Transcripts For CSPAN2 Hearing On How Schools Deal With Childhood Trauma 20240714

Present. The committee a quorum is present. The committee is meeting to hear testimony on the importance of trauma and practices in education to assist students impacted by gun violence and other adversities. Miss beth of georgia, of minnesota, miss the of wilde ofiss pennsylvania, and mr. Pastor of texas, are permitted to participate in todays hearings with the understanding that their questions will come on the after all members of the subcommittee have had an opportunity to question the witness. ,ursuant to committee will 7c Opening Statements are limited to the chair and the Ranking Member. This allows us to hear from or witnesses sooner and provides all members with time to ask questions. Can you hear me all right . All right. I recognize myself now for the purpose of making an opening statement. I want to begin by acknowledging that this morning marks 18 years since the terrorist attacks that struck new york, pennsylvania, and the pentagon on september 11, 2001. Let us please take a moment to remember the nearly 3,000 lives lost in those attacks. Chairman sablan thank you. This morning, we are here to discuss the federal governments responsibility to ensure that every child from the marianas to maine has a nurturing learning environment. Today, many children are prevented from reaching their full potential because they are suffering from the significant, longterm effects of trauma. In fact, 34 million children, or 45 of children, have endured an Adverse Childhood Experience that can hinder their ability to learn and grow. Extensive Research Shows that children who have experienced trauma and toxic stress are more likely to be forced into fightorflight mode. In school, this can often manifest in trouble paying attention, an impulse to fight, and depression or anger. These challenges can be further compounded by harsh school discipline, instead of helpful support, if a school is unaware of the science of trauma and toxic stress. My third grade teacher should have known this. But seriously, the trauma and stress of Natural Disasters has also affected Student Learning and wellbeing. For the over 950 Hopwood Middle School students in my district who lost their campus to super typhoon yutu, starting the new school year in femabuilt tents is certainly not an ideal learning environment especially when the students themselves had their homes lost or damaged. Damage from the storm has also forced schools to send their students to attend halfday sessions at other schools, robbing them of a full day of learning and the emotional security of having a Campus Community of their own. While we do not yet fully understand how these students will fare over time under these circumstances, studies show that over a lifetime, victims of trauma can face a higher risk of drug and alcohol abuse, greater risk of suicide, and shorter lifespan. Dr. Robert block, former president of the American Academy of pediatrics, has been widely quoted as saying, Adverse Childhood Experiences are the single greatest unaddressed Public Health threat facing our nation today. Children across the world experienced trauma, the United States is not unique in that regard, but there are specific, preventable forms of trauma that our children experience more frequently than anywhere else in the world. The most notable example is gun violence. Americas gun homicide rate for 1524yearolds is nearly 50 times higher than in other highincome countries. 50 times. According to a database maintained by the washington post, 228,000 students have experienced gun violence at school since the columbine tragedy in 1999. 228,000 students. Americans, of course, are not 50 times more violent than citizens of other developed nations. Of course not. But what distinguishes us from other developed nations is that we have failed to pass basic gun violence prevention laws that are supported by an overwhelming share of our constituents. The consequences of that failure are felt in communities like odessa, el paso, dayton, and virginia beach, which have all experienced Mass Shootings in the past three months. They are also felt by residents in chicago, st. Louis, detroit, and other cities where families live under the constant threat of gun violence. While this hearing is about implementing traumainformed School Practices, we cannot ignore the reality that much of this trauma is preventable. Reducing gun violence, ending family separations, improving access to Mental Health care, quickly rebuilding schools lost to Natural Disasters, addressing poverty, are some of the many changes we can make to improve the quality of life for children across the country. But given that we have shown little ability to address these issues, the very these we can do is help schools educate children who shoulder the burden of our inaction. More than 70 of children who need Mental Health services do not receive the appropriate care. Lowincome students of color, who are more likely to experience trauma, are often concentrated at segregated Public Schools that cannot afford critical Mental Health resources. And as a result, children of color disproportionally suffer the physical and emotional effects of trauma. A recent report by the Government Accountability office found that states are facing numerous issues supporting children affected