other familiar families sharing the same kitchen and
bathroom.
The notion of them moving in with other family members or friends helps them to avoid
the obstacle of the background check and can help reduce the cost of ongoing rental
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commitments for many of them living in that home. More importantly, there is the fear of always
being asked to move out by their landlord or getting caught and having to leave their home. Due
to the lack of control children have in these uncertain situations, stress tends to cause their focus
to shift from their education towards their personal dire circumstances. In these stressful
situations, school should become a safe haven, with educators being the most stable and constant
adult they can trust. Alisic (2012) highlighted when children are in distress, scared, and
experiencing difficulties, their ability to learn is compromised.
Another stressful situation students of color who are in crisis encounter is those who are
placed in foster care and have to change schools repeatedly and sometimes unexpectedly
throughout the school year. Constant school mobility (see Table 1) can cause a pause in their
education because they have to move to a new school or a new home and readjust to their new
environment. Without a stable school of origin, foster care students are forced to thrive in a
constantly changing and unpredictable environment. Pears et al. (2015) maintained that once
settled into a new school, it may take educators an extended amount of time to establish the
correct placement and learning plan for the student, which results in the student continuing to
miss important academic material. The longer the student goes without academic instruction, the
faster the student continues to fall behind.
Trauma
According to Ray et al. (2020), ACEs are described as the number of traumatic
experiences that occur before the age of 18 and include negative environmental conditions.
Oftentimes, as the child’s ACE score/number increases, so do their school-related problems. Poor
attendance, reported behavioral concerns, and academic impact are just some of the
consequences of elevated ACE scores (Ray et al., 2020). Academic success can be detrimentally
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impacted by a child’s trauma experience(s). Generally, the student’s education becomes
secondary to their immediate survival. As they are focused on their personal sustainability, their
academic concerns are moved toward the bottom of their priority list. O’Neill et al. (2020)
explained, youth who have experienced the detrimental ramifications of trauma may be at risk
for multiple academic and behavioral barriers in an elementary classroom.
Trauma holds no boundaries when it seemingly bursts into one’s life. However, when
students are faced with a crisis, it seems there are no limits to how it will affect and linger.
Trauma can be defined as any life altering event (i.e., loss of a loved one, car accident, food
insecurity, homelessness, parental incarceration, domestic violence, etcetera). When seeing the
way trauma latches onto young children, the results can be heartbreaking because of the absence
of resiliency they have yet to build. Risk factors (i.e., maternal mental health, poverty, family
conflict, single parenting, and unsafe neighborhoods) are some of the reasons students from a
young age experience mental stress, which causes concern toward their social emotional needs.
If trauma continues to be ignored, it can manifest in more damaging ways than one would care to
imagine. One of the affected circumstances is education and helping the student find their
academic success. Larkin and Otis (2019) shared early onset of childhood adversity and poverty
have long term effects on a youth’s mental health.
Trauma Behavior Signs
When looking at the symptoms of trauma, adolescents can present their feelings in
various ways. Children who are angry because they witnessed a violent argument between their
parents or who are possibly facing homelessness may live in a constant state of fear and react to
most situations with irritability, aggression, and frustration. Others who have experienced those
same traumatic situations may react in a more withdrawn and regressed state. Those with
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seemingly subdued characteristics appear quiet, aloof, and often keep to themselves. O’Neill et
al. (2010) agreed educators need to understand the ways in which traumatized children present
their emotions. Some children exhibit fight or flight symptoms, and some freeze when triggered.
Poor Attendance Patterns
Often, these students of color in crisis live in poverty and lack the social support from
friends and family. According to Labella et al. (2019), homeless families often report smaller
systems of support. These identified marginalized students sometimes come from single parent
households where, in some situations, the student is thought of as an “adult” and forced to take
on adult-like responsibilities.
Firstly, some students are forced to miss school to care for their younger siblings during
the day because there is no available childcare and the parent is unable to miss work. Another
example is students having to stay up late because their mom works late at night and they are
scared due to not having an adult in the home to protect them. These situations cause the student
to either wake up late for school and/or miss school altogether because they fear the stigma of
always walking into class late, or they fear being singled out for not knowing what is being
taught in class because they have too many absences and have missed too much curriculum.
At this point, educators can step in and provide empathy and emotional support to show
the student that their experience matters, and they are safe when at school. The educator can ask
appropriate questions to gain better insight regarding why the student is always tardy or absent to
help find solutions that can enable the student to feel less alienated. This will increase rapport
and build strong attachment relationships with the educator. According to Vink et al. (2019),
shared trauma-focused schools can become a safe haven for kids to feel secure and talk about
their personal experiences.
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Risk Factors for Trauma
When evaluating possible risk factors that can perpetuate childhood trauma, one must
think about neighborhood violence, generational mental health issues, and substance abuse
experiences within the home. All of these components, if experienced individually or combined,
can have a profound effect on a student’s sense of resiliency. Ray et al. (2020) agreed resiliency
can be a protective factor for children with ACEs because it strengthens their abilities to cope
with their many hardships throughout their lives. When adolescent students of color witness
traumatic events such as violence or the loss of a loved one, it can deter them from gaining the
self-esteem and confidence needed for personal success. Their attention shifts from retaining
new information to simply focusing on survival. When faced with dire consequences, the student
may turn their focus toward whatever will keep them and their family afloat. Even if it costs their
own mental health and educational success.
Attachment (Trauma) and Education
Students who have a strong rapport with educators begin to reshape their academic focus.
They see the value of school because they believe they are being championed to succeed.
Educators who understand trauma will gain the advantage of modeling proper interactions with
elementary students of color. It is these same marginalized students who may not know how to
express themselves appropriately because they may not get any other opportunity to observe or
participate in positive interactions outside of school. Cooper (2008) reported students who have a
strong attachment to school have stronger feelings of attachment to their educators and
understand that creating academic success in school will lead to greater rewards in life.
Value of Attachment With Educators
There are four types of attachment (i.e., secure, avoidant, preoccupied, and fearful). For
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this study, the researcher discusses the avoidant and fearful attachment styles that are closely
related to trauma. Johansson et al. (2020) highlighted avoidant/insecure attachment as
experiencing discomfort in close relationships and worrying about the potential of being
disappointed and hurt. Secondly, they discussed fearful attachment and defined it to be prevalent
when one is exposed to losses or trauma in childhood (Johansson et al., 2020). Equally
important, Sheller et al. (2018) discussed the notion that positive parent-child relationships may
decrease negative effects of ACEs by helping children to better manage their emotions, self-
regulate, and form positive relationships. Adults who are in crisis have their attention spread
among survival and focusing on resources that can help alleviate their immediate trauma. As a
result, adolescents whose parents are experiencing higher levels of stress tend to build insecure
attachment patterns with their child. The child grows up unsure of when anyone will show them
love and compassion. It is this same type of attachment pattern that causes adolescents to look
for security elsewhere.
Educators can be viewed as a secondary source of attachment and security for those
students who are in need of connection. According to Cooper (2008), students who describe a
weak attachment to school often feel animosity towards their educator and school administration.
Most of the time, it is poor displays of behavior that bring the child to the school administrator’s
attention. Generally, when the student misbehaves in the class, the educator inserts punitive
discipline strategies (i.e., a red card by the students’ name and being moved to the front/back of
the class), and lastly (if these other measures are unsuccessful), the marginalized student is sent
out of the classroom entirely to the principal’s office for stronger disciplinary measures.
If educators had the insight on how to ask the student qualifying questions, it might help
provide more context to the student’s behavioral outbursts. Examine the child who is unaware
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that cursing is considered “disrespectful language” because that is how they always hear their
mom talk to their grandmother. Consider the student (who has never met their biological mother)
feels being sent out of class for yelling at the educator (because her grandmother who recently
passed away and was her sole caregiver) is now unsure of who will take care of her.
All of these described traumatic student situations involve an educator who continues to
see the disruptive behaviors but does not ask the appropriate questions. These are considered
missed opportunities to display empathy to the student. Each of these situations are teachable
moments educators can use to build relationships and show compassion to the traumatized
student of color during their crisis. However, most times, these gaps are missed and only made
worse by the educators’ lack of attention to detail.
According to Chow et al. (2015), traumatized children endure a greater risk of academic
difficulty and behavioral, emotional, and social challenges. Along with increased levels of
depression, anxiety, and isolation due to feelings of shame and embarrassment. It should be the
job of the educator to recognize the student’s shift in behavior and work towards helping the
traumatized student of color feel safe to talk about what is going on. Some students in this
situation tend to isolate and therefore try not to cause attention to themselves. It is these children
who do not draw attention to themselves and blend in with the back of the classroom.
Challenges
Barriers For Educators
As classroom sizes are increasing, building individual relationships with students
becomes increasingly difficult. As a result, one challenge is that it becomes harder to spend the
time working through “unruly” behaviors. This means that students of color who are behaving
inappropriately in class, tend to be labeled as “challenging” and are often sent out of class and to
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the principal’s office. This causes the student to miss out on valuable instructional time. Another
barrier educators face is the lack of mental health support in schools, which then feels
overwhelming for them to have to find ways to help reduce the challenging behaviors on their
own. Reinke et al. (2011) agreed that educators feel unprepared to manage disruptive student
behaviors.
