The Guidebook for Creating Trauma-Informed Schools, which BCPS released in the third year of the transformation, was created to give teachers clear guidance on how to incorporate a trauma-informed approach into their classrooms and establish processes and procedures for supporting students. The guidebook rolled out a new response process based around Student Success Teams (SST) — a problem-solving group including Bearcat coaches, interventionists, CIS site coordinators and more. The guidebook offers scenario-based flowcharts to walk staff through SST processes, while offering useful resources for staff like referral forms for students requiring additional support. Overall, the percentage of teachers who feel they have adequate training to support students dealing with trauma rose significantly from 52% in spring 2018 to 68% in spring 2022.
Since the guidebook was released, one learning has been that it takes a great deal of support to fully train school staff in utilizing these new systems, including the SST. When it was first introduced, teachers and staff felt that there wasn’t enough professional development offered on the new approaches. Implementation of these practices was not consistent, and teacher and administrative staff turnover undermined the effectiveness of equity-focused training offerings. Superintendent Kimberly Carter said, “We need to provide more support around the implementation of those philosophies and understandings in a way that has practical application on the ground.”