by trauma, including funding challenges. To make matters worse, president trump, and the Congressional Republicans are further restricting Mental Healthcare at schools by repeatedly moving to slash funding for k12 education. This includes the elimination of title ii funding for Teachers Professional Development and the a program,tle iv which is designed to improve School Conditions for Student Learning. The experts here today will broaden our understanding of how traumainformed care can be integrated into learning practices, student discipline, and support services to improve graduation rates, student achievement, and school climate. They will also help us understand how congress can support traumainformed practices that are proven to help students succeed. Todays discussion is an important step towards addressing a pervasive Public Health issue that is affecting communities throughout and across the country. Thank you to all the witnesses for being here. I now yield to the Ranking Member, mr. Allen, for his opening statement. Allen thank you, mr. Chairman, thank you for recognizing the anniversary of sorry mr. Chairman, thank you for recognizing the anniversary of 9 11, and note that this discussion is particularly poignant given this date. Sadly, far too many children are affect by trauma, because of their age or reliance on adults to keep them safe, children are more vulnerable to trauma. Studies show that 26 of children will experience a traumatic event before they turn 4. And more than two thirds of children reported at least one traumatic event by age 16. What is more disturbing of the statistics surrounding children in the welfare system. 95 of children reported psychological and physical abuse. 99 reported psychological and sexual abuse. This is absolutely heartbreaking. Trauma can include any variety of frightening events such as physical and sexual abuse, cyber bullying, or the death of a loved one. These can be caused by events at home, in the community, or around the world. Twodren that face more than traumatic experiences in their life can develop reactions that negatively impact their daily lives in fact, trauma can affect a childs education and impair their learning Research Shows that there is a correlation , anden traumatic events cognitive and behavioral issues. A study of more than 1000 children from 20 large cities in the United States found that traumatic events in Early Childhood or associated with below average academic and literacy skills. In fact, i have been told in my district that if a child is reading at the level of thirdgrade by the time they finished the thirdgrade if he is not reading by then, he is more likely to have a lot of schools and has an 85 chance of the incarcerated. School staff can act as a critical support system for traumatized children and their families. If a student is acting out, failing tests or having difficulty concentrating, it may be a sign of trauma. If teachers understand what is a, test student and what they are facing, they can better accommodate and help this child needs in the classroom. However, teachers are no replacement for family and faith. , grandpas and grandmas can never be replaced in the left of a child. Faith cannot be replaced in the life of a child. Education is just one piece of supporting and shaping children. All of us in this room want to see our nations children and make sure they are loved, happy, safe and successful. In fact, in my goal when i run quitffice it is time to losing our children. There is not a person here that does not care deeply about their futures. That is why we shouldnt turn any kind of trauma experience by a child into a political platform. Instead. , we should focus on equipping families, schools and communities with the tools they youngo shape americans to be successful leaders. We have a vested and sincere interest in the wellbeing of our nations children. They are our future. This hearing will examine the effects of trauma on schoolchildren and how to identify and address them, and most importantly, how we can help students have access to is safe, supportive and Healthy Learning environment. As a point of personal privilege, i had the opportunity while we were on our district work period to visit with many school officials. I will not name the superintendent, but i had the asortunity to visit with him tears came to his eyes and he youngbed three suicides, people in that School System last year. I asked him why. Said, they are without hope. Where is the hope . Too, that isting, was given a book in a meeting two weekends ago called death on hold. I never thought somebody on death row would teach me what this gentleman, mitch, taught me when reading this book, about what he went through as a child, what he experienced in the streets, why he was on death row, and why now he is making an impact, on so many lives, particularly young people who are making bad choices. I highly recommend this book. It is required reading for members of congress, because i think they will see where the real problem lies. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I look forward to hearing our witnesses today. Chairman sablan thank you very much, Ranking Member allen. Without objection, all the members who would like to insert written statements into the record may do so by inserting them electronically by 5 00 p. M. September 20. I will now introduce our witnesses. Harris is the Surgeon General of california. She is also an awardwinning physician, researcher and advocate dedicated to changing the way our schools, the way our society, excuse me, responsys to one of the most serious, extensive and widespread public crises of our time, childhood trauma. Previously, she founded the center for youth wellness and subsequently grew the organization to be a National Leader in the effort to advance video trick medicine pediatric medicine, raise public awareness, and address the way that children exposed to experiences suffer toxic stress. Should also lead the Bay Area Research consortium to advance scientific screening and treatment of toxic stress. Dr. Nadine burke harris has published academic articles on advanced. Children with guesses in trauma she also published a book called the deepest well heating the longterm effects of childhood adversity. You have been busy, dr. Harris. Is ther. Ingrida barker associate superintendent of schools in West Virginia. She is in her 16th year as an educator. She is best six of which were teachingd to at Sandy River Middle School and three spent as a High School Administrator in charge of curriculum and instructions at riverview high my youngest happened to be Public School teachers. Servesly, dr. Barker as the title ix coordinator and works extensively to support the development of comp range of Student Supports in the county. Dr. Barker earned her bachelors french,n english and and completed a master of arts degree from West Virginia university in secondary education. Dr. Barker received a doctoral degree in leadership studies at marshall university. Ms. Joy hofmeister did i get right . , she hasing Office Released a more userfriendly system and bolstered student onety, with an emphasis ensuring children have access to opportunities to achieve. Cademic success she has revamped teacher evaluation and brought attention to the need for trauma informed instructional practices that meet children where they are. Leastnally, but not the jackson has been immersed in cps her entire life as a former student, teacher, principal, chief education officer, and now as a parent to cps students. As ceo of the Third Largest School District in the country, dr. Jackson is focused on improving excellence in all cps schools. Of efforts, along with those chicagos dedicated teachers and principals, have propelled cps to record breaking academic thes, and experts across country regard chicago as a National Leader in urban education. She has a masters degree and a doctorate in urban School Leadership from the university of chicago. Welcome, all of you. We appreciate all of the witnesses for being here today, and look forward to your testimony. Remind the witnesses that we have read your written statements, and they will appear in full in the hearing records. Anduant to Committee Rules practice, each of you is asked to limit your oral presentation to a five minute summary of your written statement. Let me remind the witnesses that in pursuance of the u. S. Code, section 1001, it is illegal to knowingly and willfully falsify congresspresented to or otherwise cover up any material fact. Before you begin your testimony, please remove her to press the button on the microphone. We ourselves forget doing that once in a while. Light begin to speak, the mik in front of you will turn green. After four minutes, the light signal youellow to have one minute remaining. We will let the entire panel make their presentations before we move to member questions. When answering a question, please remember to once again turn your microphone on. Dr. Ll first recognize Nadine Burke Harris. You have five minutes. Dr. Harris good morning. Thank you for this opportunity to participate in this hearing. A robust body of literature demonstrates that Adverse Childhood Experiences are highly prevalent, strongly associated with poor childhood and adult health, Mental Health, behavioral and social outcomes, and demonstrate a pattern of high rates of intergenerational transmission. High levels of adversity without the buffering partitions of a trusted caregiver and safe, stable environments lead to overactivity of the biological stress response and changes in brain structure and function, how genes are read, the functioning of the immune and inflammatory systems, and changes in growth and development. These changes are what comprise what is now known as the toxic stress response. Of American Adults have ,xperienced at least one a. C. E. And 51 have experienced four or more. Those with four or more face double the risk of seven out of 10 of the leading causes of death in the United States, including heart disease, stroke, and cancer. The original cdc research was done in a population that was 70 caucasian, 70 collegeeducated. Sociodemographic or Geographic Group that is spared. The higher the score, the more likely an individual is to also ,truggle with depression, ptsd sleep and eating disorders, and Substance Abuse. A National Study of more than 35,000 adults found that even after adjusting for the impact of sociodemographics and they are use, independently associated with as much as four times the risk of incarceration. Similarly, research has indicated that a common factor among individuals emitting Mass Shootings is a history of multiple aces. Mong the most notable effects are the effects