Mental Health Support in School
Schools are seeing more of a need for mental health support(s) when it comes to working
with students of color who are traumatized. So many low-income students of color are in need of
social emotional systems of support. School administrators are scrambling to hire more school
social workers and counselors. School administrators are hearing the increased amounts of
educator concerns with the demand to be more trauma-informed, but they are not equipped to
add more to their workloads. The shortage of parental support programs, prevention programs
for external and internal behaviors, and staff coaching causes the crisis to spiral due to lack of
intervention (Reinke et al., 2011).
Effective Strategies Educators
When it comes to trauma, many educators do not believe it is their responsibility to
support those students during their time of emotional need. As a result, students of color are
pushed out of the classroom and sent to the school psychologist to “get fixed” or to the principal
to “talk it out.” It is helpful to consider that the student may not know the school psychologist
and might feel uncomfortable sharing their situation. Likewise, meeting with the principal can
cause feelings of fear because the principal is often seen as a “disciplinary figure” and not
someone the student can go to for support. Being removed from the classroom and sent to the
office may cause the traumatized student of color to feel as if their educator does not care about
34
them. This causes the student to feel dismissed and rejected. Educators rely heavily upon school
psychologists and other school administration for mental health support (Alisic, 2012).
In some cases, educators believe they are not responsible for the “whole child” but rather
only their learning. Oftentimes, educators doubt their ability to help provide emotional support to
a student of color who is going through an emotional crisis. Trauma can be long lasting and will
eventually affect the student’s learning ability. The behaviors that result from childhood traumas
disrupt their critical thinking processes (Alvarez, 2020). When a child is saturated in stress, the
brain signals a sometimes more aggressive response pattern. Trauma has a tendency to take over
the brain and overshadow any type of learning or positivity that may come.
Oftentimes, due to the lack of supportive relationships, students and their families are
seemingly stuck in their trauma with almost no end in sight. According to Chaudry and Wimer
(2016), children who experience 1 year of trauma have far more detrimental outcomes than those
who do not. It depends on how dire their situation is and how much outside support they have.
This is why educators should work on including more social emotional discussions into their
curriculum and spending more time practicing expressive language when engaging with students.
Educators have the power to help rehabilitate their traumatized students of color during
their time of need. The researcher understands this expectation will take a lot of time and
practice. Some support strategies educators can use within the classroom, according to Alisic
(2012) is to provide coping assistance (i.e., emotional processing, create boundaries and
classroom structure), as well as daily routines. Secondly, educators can reduce emotional trauma
by building rapport and creating trust with each student in order to identify signs of depression
much faster. Lastly, educators can link the student and their family to local mental health
resources. School administrators should help to support educators, by providing various trauma-
35
informed training opportunities, so they can feel more confident in their support strategies.
How Schools Can Get Involved
Schools can look toward educating their entire staff including: (a) noon aids, (b) office
staff, (c) cafeteria staff, (d) custodians etcetera on how to also recognize signs of trauma in
students of color and also be supportive to educators. By training the entire school staff, low-
income students of color will continue to feel as if school is a safe place all around, not just
within the classroom. Schools can start with simple strategies (i.e., learning each child’s name
and getting to know something positive about each student). While the custodian is working in
the cafeteria helping to clean up, they can greet each student by their name and ask them how
their day is going. Noon aids can create a positive playground environment by praising positive
play practices so the students can feel empowered. Office staff can greet each student with praise
for showing up even when they are tardy. Educators can build rapport by engaging with each
student positively, even when the student is being disruptive.
Improvements
How Educators Can Improve
By being more trauma-informed, educators would be able to understand the importance
of meeting students of color where they are emotionally. Trust should be built between the
student and educator in order for the marginalized student to become motivated to learn.
Building rapport will help create an environment of safety, which will help the low-income
traumatized student of color feel more at ease when in school. Hopefully, educators can begin to
unravel their own biases about the different factors that affect learning and find supportive tools
for students of color who need a bit more empathy because their personal lives are in shambles.
Reinke et al. (2011) explained the importance of educators determining the relevance of
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supporting students with mental health needs. Once this is determined, educators can begin to
develop a plan on how they are going to find supportive strategies to work more efficiently with
students of color who are traumatized.
How Schools Can Improve
School administrators can continue to find resources within their community that can help
support the mental health needs of their students. Oftentimes, there are various mental health
agencies that contract with school districts as a way to provide therapeutic support to students.
Having more resources such as connections to food pantries or clothing retailers who can help
support their students with any immediate necessities can help ease students’ stress. There is an
increase of resource centers on school campuses that help to provide food, clothing, shoes, and
school supplies to students and their families. This demonstrates how schools are recognizing the
pathways they can create inhouse that will meet the needs of their students. By thinking of
interventions like resource centers, students can get their needs met and return to their focus
toward their academics.
Trauma and Education
If more school administrators were to implement a trauma-informed curriculum into their
classrooms and school environment, students would understand how natural all emotions are. A
trauma-informed staff would help students of color recognize emotions modeled and peer
interactions exchanged in a manner that is healthy and positive. By normalizing students’ trauma
and using positive interventions to help reduce their negative outbursts and increase trust,
educators can use their training to build esteem and gain successful academic outcomes in their
students. Building trauma-informed practices within the elementary school environment will
help elementary students of color feel empowered to practice the same strategies on the bus,
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playground, cafeteria, and outside of school as a way to reduce the stress they feel when in crisis
or faced with uncertainty.
Protective Factors
One protective factor that can build positivity in the students’ life is the educator-student
relationship. The greater the connection between the educator and student has been proven to be
effective with helping students feel supported while in school. Oftentimes, it has been said that
children only need one adult who understands and they feel open to talking to in order to feel
some sort of emotional attachment. Positive connections with others help to mitigate certain
social emotional wounds left open by trauma. According to Ray et al. (2020), positive
relationships serve as a protective factor for children who have experienced any sort of crisis in
their lives.
This is where the rapport built between the educator and the traumatized student of color
matters the most. When the educator pushes the student out of the class and into the office of the
school psychologist or principal, it causes a tear in their relationship that may be irreparable.
Sometimes, the same low-income students of color who are ignored at home by their
parents/caregivers, are made to feel dismissed at school by their educators. Being placed in the
back of the class or sent out of the classroom for being disruptive are both ways in which
students of color are treated, which only increases their feelings of being alienated. The
researcher understands how this may be difficult due to increasing classroom sizes. It is difficult
for educators to focus on all students and provide extra attention to the students of color
experiencing emotional distress. There is not a one-size-fits-all approach to addressing trauma
(Barlow & Becker-Blease, 2012). This is why formal trauma training is imperative when
educators are expected to support both emotional and academic needs of each student, especially
38
students of color. Educators must learn how to identify these needs quickly and build resiliency
into each lesson.
Shared attachment between the educator and student is essential for children to gain
successful academic achievement (O’Neill et al., 2010). This is just another reason for educators
to become better informed when dealing with students of color who are experiencing a crisis and
are in need of more emotional support rather than academic information. Educators must
understand that once the student’s emotional state has returned to normal, the focus will return to
their learning goals. Adolescents tend to have delays in their learning trajectories due to the
extreme effect trauma has on their development. As the student in crisis returns to normalcy, the
educator must understand they will continue to struggle with forming a positive relationship and
will need constant assurance and empathy. Ray et al. (2020) explained students who have
experienced multiple ACEs are likely to have narrow social-emotional capabilities, which may
decrease their ability to understand the protective factor of the student-educator relationship.
Another protective factor would be described as the McKinney-Vento Act. It is through
this policy that schools are able to provide more dedicated support to the students who are
homeless or in foster care. These resources include round trip transportation to and from school
along with equal access to education. As a result of this requirement, school districts are able to
provide some support to these students who are in crisis and are displaced from their known
environments and reduce school mobility. The McKinney-Vento Act provides academic
protections to homeless and foster care students (Sulkowski, 2016). As schools become more
aware of these families, there are so many strategies that can be used to help these particular
students and their families succeed. This particular resource has been helpful in keeping students
in place and showing them some stability when it comes to their school.
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Resiliency
According to Pears et al. (2010), higher emotional regulation is connected to increased
academic achievement and greater social skills in school. Successful school achievement
depends on both academic and social emotional competence. Educators can help connect these
two themes by creating more learning opportunities within the classroom to demonstrate how
they work together. Educators should create more space within the lessons to reward mistakes
and show them ways to build resiliency. By modeling resiliency in the small areas of their lives,
it can be proven as effective with the bigger socio-emotional gaps they are experiencing. As
students look to their educators for guidance and rules, they also need resiliency training.
Oftentimes, low-income students of color who are in need of resilience modeling, only
get it from their social and educational settings. Resiliency has been proven to decrease the
detrimental impact of trauma in the school setting (Alvarez, 2020). This proves if educators were
to provide more opportunities for students to practice flexibility in crisis, their emotional traumas
can be ameliorated, and eventually the student can learn to return their attention to their
education while still working on their basic needs.
Conclusion
Low-income elementary students of color who are in crisis fall behind in school because
their personal stressors take over and bleed into their academic presence when at school.
Educators are asked to find ways to support their students of color without knowing exactly what
that means because trauma presents differently in all students. In Chapter Three, the researcher
discusses the methodology used to complete this study. The ways in which participants were
selected and how their experiences educating low-income elementary students of color shaped
their classroom culture of trust and support are discussed.
