An elementary school in Alaska’s capital is embracing a program that aims to increase understanding of the effects of childhood trauma in the learning process.
The Assistant Director of Washington State University’s Child and Family Research Unit, Natalie Turner, is working with fourth-graders at Juneau’s Glacier Valley Elementary as part of a program called CLEAR, or Collaborative Learning for Educational Achievement and Resilience.
Turner has stated that her hope is to help students who have suffered from trauma “to perform better in school and society by uniting students and teachers in understanding why some students act out.”
Studies have shown that children who experience more adverse childhood events than others usually don’t perform as well in school and often end up in more legal trouble as adults.
Schools involved with CLEAR’s three-year-program are referred to as “trauma-sensitive schools” or “trauma-informed schools.”
The aim is to eventually expand the program statewide if funding can be found.
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