on behavior. As likelyhree times to repeat a grade. Clear. Ence is Adverse Childhood Experiences are a Public Health crisis that require coordinated cross sector response. Scientific consensus supports two core principles. One, Early Detection and Early Intervention improves outcomes, safe, stable, and nurturing relationships and environments are healing. Schools and our educators are a critical part of an ecological and Public Health response to toxic stress. Trauma informed practices at schools involved ensuring that all personnel are trained to understand that disruptive behaviors may be possible symptoms of toxic stress, and respond with compassionate care. In addition, trauma informed training and practices and policies include establishing systems that enable safety, including predicable routines and social interactions, a calm physical environment, transparent and printable rules, having clear, nonpunitive consequences for violating rules , teaching social and emotional skills, participatory decisionmaking by students in school policies, and explicit family and community involvement, including support for families managing stress. Restorative disciplinary practices and programs to prevent retrauma does a to prevent retraumatization should be the norm. They can align with the six pillars of mitigating toxic stress is allowed of mitigating toxic stress physiology. Addition, prevention of vicarious traumatization and supports for educator wellbeing are essential elements for trauma informed educational environments. Important elements also include workforce training, dissemination of best practices, data reporting, and rigorous evaluation. As noted by authors in a recent commentary in the journal of pediatrics, both the World Health Organization and the centers for Disease Control and prevention recognized that schools are not only places to transmit academic knowledge, but also a place for Vulnerable Children to connect with supportive adults and peers outside of their families. Supportive relationships with students, teachers, and coaches have been shown to protect against depression, Substance Abuse, and to promote academic success. The opportunity ahead of us is about the true intersection of health care and education. Thank you for this opportunity to share this science, and i urge you to use this information to inform your actions on behalf of the american people. Chair sablan thank, dr. Burke harris. I would like to now recognize dr. Barker for five minutes, please. Dr. Barker good morning. I work in one of the poorest districts in the United States, according to the 2019 data. We face the highest rates of children living in poverty and children in kinship care or living with grandparents. These numbers, alongside mounting overdose rates, brief the perfect storm of issues that impeach his wellbeing and academic achievement. We face the challenges brought to us by generational poverty, ranging from kinship care issues to generational trauma our families face. The schools see adverse effect in behavior and academics. Students whose main focus is on survival and managing use the capacity on mental stress in their lives. They need to think about their physical and Emotional Health needs. Stability and social structures acclimate in our students lives, and that is why schools face increasingly challenging behaviors and have to use a variety of resources to provide Continuous Learning opportunities for all students, hence the influence of trauma influenced practices and Health Supports in our schools. Focus on trauma influenced learning is immediate and complex. They come to us with several a. C. E. Scores. Many of our kids with abuse, parent drug overdose, and violence early on. School can help provide protective factors such as strengthening social connections , providing concrete support in a time of need, and helping children develop social and emotional cognizance. Wait for somebody else to come and help our families and children, or we can do something now while we have our kids in our schools. We choose the latter. The school staff cannot do the job alone. Are applying a new strategy to leverage and coordinate resources with school and permuted to school and Community Providers to help our kids. It curates Collaborative Partnerships with various Community Organizations to meet the unique needs of a child, including family and kinship supports. Building and maintaining 70 partnerships requires a manytime maintaining so partnerships requires a Fulltime Position to do this. The south side k8 district has been using these for several years, and now we see we can keep our teachers, instead of having 40 owner over every year instead of having 40 turnover every year. We have a stable environment and great culture in the school. As a district, we have an emphasis on securing Collaborative Partnership on the district level because they are so remote, and he schools frequently dont have the opportunities to get the partnerships themselves, but funding for all these positions, for all these positions is a challenge for all counties. Therefore, increases to the funding formula for education like title i, as well as title iv, is needed. When faced with choices to meet these students needs, we should not have to choose between public students learn and nurses and social workers. Become hubs of community, and have to meet the needs of the whole child. Engaging in a piecemeal approach, having to choose between funding academics or emotional support. These practices can break a generational cycle of poverty and trauma in our students lives, because their parents often cope with that trauma themselves and did not help our students as much as they could. Thank you so much for your time to listen to my statement. Chair sablan thank you very much, dr. Barker. S. Hofmeisterze m for five minutes, please. Morning,ister good members of the committee. My name is joy hofmeister. I was elected state superintendent of public instruction in 2014 by the good people of oklahoma, and reelected in 2018. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you to discuss the effects of childhood trauma on student academic performance antisocial and emotion performance and the social, emotional growth of our students. Make standards, national comparability, accountability, and more. These improvements cannot remedy every challenge. There are, of course, the stark realities of poverty, childhood hunger, domestic strife, and more. The world outside the classroom has an undeniable impact on the world inside the classroom. A recent National Survey of Childrens Health reports that oklahomas youngest children suffer more trauma than those in any other state. Oklahoma ranks 42nd in the nation in child wellbeing. 75 of our students suffer moderate or serious depression. A growing number admit to a low commitment to school and a high risk for drug abuse. Bearing this in mind, how can we equip teachers to move students toward resilience and a Bright Future . We believe the key is trauma sensitive instruction. Recent work on the science of hope makes clear that the connection with a stable, caring adult is a common factor in moving our children from trauma to hope. 2018 and february 2019, through grant assistance, title iv funding, and community and agency partners, the Oklahoma State department of education held two statewide trauma summits. Both were heavily attended. Next february we will hold another for all educators in the state, with approximately 42,000 Classroom Teachers we expect to 10,000, providing increased support to address the invocations of trauma among our youth is a priority at our state agency. The agency provides professional Development Opportunities for educators to better understand the connection between trauma, the science of the brain, and the negative impact on student performance. A moretion, we began cross Agency Collaboration to address trauma and its connectedness to student academic performance, chronic absenteeism, and behavior. Our office of Student Support provides onsite intervention and professional development to schools and districts. Consistsast spring, it of directors of social counseling, academic counseling, prevention services, college and career readiness, workbased learning, family and community engagement, and suicide prevention. We will soon add a specialist voted to bullying prevention and a statewide Crisis Response team. Since july, our Student Support team has provided Educational Opportunities and classroom interventions for more than 4000 oklahoma educators. Through our work toward college and career readiness, a new focus on individual career wedemic planning, or icap, are learning that students who intentionally plan for their future are more hopeful and resilient. The results can mitigate the negative implications of trauma. ,cap is required statewide beginning this school year. Already, students in our pilot study telus that their friends are coming to school more pilot study tell us that their friends are coming to school more and are more optimistic about life after high school. Through heightened trauma awareness, we see rich learning environments and increased trust and support between teachers and students. Trauma informed instruction is working. One teacher said, after intending trauma informed instruction professional development, our school brought back strategies and started implement them in a few classrooms, and noticed that student discipline referrals went to zero. We are already seeing the change in our student behaviors and test scores. Such results are hardly surprising when we ask students what they need from their teachers. The message is consistent. Get to know us. Connect with us. Care about us as people. When we empower teachers with evidencebased strategies and greater awareness of trauma, we allow them to harness their creativity to develop positive connections with students. In closing, the trauma expert trauma isvine said, a fact of life. It doesnt have to be a life sentence. We believe we can move our children from trauma to hope. Chair sablan thank you very much. Now i would like to recognize dr. Jackson for five minutes, please. Dr. Jackson good morning, members of the committee. My name is janice jackson. I am the chief executive officer for chicago Public Schools, which is the Third Largest School District in our nation. I am grateful for this invitation today to talk about one of the greatest challenges we face in chicago. May of our students are growing up in communities that struggle under the weight of poverty, and have been significantly impacted by violence. The purpose of my testimony today is to explain how exposure traumaence can create for chicagos children. And more importantly, to share