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Chapter Three: Methodology
Low-income elementary students of color who are in crisis have an arduous experience
when trying to focus on their academic needs. Oftentimes, education becomes a secondary
concern due to the student of colors’ current trauma and in some cases, it is not even a factor
because survival is their only regard. To gain more insight on how educators can navigate this
environment, a qualitative research study was completed. This chapter details the research
design, participants, data collection, and data analysis that were used to complete this method of
study.
Research Design
The qualitative research design used was a phenomenological study. A qualitative
research study intends to understand how individuals interpret their experiences. Merriam and
Tisdell (2016) shared qualitative research is based on the understanding that knowledge is
constructed by individuals in an ongoing manner as they engage in and make meaning of each
experience. In more detail, a phenomenological study highlights a person’s lived experience(s).
A phenomenological study takes a closer look at the personal experiences of the participants to
gain a better understanding of what is being asked. The researcher analyzed the participants’
experience to add more context to what was being studied. Merriam and Tisdell explained a
phenomenological study and shared phenomenology focuses on the experience itself and how it
transforms into consciousness.
Phenomenologists are interested in learning about a person’s lived experiences.
Researchers are supposed to sift through the essence of what is being shared to find the true
meaning of their experience. This study’s researcher evaluated participants’ personal experiences
working in Title I schools and asked them to think about their students who have experienced
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trauma. It compelled each subject to take a more in-depth look into their lens as educators to
uncover what they feel is the academic impact of trauma and what they are doing to address it.
The researcher wanted to gain the self-reported effects of traumatized students of color that
educators deal with. It was important to ensure each interview question reflected that type of
self-reflection. It was through this qualitative lens that the researcher was able to understand the
thoughts and experiences of educators who work closely with elementary students of color who
present with trauma behaviors and narratives to see what recommendations can be made that best
suit this population of students. Merriam and Tisdell (2016) suggested qualitative researchers
completing a phenomenology basic qualitative study are interested in: (a) how others understand
their experiences, (b) the manner in which they create their environments, and (d) how they
interpret their lives and experiences.
Research Questions
The researcher created this study to understand the experiences of educators in regard to
working with low-income students of color experiencing trauma and as a result, see what could
be done to improve these experiences. The notion behind this was to start putting some narrative
behind their classroom experience as a way to find out how, socially and emotionally, this
particular population of students are being served within the classroom and school environment.
More importantly, how low-income students of color are being treated when it comes to trauma
behaviors. Applied research seeks to understand a problem and uses this understanding to create
a solution (Lochmiller & Lester, 2017). This study’s researcher focused on two research
questions:
1. What do educators perceive as the academic impact of trauma and the intersections of
low-income, elementary students of color?
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2 What can educators do to address the academic impact of trauma and the intersections
of low-income, elementary students of color?
Setting
The researcher interviewed each of the participants individually on Zoom (see Zoom
Video Communications, 2020) for convenience and to take proper health precautions that may be
a concern if done in person. Zoom was also used as the interview platform, so that the interview
could be recorded. The purpose for recording was to ensure accuracy of each participants’
thoughts, more so to allow the researcher to stay present in the interview, without the distraction
of having to take notes.
Participants
The goal of this research was to understand what educators feel is the academic impact of
trauma on low-income, elementary students of color so they can form a greater educational
attachment to school. This research was conducted using educators who work closely with this
particular student population. The target population was educators in the United States with a
minimum of two years of teaching experience in Title I elementary schools who work with low-
income students of color. The accessible population was educators in southern California with a
minimum of two years of teaching experience in Title I elementary schools who work with low-
income students of color.
Sample
The sample was 10 educators in one southern California elementary school district with a
minimum of two years of teaching experience in Title I elementary schools who work with low-
income students of color. The researcher chose subjects who have experience working in a Title I
school for two years or more. Two years was thought to provide educators with a basis of
43
working with students of color who have experienced trauma. The notion of a minimum of two
years in a Title I school enabled educators the opportunity to build educational patterns of
support so when they noticed a student was in need, they were able to find the appropriate
resources and support. Title I schools were chosen due to their increased number of low-income
students. These are schools that have a majority of their student population who qualify for free
or reduced lunch. Oftentimes, these are low-income students of color who are facing multiple
ACEs. Educators who have taught in Title I schools for a minimum of two years have seen
students from a mixture of these ACE situations who are faced with the added stress of having to
perform academically under extreme pressure. If youth experience trauma, it may manifest itself
across several domains including academics, behavior, health, and social outcomes (Alvarez,
2020) .
Sampling Method
In order to recruit the best participants for this study, the researcher chose to use two
different types of sampling: (a) convenience sampling and (b) purposeful sampling. The first
sampling method used when searching for participants was convenience sampling. According to
Merriam and Tisdell (2016), convenience sampling is a sample that is chosen based on time,
money, location, and availability of respondents. The elementary school district used was based
on the availability of respondents in the researcher’s same district. According to the Education
Data Partnership’s (2021), most recent data, in 2018 this district had a total of 233 teachers. The
researcher chose to focus on elementary school educators and felt it best to start with their own
school district, as those educators might have been more willing to participate. Convenience
sampling enabled the researcher to find participants at a faster rate and also helped with the ease
of the interview because the participants knew the researcher. When reaching out to educators,
44
being that many of them were familiar with the researcher, it helped to recruit participants at a
much faster rate.
Purposeful sampling was the next sampling method that was used to find the 10
participants. Merriam and Tisdell (2016) explained purposeful sampling is used when the
researcher selects subjects using a specific set of criteria. Participants were selected based on
their number of years working in a Title I school as an educator. When selecting the participants,
the researcher identified educators who met the requirement of having worked in a Title I school
for a minimum of two years. The inclusion of experienced educators allowed for perspectives
based on practice and skill. Race and gender were not a deciding factor when choosing
participants; however, the researcher reached out to as many participants as possible to ensure a
diverse population of participants. The researcher attempted to include participants from diverse
backgrounds; however, that proved to be difficult being that the demographic of educators in this
district are mostly White. The inclusion from diverse ethnic backgrounds would allow for a
range of experiences and rationalizations of student trauma. The researcher attempted to have
roughly 60% of the participant sample be educators from diverse ethnicities.
Ten participants were selected for this research because the researcher was attempting to
account for data saturation. According to Merriam and Tisdell (2016), data saturation is reached
when nothing new is being reported. The notion behind this is to ensure the data collected are
purposeful, and each subject was able to share a rich amount of student trauma experience(s).
Therefore, 10 participants were enough to gather a well-rounded amount of trauma experience.
Ten participants also allowed for the researcher to spend time conducting each interview and
ensured that it felt more like a conversation rather than a fast-paced question and answer session.
45
Recruitment
The researcher emailed a letter (see Appendix A) to the principal at each of the Title I
elementary schools in the district, asking them to identify qualified educators who met the
required minimum of two years of teaching experience in Title I schools. As educators were
identified and provided their consent to participate in the study, the researcher contacted each
participant individually to share more information about the study. It was during this
conversation, the researcher read them the Informed Consent (see Appendix B) describing the
study, confidentiality, participant criteria, defined terms, and the procedures involved. This
informed potential subjects that participation was optional and they were welcome to share as
much or as little information as they were comfortable with.
Data Collection
There were two data collection points of this study, a four-question demographic survey
and semi-structured interview.
Demographic Survey
A four-question demographic survey (see Appendix C) was used to collect information
about the participants’ age, gender, Title I teaching experience, and ethnicity. This information
was designed to provide insight into the participants’ background. The analysis included
demographic questions in the survey as a way to gain insight regarding who provided the
responses. Demographic questions help the researcher describe specific characteristics of the
sample being questioned (Robinson & Firth Leonard, 2019). Participants were emailed a Google
form, which allowed them to answer each question by multiple choice. The demographic survey
was the first data collection point used to provide more solid background information
surrounding each participant.
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Semi-structured Interview Protocol
Following the four demographic survey questions, a semi-structured interview protocol
(see Appendix D) with specific interview questions that were aligned with the aforementioned
research questions was completed. Using a semi-structured interview allowed the researcher to
provide specific prompts (interview questions) with some flexibility for various responses to
each of the questions.
Open-ended interviewing process is helpful to reduce the variety in responses to the
predetermined questions (Patton, 2002). Therefore, in order to discipline the subjectivity, the
researcher’s approach was to highlight the main points of the participants’ experiences when
working with different populations of low-income elementary students of color. The questions
were presented in a question-and-answer format with the respondent having as much time
needed to share their thoughts and experiences attached to each question. Participants were asked
to share their many classroom experiences working with this population of low-income
elementary aged students of color.
Procedures
After securing USC IRB approval, the researcher worked with each of the six Title I
school principals within the school district to help search for participants who met the two-year
minimum requirement. The researcher emailed the principals (see Appendix A) to introduce the
study. Once the 10 participants were selected, the researcher contacted each subject ahead of the
actual interview, explained the purpose of the study, discussed confidentiality, and lastly
informed consent (see Appendix B). The informed consent (see Appendix B) also asked each
participant to ensure the data collected had a stronger emphasis. This made the data collected
stronger by showing how the responses were the same overtime. Towards the end of this process,
47
the researcher invited each respondent to ask questions during this process to ensure they
understood what was discussed. Lochmiller and Lester (2017) advised that as a researcher, the
first commitment to participants is to protect them from harm. As a result, it was imperative the
researcher was open and honest with them from the very beginning and always checked to
ensure they understood what was being shared.
