Trauma-Informed Training As An Expulsion Prevention Initiative: Does it Work?

• In Event: Soft exclusions, hard solutions: Examining the precursors to and solutions for exclusionary discipline in early childhood

Abstract

Introduction: Childhood trauma can increase preschooler’s risk for behavioral problems, poor student-teacher relationships, and expulsion (Loomis, 2020; Zeng et al., 2019). Despite increased focus on trauma-informed school approaches, little work has focused on expulsion outcomes associated with different trauma-informed training content (Purtle, 2018). This gap makes it difficult to know which trauma-informed approaches are most effective at reducing trauma-related risks within preschool settings. The current study uses a randomized design to examine differential influences on teacher attitudes/stress regulation and child expulsion risk of two trauma-informed trainings.
Hypotheses: Based on prior work linking self-focused training to stronger trauma-informed attitudes, and stronger trauma-informed attitudes to lower expulsion risk – we hypothesized that self-focused training would be related to greater decreases in child expulsion risk and associated indicators compared to skills training.
Study Population: Teachers from seven preschool programs in a Mountainwest state were recruited and randomized to receive training focused on trauma-informed skills (e.g., managing trauma-related behaviors) or self-reflection (e.g., the influence of a child’s trauma behaviors on teacher well-being) from 2020-2022. Seventy-three teachers were randomized and completed the training and pre/post surveys (29 skills and 44 self-reflection).
Methods: Trainings were developed and facilitated by graduate students under supervision of the PI, and took place over 3 x 2-hour sessions held approximately a month apart. Before and after the training teachers complete a survey on their own trauma-informed attitudes (Baker et al., 2018) and emotion regulation strategies (Gross & John, 2003) and measures for four randomly selected students from their class, including student-teacher relationship (Pianta, 2001) and expulsion risk (Gilliam & Reyes, 2018; e.g., classroom disruption, fear of accountability, and child-related stress).
Results: Two-level growth-curve modeling was used to estimate changes in child expulsion risk, teacher trauma-informed attitudes, and teacher emotion regulation over time and based on the training group. Covariates included teacher role (lead/assistant teacher), prior trauma-informed training, and child race/ethnicity.
In unconditional child models, there were significant increases in student-teacher closeness (p < .001) and decreases in classroom disruption, an expulsion risk indicator (p = .025) from pre- to post-training. No person-level variance in slope was indicated, so training content was not examined as a level 2 predictor.
In unconditional teacher models, there were significant increases in reappraisal emotion regulation strategies (p < .001) and marginally significant decreases in suppression strategies (p = .063) from pre- to post-training, which have been found to be linked to expulsion risk by this author (Loomis et al., under review). Based on statistically significant variance in the slope, level-2 predictors were included into a conditional model, however training group did not explain a significant amount of between-person variance in the slope from baseline to follow-up.
The current study illustrates the promise of trauma-informed training in addressing teacher-level factors (e.g., emotion regulation) that may be linked to expulsion risk but not in reducing child expulsion risk directly. In the current study, the content of training did not differentially influence training outcomes; future research could include classroom observations to examine more nuances in trauma-informed expulsion prevention efforts.

Authors

• Alysse Loomis, University of Utah
  Presenting Author

• Devon Musson Rose, University of Utah

• Maureen Gomez, University of Utah

• Erica Murdoch, University of Utah