the steps cps is taking to combat the damaging effects of trauma. First, i would like to tell you about two students that live in a world where trust is scarce and anger is overly abundant. He described their communities and their own words as places where no one can be trusted. For these children, navigating violence and poverty is a way of life. This can mean that they are exposed to gun violence, gang activity, Substance Abuse, incarceration of a loved one, and loss of loved ones. Because of that, they are far more likely than their peers to experience multiple traumas during their formative years. This repeated exposure to trauma can have farreaching effects on youth. Like teachers all over the country, chicago educators also feel the pain and uncertainty alongside the students they serve every day. This is referred to as secondary trauma. For both students and teachers, trauma becomes a form of toxic stress in their brains when it is left untreated. For students, it can lead to behavior problems, poor Mental Health, drug and alcohol abuse, and unhealthy sexual behavior, not to mention constant struggles in the classroom. Children exposed to this type of trauma are at risk for lower grades, poor attendance, behavior issues, and increased likelihood of dropping out of school. Could easily fate have befallen rodney and kim, but thanks to one of the many programs cps and the city of chicago has invested income of the situation is changing. This summer, cps and the city launched a first of its kind program called summer for change, targeting students exactly like the ones mentioned before. Students from underserved urban communities who are at risk for being impacted by violence. Youth this program, 430 dissipated in enrichment opportunities and were given access to mentoring and trauma informed therapy that they need. It gave these students access to something they were missing, caring and trustworthy adults who they. Could open up to not one of the 400 who they could open up to. Not one of the 430 students was a victim of violence this summer. We also saw an overall reduction of almost 50 in gun Violence Victimization among students enrolled in our alternative School Systems during the summer of 2018. We hope the summer for change program and programs just like it contribute to this type of success, and that we can continue to provide students in chicago with safe haven to avoid some of the outcomes we discussed earlier. Summer for change is one of many initiatives cps has launched around social emotional learning. Others include restorative discipline practices that are moving us away from suspensions and expulsions and toward uncovering the root cause of negative behavior, while keeping kids in school, where they belong. This has resulted in a sharp decline in out of School Suspension and expulsions, and has led to the lowest ever dropout rate in our districts history our districts history. Supports ourntion students in coping with anxiety to depression, and managing their emotions, taking response ability for their choices. This helps them ensure they are prepared for success after high school. One other example i would like to share, for a student who will who i will call cara, she has grown out without a mother grown up without a mother and any other adult in her life. Join as recruited to structured psychotherapy for adolescents responding to chronic stress program, and things have started to turn around. She is learning to talk through her emotions and make better decisions, and this is helping her develop the coping skills necessary to better manage her stress. Chicago has been fortunate to receive federal grant support to manage the needs of children exposed to trauma. The impact of this funding is significant, particularly as our students continue coping with the stress of poverty and violence. To keep this vitally important work going, cps and other districts around the country need support. There is a serious need for increased federal funding to combat the effects of trauma on our youth. Only when our countrys leaders unite behind this cause can the range of quality Treatment Services for these students begin to fully meet their needs and put them on the road to recovery in a productive life. I thank you for listening to my testimony and your time, and look forward to your questions. Chair sablan thank you very much, dr. Jackson. [indiscernible] will Committee Rule 8a, we not question witnesses under the five minute rule. As chair, i have decided to go at the end, so i will yield to the next Senior Member on the majority side, who will be followed by the Ranking Member. Start. S thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you to all of our witnesses today. I am so grateful we are talking about this. I am also a pediatrician, so i come at this with a little different perspective, and ive been thinking about how we can really address this. Are a particularly difficult problem because so many adverse childhood events happen at home. When a patient comes into the office, we try to partner to make things better, but when there is so much dysfunction at , that makes it much harder to solve in the exam room. So a lot of it really ends up being left to the schools, which is the other safe place for kids. I have a couple of questions. One is for you, dr. Jackson, about the difference between expulsion suspension, and