After the informed consent was completed, the researcher discussed the demographic
survey (see Appendix C) that would be emailed to them (following this conversation) and
explained its purpose and how it could be completed at their earliest convenience before the
semi-structured interview took place. Once the informed consent was explained and fully
understood by each participant and the demographic survey was sent out, the semi-structured
interview was scheduled.
Each of the 10 participants completed an eight question semi-structured survey that asked
each subject to share their personal classroom experiences when working with low-income
elementary students of color. In more detail, an open-ended semi-structured survey allowed for
each respondent to answer the questions free from restriction. It provided them the freedom to
share their thoughts based on their thoughts and experiences. According to Merriam and Tisdell
(2016), semi-structured interview questions allow for more flexibility in the responses.
Respondents were interviewed on Zoom (see Zoom Video Communications, 2020) to be
recorded for data interpretation accuracy. The semi-structured interview questions were read to
each participant by the researcher to create a conversation. The researcher wanted more detailed
responses to stay present in the interview and ensure the interview felt more open-ended. Each
question was asked with the subjects being provided ample time to respond. This allotted space
for more personal narratives, which enabled the researcher to gain more insight. The goal of the
48
researcher was to make this interview feel more like a guided conversation. The questions
created the boundaries for the conversation; however, the conversation provided the data used for
this study. The hope was that if participants were made to feel like it was less of an interview and
more of a discussion, they would share more details, which would provide for a more content
rich study.
As the interview began, the researcher read aloud an introduction that outlined the
researcher’s gratitude for their participation. Additionally, the researcher quickly reviewed the
informed consent (see Appendix B) in that participation was always voluntary and the subject
had the right to decline answering any question(s) that made them feel uncomfortable and/or stop
the interview at any time. Respondents were then asked if the interview could begin, to ensure
they were comfortable with participating in the study. Subjects must be informed that
participation is not mandatory, they may choose to stop participation at any time, and any part(s)
of the research study that might be found harmful to their well-being (Glesne, 2011).
Merriam and Tisdell (2016) shared what makes a research analysis trustworthy is the
researcher’s careful design of the study making sure the boundaries are well developed and
respected. The goal was to gain the perspective of the participants and summarize their
experience using their words and writing the results in a respectful and purposeful manner while
managing to keep the quality of their words intact at all times. The researcher made a best effort
to keep the interview on track so that all information shared was relevant to the study. Each
interview was about one hour, and each subject was able to share their personal stories in their
own time without feeling rushed. This ensured the participant was relaxed during the
conversation, with the hope they were open to discussing their views and personal
considerations. However, the researcher was prepared for the interview to run longer if needed.
49
The researcher did not censor the participant and allowed for them to take their time
during this interview and feel heard. It was more important that the respondent felt safe, in order
to share their experience(s). Trauma is very complex and requires as much attention to detail as
possible. It was imperative the researcher understood exactly what the participant was saying as
well as what the participant meant when they were speaking as this was directly tied to the
findings. Maxwell (2013) recommended interviewing to be purposeful, the researcher should ask
about specific events and actions, rather than posing questions that ask for more generalizations.
In order to do this successfully, the researcher took the time to delve deeper into what the
participant was saying.
After each interview was complete, the researcher thanked the participant for their time
and honesty during the interview process. The researcher took this time to remind each study
subject that their confidentiality will be maintained along with the transcripts from the interview.
At this time, the researcher provided the participant with the monetary incentive as a way to
thank them for their participation in this study. In more detail, a monetary incentive in the form
of a gift card was provided as a way to incentivize each participant.
Confidentiality
Confidentiality was outlined at the first contact with the participants during the informed
consent process to increase their comfort level with their participation in this study. Any
information that identified the participant was coded with pseudonyms to make sure each
subjects’ identity was kept confidential. Once the data were coded, only the researcher had
access to the information. Data was stored on paper, scanned to the researcher’s password
protected computer, and lastly backed up on an external storage device. Data will be stored for
one year after the research is completed and then shredded and erased from the computer and
50
external storage device.
Data Management
The researcher practiced safe computing practices by remaining current with
cybersecurity practices, reading technological articles, installing antivirus software, a firewall,
and enabling automatic updates for MAC operating system. In regard to system authentication
and security, the researcher ensured that access to all confidential data were managed
appropriately by using strong passwords, restricting user permissions to the files being used, and
locking the computer when away. Data encryption was used to further protect confidential
research data. Data must be stored safely and privately in multiple locations (Lochmiller &
Lester, 2017).
Data were saved and coded by pseudonyms to protect the identity of each participant.
The interview data were transcribed and coded to help the researcher discover common themes
throughout each interview. Once transcribed, the data were saved to the computer as well as an
external flash drive to ensure it would not get lost or deleted. Merriam and Tisdell (2016)
encouraged the researcher to be organized and label according to what makes sense to the
researcher.
Encryption
Data encryption was used to further protect the data gathered. It was then stored using a
coding system to ensure each participant’s privacy. The encryption stayed with the data as it
traveled through all networks, web servers, application servers, and database servers. Coding is
an assigned shorthand way of designation to different areas of your data so it can be retrieved
later at a much faster rate (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Encrypted data are anything that is
identifiable pertaining to the participants. Names were replaced by pseudonyms to ensure the
51
respondents privacy.
Dissemination of Findings
Once the data were collected and analyzed, the researcher shared the findings with the
participants (individually) to maintain confidentiality, but more so to guarantee the information
found was true to what each subject said and meant during the interview process. The researcher
wanted each respondent to feel as if their experiences were represented correctly and true to what
really happened. The findings were shared with the district office personnel to think about
effective changes that can be made to support both educators while teaching as well as students.
Dissemination of the results was shared with those who had an active interest in supporting
students who are in crisis. The researcher hoped that by sharing the results of the study, it raised
awareness of the concern and inform others within the community.
Data Analysis
There were two areas of data analysis for this study: (a) the demographic survey and (b)
the semistructured interview. All data collected was compiled and spot-checked for accuracy and
consistency.
Descriptive Analysis
Descriptive statistics were used to characterize data based on the properties of each
demographic data point and from the interviews. In more detail, descriptive analysis helps to
provide the reader with an overview of the data collected. Lochmiller and Lester (2017) shared
descriptive analysis is used to identify patterns, trends, and/or frequencies within the data
collected. The data from the demographic survey (see Appendix C) was compiled and
transported to Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corporation, 2018) from Qualtrics (2005).
For the interviews, descriptive analysis was also used to identify common themes that
52
spread across each of the participants’ responses. This also helped the researcher find gaps that
could only be filled with more up to date interventions. These identified gaps helped the
researcher discover more of what could be done to help traumatized students in the classroom to
return their focus towards their academic achievement goals. Lochmiller and Lester (2017)
reported how descriptive analysis appropriately summarizes the distribution of data and presents
the reader with a picture of what was found.
Thematic Content Analysis
The researcher used a thematic content analysis (TCA) (Braun & Clarke, 2006) in this
study via NVivo (2020) when examining the interview protocol responses. TCA (see Table 1) is
a descriptive presentation of qualitative data that was taken from the researcher’s semistructured
interview transcripts. Lochmiller and Lester (2017) explained that TCA allows the researcher to
identify codes, which help to create a more specific understanding of the research. While there
were many different approaches to conducting TCA (Braun & Clarke, 2006), the researcher
followed this six-step process: (a) familiarization, (b) coding, (c) generating themes, (d)
reviewing themes, (e) defining and naming themes, and (f) writing up.
Familiarization
The researcher reviewed each participant’s interview and looked for specific themes
across each interview including trauma warning signs, applied interventions, what was missed or
could have been done better to ensure students trust/safety, what was needed to ensure educator
reliability in working with this specific population of students. The researcher listened to the
audio of each interview and read the transcribed interview to ensure what was transcribed as
accurate. Each transcribed interview was highlighted to help find themes at a much faster pace.
53
Coding
Lochmiller and Lester (2017) defined a code as a label that provides meaning to the data
in a short word or label that is applied that is supposed to symbolically link or summarize a
portion of the language-based data. When using NVivo, it describes the actual words/phrases
used by the participant. Codes connect the individual pieces of information across each
participant to create a chain of rich data collection. Coding provides individual meaning to
specific portions of data shared by the participants. It is a label placed on specific portions of
data/text that help to group “excerpts” from participant interviews together to gain a collection of
relevant data. This is to assign meaning to each excerpt so that the data can then be transcribed
and analyzed later.
The researcher sifted through all of the data and found common words and similarly
expressed sentiments shared by each participant, to create the codes used for this study. Some of
the commonalities can be found in certain words, phrases, or general themes shared by each
participant. The researcher used codes such as: (a) attachment, (b) experience interventions, (c)
negative trauma behaviors, (d) negative trauma interventions, (e) positive trauma behaviors, (f)
student of color barriers, (g) student privilege, and (h) lastly trauma support resources. Codes
were identified based upon the structure of the semistructured interview questions. Each question
asked about a very specific narrative and therefore, it made the themes more identifiable.
Generating Themes
Keeping the purpose of this research in mind, moving from codes to themes, the
researcher brought together various categories of information collected from the interviews. The
researcher looked for specific patterns that were derived from the data. Trying to keep the themes
within the theoretical framework to formulate patterns within the framework. The researcher
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showed how experiences relate and cause one another in regard to trauma. It was important while
generating themes to consider any bias the researcher might have to stay true to the nature of
what the subjects reported. Themes are almost entirely based on our personal interpretation of
the data (Lochmiller & Lester, 2017). They connect various categories of the data.
Reviewing Themes
Once generated, the researcher reviewed the themes created to ensure the categories
found remained solid and held up across the research findings. As the researcher moved towards
the end of the data analysis, it became necessary to be more deductive to weed out any
unnecessary information and reduce saturation of data (see Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The goal
of the researcher was to find as much evidence as possible that supported the final set of themes.
All themes were reviewed to ensure that both research questions were answered adequately.
Some themes were flushed out more to ensure the data found for each theme was clear and
concise.
Defining and Naming Themes
The researcher created themes using concepts and categories that were reflected
repeatedly from the participants’ interviews. Merriam and Tisdell (2016) recommended the
researcher create themes based upon what is seen in the data. The researcher ensured the
categories gathered remained true to the purpose of the research. Keeping the research questions
for this study in mind, helped the researcher find commonalities between the subjects’ responses.
Themes were identified by common words and phrases each participant used that expressed
similar sentiments.
Writing Up
The first step the researcher took when writing up this report was to determine who this
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research was designed to reach. This data was created for school administrators, educators, and
community partners who are interested in changing the way students in crisis are educated.
Therefore, the data showed what was currently happening in the classroom and the educational
learning opportunities educators could have participated in, which could help students of color
feel more connected to the material being taught. More importantly, students of color who have
experienced trauma. This research was designed to promote more quality trauma-informed
interventions in the classroom that will reduce stress within students and help them find more
positive attachments to school.
Reliability
According to Lochmiller and Lester (2017), researcher credibility is defined as the
consistency of measurement in that your findings are duplicated across various trials. In more
clearer terms, if the study is repeated, will it produce the same results over time? Qualitative
reliability was taken into account in that each participant received the demographic survey (see
Appendix C) and interview questions (see Appendix D). With the understanding that the
responses might vary due to their personal experiences, it produced established research
methods. Patton (2002) discussed in an open-ended survey, the participant supplies their own
responses when answering the questions but the questions should be carefully crafted
beforehand. As a result of this study, the researcher looked for transferability of the data
collected. More specifically, the researcher wanted to determine if the information collected from
this study could be replicated across other districts.
Dependability
According to Merriam and Tisdell (2016), dependability simply allows for the findings to
make sense rather than be found repeatedly after each trial. Using this notion, the researcher took
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the information gathered from all the interviews and described the findings in a manner that
encompassed the overall themes that were shared during the interviews. The researcher helped to
ensure the results were consistent with the data being collected. Oftentimes, in using a
semistructured survey, the information provided by the participants was based upon their
personal experiences. Therefore, reliability was difficult to obtain and dependability was more
realistic.
Confirmability
In qualitative research, confirmability can be described as following the trail of the
researcher to gain an understanding of how the results were found (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
The researcher was able to retrace steps taken and put together a clear picture of how the study
was conducted. The researcher ensured the findings were articulated in a manner that was
truthful towards the participant’s experiences. Confirmability allows the researcher to detail how
the data were collected, categories were created, and how decisions were made. Lastly, the
researcher consulted with an outside researcher to ensure the findings made sense to the data
collected.
Validity
Validity is defined as data that represent what it says it represents (Lochmiller & Lester,
2017). Educators shared their experiences from working in Title I schools and discussed their
practices in working with students who are in crisis. As a result of the data being open-ended, the
researcher went back to some participants to ensure their responses were analyzed accurately.
This continued to reduce any misinterpretations of their narratives and ensured the study
provided credible and trustworthy results. Validity must be assessed in relationship to the
purpose of the research (Maxwell, 2013). This emphasized the importance of staying true to the
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subjects’ experiences.
The researcher worked with some of the respondents to gather feedback on some of the
preliminary findings. The goal for this strategy was to ensure the data were not misinterpreted.
The researcher wanted to always stay true to everything the participants shared. This was also
important because oftentimes, the researcher could mistakenly insert their own bias into what
each interview subject reported. It was imperative to receive feedback on the initial results to
reduce any chances of researcher bias. Merriam and Tisdell (2016) reported the importance of
participants being able to identify their experience as well as share some alterations to better
summarize their experiences.
Credibility
Credibility deals with how closely data results match to reality (Merriam & Tisdell,
2016). One must consider if the findings are true. The researcher worked to ensure the
information gathered from the data were credible by working with multiple participants. Trauma
is subjective and can be accounted for with different stories and experiences. It is important the
researcher used a strategy of triangulation to hear from as many resources as possible to ensure
the information gathered in this study was as relevant and credible as possible. Triangulation is a
powerful method for ensuring credibility of your research whether you use multiple sources of
data, theories, or investigators (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Transferability
Maxwell (2013) stated transferability refers to the results of a study that can be applied
beyond that case or setting. The purpose of this research was to help school district officials find
more efficient ways within the school environment to support low-income students of color who
experienced trauma or are in crisis. The researcher identified educators with a great deal of
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experience working with this particular student population, so that the data can be utilized across
other districts. However, as a result of the small sample size, the reality of transferability might
be limiting as other districts may have different experiences with traumatized students of color.
Conclusion
This section modeled the researcher’s method in how to accurately acquire the data
needed to complete this study and worked toward answering the research questions. The
interview process sought to gain an understanding of their experiences and opened-up any gaps
in education that can be fixed by learning positive strategies to address trauma in low-income
students of color. Chapter Four details the results of this study based on the data collected from
each survey subject. The researcher shares the findings by discussing the data found by linking it
back to each research question.
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Chapter Four: Results and Findings
Academically, traumatized low-income elementary students of color can be negatively
impacted in regard to their personal/internal stressors. The propensity of this complication
allowed for the researcher to question the methods that are used by educators to engage this
particular subset of students when in the classroom. This chapter looked at the results of the data
gathered by each of the 10 participants. It displays the demographic information of who
participated and detailed common themes of practice that were used across each of the 10
participants. This chapter begins with the demographic survey that was used so there can be a
better understanding of who participated in the study. The subsequent sections detailed the
findings and results. The two research questions created to guide this study were:
1. What do educators perceive as the academic impact of trauma and the intersections of
low-income, elementary students of color?
2. What can educators do to address the academic impact of trauma and the intersections
of low-income, elementary students of color?
Findings
There were four demographic survey questions each participant was asked to complete
which enabled the researcher to gather some background information of each subject (see Table
2). These questions were used to determine the participants age, gender, ethnicity, and years of
Title I teaching experience. The data showed that the average age was around 45 years old and
the percentage of female participants was 90% whereas 10% were male. However, many of the
participants had more than 11 years of experience in Title I schools.
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Table 2
Demographic Survey Results
Participant
pseudonym
Age Gender Ethnicity Years of
experience
working in a
Title I school
Cindy 52 Female White 11+
Alice 33 Female Asian 2–4
Gabrielle 47 Female Latinx or
Hispanic
11+
Peggy 41 Female White 11+
Tiana 47 Female Black or African
American
11+
Hollis 40 Female White 11+
Jim 45 Male White 2–4
Armelia 52 Female Black or African
American
11+
Mandy 57 Female Black or African
American
11+
Estelle 75 Female White 11+
Participants
The researcher interviewed 10 participants who shared different experiences when
working with elementary aged students of color who have experienced trauma. The participants
expressed different scenarios where they were able to intervene with their students of color who
needed support and were experiencing trauma. Participants provided insight as to what
interventions they used that were helpful as well as suggestions as to what they hoped to see in
the next coming months or school years. Participants were able to discuss the different expressed
behaviors of elementary students of color and find ways for them to overcome their obstacles.
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Research Question 1 Analysis
RQ1 asked the following: What do educators perceive as the academic impact of trauma
and the intersections of low-income, elementary students of color? Table 3 displays the final
themes for RQ1.
Table 3
Research Question 1 Themes
Theme development Final themes
Poor attendance Trauma behaviors
Poor grades
Negative behaviors: aggression and defiance
Sad behaviors: withdrawal and crying
Positive behaviors: studious, quiet, and
focused
Lack of English Systemic barriers
Immigration status
Neighborhood volence
Skin color
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Trauma Behaviors
RQ1 examined the educators’ perception of the academic impact of trauma on low-
income elementary students of color. In looking at the data gathered from each participant, many
of them shared how strong the behaviors were that deterred the student in crisis from their
academic goals. Poor attendance, poor grades, and behavioral concerns were all affected as the
student’s trauma became their main focus. Gabrielle, a 47-year-old female, described her
experience working with low-income traumatized students of color as “students will demonstrate
either defiance or even elopement.” Tiana, a 47-year-old female, shared other trauma behaviors
as “the child is withdrawn, quiet, and they just do not have the motivation to attend school. They
do not participate when in school and often do not turn in their work. They become angry, very
violent, hit, kick, scream.”
Attendance was another component discussed to demonstrate how traumatized students
of color manifest negative behaviors. Peggy, a 41-year-old female, discussed attendance as
another traumatic behavior:
Oftentimes, there is anxiety with coming to school, especially when there are problems
going on at home. Students are afraid to leave their mother for fear of not seeing her
again, due to their increased stress they fall behind in their work and therefore believe
they cannot catch up. These thoughts hinder their attendance because they do not see the
value of school. They also believe no one at school cares about them.
It is these kinds of behaviors and thoughts that are displayed when at school. It is through
their negative behaviors that educators are able to see and understand there is something more
going on underneath the surface.