how that contrasts with now. I wanted to first talk with you, dr. Burke harris, about what we can do to help these families and catch things upstream. In Washington State, theres a couple really exemplary programs that meet families where they are, so it addresses these exact situations to help them build their Childrens Health. One is the positive parenting program. It aims to assist parents in preventing a lot of the serious behavioral and emotional problems we are seeing in kids. The other is the Guiding Good Choices Program that helps parents of kids nine to 14yearold who are entering a turbulent period to make good choices through adolescence. s positive outcomes include leavening home placements of children, academic success is outstanding, and taxpayer savings of about 1400 per discipline. The Guiding Good Choices Program demonstrates increases in the number of positive interactions between parents and children, lower rates of Substance Abuse, lower rates of delinquency, and effects that last even 40 years out. I want to ask if there are some other programs you really like and would recommend, and maybe even add what some of the challenges are for resources in rural communities. Dr. Burke harris thank you. When we are that talking about addressing Adverse Childhood Experiences, we have to break the intergenerational cycle. Kids who have a. C. E. s have parents who have a. C. E. s. In california, we are in permitting screening for children and adults, and responding with Trauma Informed Care. Allocated 40as million to reimburse providers for doing that, and 60 million over three years to train providers on how to do that and how to respond to Trauma Informed Care. Ensuring that adults also have access to Mental Health services and supports for vulnerable families under stress, it has to be a two generation approach. Rep. Schrier thank you very much. Are there particular programs i should look to bring home to my state of washington . I love that you are implementing the screening program. Dr. Burke harris one program i also recommend is child parent psychotherapy, a clinical intervention that ive used in my clinical practice. Focusedas any trauma therapy that can be used for kids and adults. Rep. Schrier great. Thank you. Dr. Jackson, i wondered if you could paint a picture for my colleagues about what it would look like traditionally, if you had a child that was misbehaving so much in school that they would be sent home, of course, where there is drugs or neglect or a sick parent, or whatever else, versus how you handle that in a school focused on trauma informed behavioral modification. In chicago Public Schools, we first started by looking at policies that led to not only outrageous numbers of students being suspended and expelled from school, but the disparity between africanAmerican Students and their peers. Makeanged the policy to teachers, principals, and administrators have to go deeper to identify the root cause, and also show an effort to address those root causes through other practices, such as restorative justice, in some cases giving students access to Mental Health professionals, either in the school or outside in the community. What this has resulted in, unlike some of the skepticism we heard in the beginning, is fewer students being suspended and expelled from school, higher attendance rates, which also had a direct impact on student achievement, which has been addressed here today. I am happy to say that weve been engaged in this work for six or seven years now, and now we have the data to show that when we invest in our students and look underneath to figure out what is going on and provide them with the trusted adult or individual, we can really change the pathway, so i would recommend to those folks listening to thing about the policies first, and make sure there is investment in training for the educators working with students every single day so they can implement them with fidelity and care for student. Rep. Schrier thank you. Chair sablan thank you very ier. , dr. Schr i will recognize now mr. Thompson of pennsylvania. Rep. Thompson thank you so much. Thank you for hosting this critical hearing topic that is extremely important. Trauma is such a Destructive Force from so many different perspectives of how it impacts a human being, when it comes to impacting our children, who quite frankly have may be not developed the resiliency, the skills to be able to prevent the real Destructive Force of trauma longterm. I want to thank each of the members of this panel for bringing your professional expertise, your passion. It is very obvious to me from what ive heard and read in his hearing today. Thank you for bringing your best too. Ices, ive already heard a lot of information that gives me hope. The fact is, i love that it was framed the science of hope. That really is what you all are all about. It is about building and establishing resiliency with our kids. It is sad what they have to experience. I would argue theres so many different forms of trauma, what has really made it present in every School District and school in the nation is the number one Public Health crisis in our lifetime, which has been Substance Abuse. The trauma, the loss of loved ones, what that does. So thank you for being here and sharing. Hofmeister, mentioned the importance of professional developments and teacher preparation