As the data displayed, educators’ perception of the academic impact of trauma was
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deeply rooted in the behaviors the students portrayed while in school. The types of trauma
behaviors displayed were telling how the student was feeling and provided more insight into
their immediate concerns. In more detail, behaviors were coded as positive and negative
behaviors. Positive behaviors were described as those who use their trauma as motivation to
succeed and usually manifest their feelings of insecurity inward. These are the students who
receive good grades and do everything they can to “blend in” so as not to stand out and be
noticed for being different or being in need.
Mandy, a 57-year-old female, stated, “You have kids who have gone through so many
ACEs and it fuels them to succeed. You see how productive they are and how much they want to
learn because they want to blend in.” These are the students who do not cause trouble because
they do not want to draw attention to their personal struggles. On the contrary, negative trauma
behaviors were the more outwardly displayed actions such as (a) physical aggression, (b) crying,
(c) poor attendance, (d) withdrawal, etc. These are the behaviors that educators describe as
detrimental to a student’s academic success because when their basic needs are not being met,
their focus when in the classroom suffers.
Systemic Barriers
When analyzing the data, the researcher used word frequency to see how many times the
word “barrier” was used (> .3%). In context, participants used it as a way to define the many
systemic obstacles most students/families of color have to endure that continue to keep them
from finding their personal stability. Some respondents described some barriers as “obvious and
more ongoing.” More specifically, lack of the English language, immigration status,
neighborhood violence, and skin color. Alice, a 33-year-old female, shared, “Students do not get
to escape the violence in their neighborhoods. They live in continuous poverty, single parent
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households, experience food insecurity, and as a result are always in a state of survival.” This
demonstrates when one lives in poverty, it is difficult to escape the barriers that are seen every
day (i.e., gang violence, parental incarceration/separation, hunger, etc). These obstacles hinder a
student’s academic success because they do not know any other way of survival. Even from a
young age, students of color join gangs for protection and fall into a life of violence that they
cannot escape because school is viewed as a waste of time as they can make more money on the
street versus a classroom. Single parent homes are more difficult to support because financially,
the cost of living has increased. As financial stability begins to decline, things like food become
secondary and are often rationed among the members of the home. This is how students come to
school hungry because they did not have dinner the night before or breakfast, they are unable to
focus when in school.
However, some barriers were not as obvious, and those were discussed by many
participants as the negative assumptions and unconscious biases some educators hold against
students of color and their families. In more detail, some educators shared how often their peers
would not see color and would therefore treat all students equally and hold them to the same
expectations without realizing that not all students have access to the same resources and support
systems.
Cindy, a 52-year-old female, shared,
When I am in classrooms, I notice how often the lowest performing students are placed in
the back of the class and not encouraged to participate as much as their White peers. I
always talk about placement and engagement within the classrooms as the main focus for
our students of color so that we can ensure they are included. The lack of engagement
across students of color was eye opening to see. Looking at placement in the classroom,
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students who are in the back oftentimes are made to feel as if they are not seen and
therefore might increase disruptive behaviors for lack of acknowledgement.
The subtle ways educators dismiss students of color by providing harsher consequences,
lack patience when the student of color is having a rough day, or sending the student out of the
class for the principal to deal with. All ways in which students of color who are in crisis are
made to feel as if they are valued “less than” their White peers. Armelia, a 52-year-old female,
explained,
One time I was called to come and remove a student from class because he was being
disrespectful. Now, this particular student had never had any discipline concerns and
received mildly good grades. When I met with him, he proceeded to tell me that he was
asked to take his hoodie off in class and refused to do so. When I asked him why he
refused, he shared that he was removed from his home and placed in foster care last night
and he did not have time to do his hair this morning. So, the hoodie was covering up his
hair.
The assumption that his lack of participation and refusal to take off his hood was
perceived as an extreme behavioral concern and he was sent out of the class and up to the
principal’s office. Had the classroom educator stopped to think about this particular student’s
history of refusal, or lack thereof? If so, the classroom educator would have realized that this
behavior was uncharacteristic of this student because he was a student who received decent
grades and was never a behavioral concern. This story demonstrated the assumptions and poor
actions taken from educators who do not think twice about their treatment of students of color
who are in crisis versus White students who might just be regarded as having a bad day.
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Research Question 2 Analysis
RQ2 asked the following: What can educators do to address the academic impact of
trauma and the intersections of low-income, elementary students of color? Table 4 displays the
themes from RQ2.
Table 4
Research Question 2 Themes
Theme development Final themes
Altered assignments Build rapport
Daily check-in
Build trust
Connection
Knowing the support resources Trauma support interventions
Knowing the warning signs
Include more social emotional support
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Building Rapport
This question asked the educator to address specific actions they took when addressing
the academic impact of trauma and the intersections of low-income, elementary students of
color. As the interviews progressed, each participant began to describe the different ways they
built a relationship with the student experiencing trauma. Armelia, 52-year-old female, said,
I altered assignment expectations to reduce stress and focused on gaining the students’
trust. This showed that I was willing to meet them where they were and find ways for
them to feel more grounded when in school without the worry of assignment completion.
However, they were not excused from doing the work, they were just able to complete
what they could, and the rest we worked on together.
Cindy, a 52-year-old female, shared,
I asked simple questions such as “how are you feeling?” or “How can I help you?” to
elicit more conversation and open the door to finding out what might be going on
underneath the surface of what is being displayed at school.
This flexibility and care as described by both Armelia and Cindy showed each of their students
the benefit of coming to school because, no matter what was going on at home, when at school
they mattered. It showed each student they were missed when not in attendance and that when
work was not complete, it was noticed and not going to be ignored.
Other respondents shared the different strategies used to build rapport with their students
of color in order to identify the proper resources to share with their students/families. Hollis, a
40-year-old female, stated,
I stayed in constant communication with the student and showed as much empathy as I
could. I told them that I was always here if they ever needed someone to talk to. I worked
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on building trust with my students so that they knew someone at school cared for them.
Hopefully it would encourage them to attend.
These relationships were taken seriously when working with students who were experiencing
trauma. The constant communication and linkage to the proper source of support added more
credibility to their stance on wanting what was best for their student. In looking at word
frequency, “connect” was used > .5% of the time for each of the participants.
This word was used to explain the many ways they attempted to connect with their
students of color who were experiencing trauma by sharing their stories of the barriers they faced
when growing up to let their students know how much they understood their struggle. These
personal stories were used as a way to build rapport with students of color and allowed them to
see that with some hard work and determination, they too can overcome any barrier they face.
Connections were made in just providing empathy and allowing the student and the parent a safe
place to vent and be heard. Jim, a 45-year-old male, shared,
In my experience, you listen more to those whom you respect. So that is how the
relationship becomes more critical. I saw how in many situations the most important
thing I did in my classroom was build relationships. Sometimes, it is really the parent
whom you need to build a relationship with because it is the parent who is in control in
the home and trust starts with the parent. I increased my communication with the parent,
to show her how her child mattered to me.
Jim discussed how building relationships is the key to helping students feel safe when in school
by stating, “Finding small ways to connect with their parent(s) to help bridge the gap between
school and home.”
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Trauma Support Interventions
Participants discussed the many resources they would reach out to, in order to provide
more support for their students of color experiencing trauma and families. They mentioned
working with their principals so they could find more ways to support and resources for their
students of color experiencing trauma who are low-income.
Jim shared,
Oftentimes, students who are low-income lack the financial resources and ability to be
able to help support their personal needs. In more detail, food and clothing are some of
the things students in crisis do not have access to. As an educator, I looked into
alternative community resources such as counseling and food pantries to help keep my
low-income students of color afloat. By getting to know my students’ normalized
behaviors, I was able to catch when they were not having such a great day and because of
the rapport I built with them, I could ask them the tough questions to get the responses I
needed in order to find them the appropriate help.
By paying attention to the warning signs and not being afraid to ask the difficult questions, Jim
was able to identify the proper resources to help his student.
Another trauma support resource that was expressed by many of the participants was
including more awareness training, school social workers, and counselors into the school
environment. Estelle, a 75-year-old female, discussed,
I suggested that my school hire our own counselor who could specifically work with
students who were experiencing trauma and needed more social emotional support while
in school. I also asked for more sensitivity training opportunities so that staff could
recognize the signs of trauma and be of support to their students.
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Mandy, a 57-year-old female, shared, “We need more counselors in school to help address their
social emotional needs.” Gabrielle, a 47-year-old female, explained,
I would make sure to connect with the students who needed a little extra attention every
day. When we did not have social workers, I was our social worker and I made sure those
students were cared for and ensured (as best I could) their social emotional needs were
met.
This shows how educators advocated for their students of color in crisis and used their
expertise to find more support resources. Educators who took the time to get to know their
students, acknowledge them, and continuously support them in all they did so they believed
school was safe.
Conclusion
Low-income elementary students of color have the ability to succeed in school even
through their trauma. Sometimes, all it takes is for one supportive adult to recognize the warning
signs and find ways to assist the student through their crisis. Modeling perseverance and coping
skills to help overcome challenges, helped the traumatized student of color understand that their
trauma does not have to last forever and that they can still be successful. Building relationships,
connecting with them individually, and helping them overcome their barriers by linking them to
resources can all help the student find their academic success. Chapter Five will help to uncover
recommendations that could help educators gain the confidence and experience they need in
order to better support their low-income elementary students of color who are in crisis at a much
faster rate than those who have come before them.
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Chapter Five: Conclusions, Discussion, and Suggestions for Future Research
This study focused on low-income elementary students of color who have experienced
ACEs and are in need of support that would help them feel safe when at school in order to
return their focus towards their academic success. Educators have a significant role to fill when
working with students in the classroom; however, the needs of the low-income student of color
population continue to grow. Barlow and Becker-Blease (2012) argued that educators must first
identify the needs and motivations of individual students who have experienced trauma, so that
those who are in need are not made to feel isolated but rather included. In this chapter, the
researcher outlines some recommendations educators can make within their classroom and
school environment that will help them better serve their traumatized low-income students of
color.
There were two research questions evaluated in this study:
1. What do educators perceive as the academic impact of trauma and the intersections of
low-income, elementary students of color?
2. What can educators do to address the academic impact of trauma and the intersections
of low-income, elementary students of color?
The researcher wanted to understand the thoughts and actions of educators, so that more
relevant policies could begin to be put into place. The development and implementation of
specific strategies are vital for school systems whose goal is to improve the outlook of many
students who have experienced ACEs. Each student can finally feel included in the classroom,
especially students of color and reach their academic success while still being supported and
cared for.
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Summary of Findings
RQ1: What do educators perceive as the academic impact of trauma and the intersections
of low-income, elementary students of color?
Based on the participants who were interviewed, findings for RQ1 stated that trauma
behaviors are perceived as poor attendance, poor grades, negative and sad behaviors. Educators’
perceptions of the academic impact involved many of the behaviors. These outward behaviors
were perceived as negative behaviors (i.e., aggression and defiance) and sad behaviors (i.e.,
withdrawn and crying) more commonly discussed as those are the more disruptive ones seen
across classrooms. There were some positive behaviors (i.e., focused and quiet) discussed;
however, not many mentioned positive behaviors are trauma, which will be part of a future
recommendation for more trauma-informed interventions.
Systemic barriers were also identified by participants who discussed immigration,
language, skin color, etcetera as reasons why students and families are sometimes unable to
overcome certain obstacles. Something as seemingly small as not speaking the language can
cause extreme fear in a parent and might result in them not connecting to a much-needed
resource. These barriers cause students to also feel strain because they do not see their dire
circumstances changing. This causes more stress on them and makes them feel as if their trauma
situations will never change.
RQ2: What can educators do to address the academic impact of trauma and the
intersections of low-income, elementary students of color?
In looking at RQ2, many of the participants shared that building rapport was the most
important thing educators can do to increase the academic impact of our low-income elementary
students of color. Creating connections, increasing trust, daily check-ins with students, and
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altering assignments were just some of the ways in which educators believed their students felt
supported. Participants noticed an increase in student participation and happiness once they
began to feel included and supported. Educators worked on building rapport as soon as students
walked into their classroom because they saw the value in it.
Trauma support interventions (i.e., knowing the local community resources, identifying
warning signs, and providing more trauma support interventions) were discussed as strategies
that can be used within the classroom that would help educators feel more confident in what they
can do to increase a student of color’s academic impact. Educators expressed the need for more
social workers and counselors to help talk about social emotional learning with students as a way
to help normalize their feelings and emotions. Participants shared the importance of identifying
warning signs early so they can intervene early on. Their goal was to provide more proactive
interventions for their students to be academically successful.
Discussion
The results of this study help to create more opportunities for educators to learn and
understand trauma, mostly for the benefit of their students and families. In looking at SCT,
individuals model their behavior after individuals whom they trust and have a relationship with.
The findings show the importance of the interaction between personal, cognitive, and social
factors. This shows how trauma situations affect a student’s personal life as well as their time in
school and with their peers. The findings show how influential educators already are in building
confidence in students. Imagine how much more influence they would have if they were more
equipped to work with students experiencing trauma.
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Suggestions for Future Research/Recommendations
Recommendation 1
According to Ray et al. (2020), traumatized low-income elementary students of color
who have experienced multiple ACEs are more likely to have limited social-emotional
competencies. This may minimize the students’ strive for resiliency. In conducting the
interviews, each of the participants shared their thoughts on what would make them feel more
confident in their classrooms as they continue their work with low-income traumatized students
of color. As trauma is becoming more visible, educators can no longer run from it. It is true that
students are in crisis and in need of immediate help, and this is being displayed more in the
classroom. In looking at the data, Hollis stated, “The students did not participate in class, they
kept to themselves and did not have many friends, and often their attendance was poor because
of their trauma.” As the interviews continued, many of the respondents went on to question how
the situation was handled and pondered if there was more that could have been done to help their
students succeed if they were more equipped with the right training.
The first recommendation that came as a result of this study was requiring full faculty
and staff participation in ongoing trauma-informed training. This is an area of future study as the
researcher hypothesizes that students will feel emotionally and physically safer when their
educators are better trained in understanding trauma-informed practices. It is vital that school
systems are not only providing training on trauma-informed education but are also training
school personnel on understanding the presentation of trauma especially within students of color.
An area of future research would include developing professional development workshops on
identifying culturally-sensitive trauma-informed curriculum. As stated in the research, personal
greetings to students, asking questions about how the student is doing, sharing positive
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affirmations to students each day, as well as making personal connections with each student so
they know they are valued. If staff were trained to look at warning signs of trauma, this might
help students ease back into the classroom environment at a much faster rate. In looking at SCT,
one might begin to see how this change could create a more positive environment for students to
feel safe. Positive student/educator interactions and personalized attention were key indicators of
student success (Dooley & Schreckhise, 2016). Educators who spend time creating a positive and
supportive classroom environment will begin to decrease student tensions that exist.
One trauma-informed training in particular that all educators should participate in is
unconscious bias training. When working with students of color, oftentimes, educators
unknowingly treat students of color differently than their White peers. As shown in the data
collected, educators unwittingly placed students of color who were struggling academically in
the back of the class. Oftentimes, students of color were not called on as much as their White
peers due to them seemingly not knowing the answers. Educators should evaluate their personal
views to avoid overlooking student needs or trying to implement a “one-size-fits-all” approach to
addressing student learning (Alvarez, 2020). If educators were made aware of their unconscious
biases, it could really help more students of color feel more connected to the classroom. It would
create stronger student/educator relationships within the classroom. Just by having one adult they
trust really see them and by taking the time to understand their struggles, it will help the student
to gain a sense of belonging within the classroom. When evaluating SCT, Bandura (2002)
identified at the primary level educator support contributes to a students perceived self-efficacy.
Recommendation 2
According to Alisic (2012), one source for the burden educators felt was the negative and
overwhelming feeling of not being able to help their students because of their lack of knowledge
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or skill. Even having one resource they could refer students or parents to, would have helped
them feel more confident when working with low-income students of color who are in crisis. It is
more than just providing a hotline number or a brochure for counseling services. Oftentimes,
these families need someone who is a trained advocate to work on behalf of the student/family.
Jim shared, “Counseling would be the most effective resource for students who are experiencing
multiple ACEs.” Other participants shared the same sentiment in how social emotional support is
needed more than academic support due to the high volume of students who are in crisis. Most
often, it takes more time and energy than what the educator has to give. SCT highlights the
manner in which self-efficacy is what an individual uses to understand their personal
competence, which impacts motivation. According to Andersen and Chen (2002), the students’
experience with self comes as a reflection of their supportive person. As the significant
individual begins to transition, the student begins to shift their personal perception in both
motivation and behavior.
Based on the results shared, the second recommendation is to include more counselors
and school social workers. School counseling is one outlet for low-income students of color who
are in crisis who can participate in and find ways to conduct themselves appropriately in school.
The notion is that counseling can provide interventions that these students can use to reduce their
behaviors that affect their ability to focus when in school. By having more counselors and school
social workers who can provide therapy and link parents to outside community resources, it will
help ease some of the stress students feel when at school who are in crisis. Otaye-Ebede et al.
(2020) suggested in SCT there are both internal and external inputs, which promote or regulate
behavior. In this case, counseling would be one supportive resource that school administrators
can use to help regulate students’ negative behaviors (Otaye-Ebede et al., 2020). Counselors or
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social workers can also work with the families to connect them to the proper resources within the
community. This becomes an area of future research as the relationship can be examined
between parents who have experienced ACEs and how that impacts stress amongst their
children. All of this can be identified by the educator by knowing the warning signs and being
able to recognize when students of color are experiencing a traumatic episode.
Recommendation 3
Participants in this study discussed the different strategies used to bring their students of
color into the curriculum so that their cultures and experiences could be highlighted. Oftentimes,
students of color were forced to read and learn about the European side of history. However,
there are so many diverse cultures, traditions, and experiences that all of them should be shared
and celebrated.
Educators shared different experiences where they faced students of color who did not
relate to the curriculum in the classroom, which caused their focus to shift. Adding to their
already overwhelming ACEs, one may begin to completely withdraw from the classroom
instruction. Alice expressed, “By including the students name into the math problem or story
about different cultures, I was able to connect the student to the material.” This small strategy
helped the student feel more relevant and in turn helped increase their interest.
The last recommendation that came from this study would be to have a more inclusive
curriculum that allows students of color to be part of the curriculum. As shared by many of the
participants, oftentimes the curriculum inside the classroom is one sided and tends to favor the
White perspective. This makes the curriculum not relatable to students of color who are already
not connected to school. When one discusses school connectedness, it is not just about
relationships, it is about the curriculum being taught in the classroom. This is an opportunity to
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show students of color that their experiences matter. Maybe if they were shown individuals who
look like them and have experienced the same barriers, it might create more discussions around
different cultural perspectives, trauma experiences, etcetera. These discussions can help to
normalize how everyone is equally special. By having these discussions in school, it might
encourage students of color who do not feel connected to the classroom material to find some
attachment to the information being taught. This interplay between personal and environmental
factors is central to learning (Dooley & Schreckhise, 2016). This may draw their engagement and
focus back to the material. It may be the only thing they look forward to is learning about how
others view their world who look like them.
Limitations and Delimitations
The first limitation the researcher faced was timing in that most of the subjects chose to
complete the demographic survey and participate in the interview during the work day. As a
result, there were interruptions and some interviews were cut short due to the amount of time
needed to attend to their tasks. Certain themes were repeated or rushed through, in order to save
time and get to the next question. The second limitation was some educators wanted to
participate; however, they were uncomfortable talking about race while being recorded. Some
educators would have been happy to participate if race had not been included, because they
believed that all students are affected by trauma equally. One delimitation was the two-year Title
I teaching requirement because it narrowed the opportunity for some educators to participate in
this study. Lastly, another delimitation is the focus on Grades 4–6 students, as it is believed that
by this age, students can explain their behaviors and are less inhibited.
Recommendations for Future Research
Future research could benefit from more participants who have experienced ACEs in the
79
primary grades compared to upper grade students. The notion is that a long-term study of
students from primary grades who have experienced trauma are followed throughout their
elementary career. The educators who work with these students will document their obstacles
and academic concerns and successes, so that other educators can see how trauma evolves with
age in regard to behaviors and academic needs. This study would be for all educators who work
in elementary schools, to benefit from seeing the different ways ACEs affect students
academically. It will highlight various prevention and intervention strategies educators can use to
help each student as they continue on in their primary educational experience. Lastly, this will
also help to show the numerous manners in which trauma affects younger students versus older
students. It will also show how trauma manifests itself as students’ progress in age. One might be
able to grasp a full comparison of elementary aged students and provide a more tailored
approach to their age group.
Future research will gather data more efficiently because a small subset of students will
be followed throughout their academic career. Educators will be able to take their time observing
students of color who are experiencing trauma and with their learned trauma-informed practices,
feel confident in how they work with those students who are in crisis. In regard to talking about
race and being recorded, the researcher can continue to define terms so the educator is clear on
how the term is being used within the study. Hopefully, this will help provide more context to
how specific terms are being used and what is meant by them. Lastly, the researcher believes the
Title I requirement should stand because with time comes experience. Educators who have
taught in Title I schools must have a greater understanding of low-income students of color. With
the notion that many of them have experienced multiple ACEs in their lives. This means they
have already established rapport building skills, proper assessment questions, learned how to
80
communicate with parents when needed, etc. This requirement will only enhance the legitimacy
of the educators involved in the study.
Conclusion
This study focused on the academic impact of traumatized low-income elementary
students of color. This study focused on ACEs that cause students of color to shift their focus
from their academic goals to their traumatic experiences. Low-income students of color who are
concerned about their family, living situation, food insecurity, etcetera express outward
behaviors when in school that cause them to place their sole attention on those situations. As a
result, their attendance, grades, and behaviors in school tend to suffer. Educators shared the
many ways their confidence and bias affected the ways in which they looked after their low-
income traumatized elementary students of color. Educators discussed the importance of learning
the warning signs of students who are in crisis to be a resource to them and their families. It is
helpful to understand the ways in which students and families of color struggle, so that educators
can find positive interventions inside the classroom to meet each student where they are at
(emotionally) and help to shift their focus from their trauma back towards their academics. This
can be completed by educators shifting work assignments, connecting with students to build
strong supportive relationships, and providing resources that will help support students of color
and their families.
81
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Appendix A: Email to Principal
Date:
Dear Principal of the Radiator Springs Union School District,
My name is Ashley Swanson and I am a doctoral student at the USC Rossier School of
Education. I am conducting a research study under the guidance and direction of Dr. Marsha
Riggio-Boveja. The purpose of the study is to examine the academic impact of trauma on low-
income elementary aged students of color. I will interview and survey educators with at least two
years’ experience working in a Title I school.
This graduate research study may shed light on the impact of trauma and how it can
academically affect a student’s learning success. Academic impact is defined as decreased
attendance, poor grades, and increased behavioral concerns. The hope is that this study will raise
awareness for the need for more trauma-informed practices in all schools. This study may serve
as a source of benefit to educators who are looking for more trauma-informed strategies to
implement in their classroom, however feel as if there are not enough resources to financially
support the need.
Your staff’s participation is voluntary, and they have the right to withdraw at any time.
The information collected will be kept confidential and anonymous by the researcher and
members of the dissertation committee. Data will be presented in a manner that will ensure that
no individual or district can be identified.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding your staff’s participation in this study,
you may contact me or Dr. Marsha Riggio-Boveja at the University of Southern California.
Thank you, in advance, for your time and assistance.
88
Sincerely,
Ashley Swanson, Researcher
[aswanson@usc.edu] (661) 400-1712
Dr. Marsha Riggio-Boveja, Dissertation Chair, mriggio@usc.edu
( ) I have read this form and have been given the opportunity to ask questions. I
consent to my participation in the research described above.
89
Appendix B: Informed Consent
I want to thank you for taking this time Mr. and/or Mrs. to share your
personal teaching experiences in regards to students who are experiencing trauma. My name
is Ashley Swanson and I am the District Social Worker for the Radiator Springs Union
School District. I want to share with you that this study is completely voluntary. Please note
that your consent can be withdrawn at any time. Or if there is ever a question asked of you
that you are uncomfortable answering you may ask to skip the question. I want to begin by
sharing with you a portion of information about how this study came to be.
For purposes of this study, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)/trauma will be
defined as: domestic violence, divorce, incarceration, homelessness, food insecurity, loss of a
loved one. Across our school district we have seen an increase in students who are facing
these difficult ACEs/traumas, sometimes more than one. One thing that we are also noticing
is how low-income students of color are impacted even more by these traumas, many of
them coming from single parent households, lack of financial stability, and resources.
Students of color are defined as any student who is not White. Sadly, as a result of these
trauma’s, their academic achievement suffers as well. Academic achievement is defined as
attendance, grades, and social emotional behaviors. All of these become barriers that
jeopardize the students’ educational success. My hope is that you feel comfortable in sharing
your teaching experience with me. The goal is to find out what educators feel is the academic
impact of trauma on low-income students of color
I understand how busy educators are these days and for that I truly thank you for
taking the time to allow me to interview you for this study. You were selected to participate
in this study based on your years of teaching in a Title I school. This shows that you have
90
experience working with low-income students and may have insight on what sort of
interventions big or small that might work to help keep them engaged in the classroom. I
would greatly appreciate any and all information you can share regarding some of the
questions I will ask. The data found from this study will be kept confidential and coded to
not share any personal identifying information.
Thank you for taking the time to allow me to share more information with you
regarding this study, confidentiality, informed consent, as well as answering a few qualifying
questions that will add more data to this study. I would like to do my best to compensate you
for your time in participating in this data collection process. Upon your completion of this
study, I will provide you with a $25 Amazon gift card as a token of my appreciation for your
time and participation. Is there another day we can meet to complete this survey? This survey
will consist of more detailed questions and should take about an hour. If so, what day and
time later this week works best for you?
Thank you for your time today, do you have any questions about anything we
discussed today? If not, again, I want to thank you for your time and cooperation in this data
collection and I look forward to meeting with you again soon.
91
Appendix C: Demographic Survey
1. What is your age?
2. Which is your most preferred identified gender?
• Female
• Male
• Prefer to Describe:
• Prefer not to answer
3. Which is your identified Ethnicity?
• Asian
• Black or African American
• Latinx or Hispanic
• White
• Prefer not to answer
4. How many years of teaching experience do you have in a Title I school?
• 2–4 years
• 5–7 years
• 8–10 years
• 11+ years
92
Appendix D: Semistructured Interview Protocol
1. Please explain your thoughts and experience regarding elementary students and
trauma and how you believe it affects them (RQ1)
2. In your X amount of years teaching in Title I school(s), please describe any
experience you have had working with students of color who have experienced
any of the following trauma situations? (RQ1)
• domestic violence
• food insecurity
• housing insecurity
• loss of a loved one
• physical abuse
• sexual abuse
• suicidal ideation
• incarceration
3. As an educator, describe the ways in which you understand (if any) how
students of color might feel differently from their white peers? (RQ1)
4. What comes to your mind when you hear students of color have more of a
challenge when overcoming trauma? Please explain your thoughts. (RQ1)
5. Share a time you realized a student of color was in crisis and what you did to
support the student? (RQ2)
6. Please describe your feeling of confidence (if any) when teaching students of
color who have experienced trauma. (RQ2)
7. In the past, what were some interventions you wished would have been
93
provided to you or your staff to help you feel more confident in your ability to
teach students of color? (RQ2)
8. Please describe any trauma support resources (if any) you feel are or would be
helpful to you or your staff when working with students of color who are in
crisis? Please explain your thoughts. (RQ1), (RQ2)
Abstract (if available)
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Swanson, Ashley Michelle
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Core Title
Trauma and low-income elementary students of color
School
Rossier School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Education
Degree Program
Educational Leadership
Degree Conferral Date
2022-12
Publication Date
10/26/2022
Defense Date
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