programs focusing on trauma informed instruction. Can you provide some specific examples of what this look like . Ms. Hofmeister yes. It is based on the science of hope. At then hellman university of oklahoma has done many studies based on this. Wework on professional devout we work on professional development that is about building and fostering trust and respect between the student and the teacher, between families and the school. When we give our teachers more information to better understand behavior, recognizing that all behavior has a meaning, sometimes i think teachers have viewed the behavior as Something Else when it could be an expression of trauma. Having new eyes to see that instead of a child that is sleeping at the back of the classroom in middle school, and a teacher might ask, may be in the past, what is wrong with that get . We want to ask, what happened . What can we do to give them confidence and build that relationship . Strong, kids have that strengthened relationship with their teachers, they are going to be able to be more engaged, one caringve that adult that they know is paramount beyond moving towards that is paramount for moving beyond trauma and towards hope. Rep. Thompson a method that i use here, root cause analysis, finding out what is at the root cause of behavior you are seeing versus just condemning the behavior. I am heartened by the fact that ive heard that this committee, working in a bipartisan way, in past congresses, we have authorized programs. Ive heard those mentioned a few times, how theyve been helpful. I think it is obviously more left to be done. Of mentioned a few examples how this helped your students. Can you discuss that in more detail for us . Specifically, what impacts has this had on students, both in performance outcomes and their overall classroom experience . Ms. Hofmeister what we are seeing is that our students are more engaged. We know that Student Engagement is key for academic success. This is something, of course, that starts with teachers, but we also know that there is collective impact when there is in that Relationship Community that is created in a classroom, that starts with teachers engaging students. It can be as simple as the difference when a teacher greets children at the door, knows their name, is there to support them as people, not just teaching a subject. Our students tell us this makes all the difference in the world. One of our students on the Student Advisory Council at the state level told us that she accidentally got in a classroom that did not have an interest for her and was a mistake on the schedule, but the teacher was so engaging and cared and communicated that care about her as an individual that it was something she actually stayed in, didnt change, and it helped her at a time in her life when she needed an adult who would be there for her. This is something teachers can do. Teachers can foster hope, and that builds resiliency. Without hope, we do not have that ability to bounce back. Rep. Thompson thank you. Thank you, chairman. Chair sablan thank you, mr. Thompson. We alternate sides in questioning, so i would like to now recognize the chairman of the full committee, mr. Scott of virginia, for hive minutes. Rep. Scott thank you, mr. Chairman. I went to thank all of our witnesses for your testimony. Dr. Harris, you mentioned that Early Detection could help outcomes. When you have students showing a. C. E. s, whate do you do . Nurturingharris relationships are absolutely critical. The opportunity in trauma informed educational systems is for every adult in that childs education environment to be a dose of a buffering relationship, if you will. In clinical practice, what we nutrition, exercise, mindfulness, and healthy relationships are the clinical pillars for addressing a toxic stress physiology, and that is both healthimproved and also Mental Health and behavioral outcomes. Rep. Scott thank you. , if a child is subject to trauma, does it have an effect on achievement . How do you measure that . On jackson i had the mic the alltime. Thank you for that question the whole time. Thank you for that question. I think that a few things weve been able to measure after changing policies around keeping students in school and reducing the amount of time they are excluded from school is that we were able to see the correlation between increases in student attendance, access to Health Care Professionals in the school and outside the school, resulting in students achieving higher on standardized tests they were taking. We have also been able to look at graduation rates, where we experienced about a 20 increase in the past eight years. Much of that can be attributed to the changes that weve made around addressing the root cause analysis of what is going on with our students and making sure that we are intervening early and appropriately to keep them on track for schooling. I think some of the other ways we try to measure this is that, in chicago Public Schools, we have a Safe School Certification , which is a deep analysis of the practices, as well as the data in schools where we look at the amount of times students have been suspended, access to resources that we have, and also the intervention and supports that theyve received at three different tiered levels. Because that information is tracked and made publicly available, teachers are able to see that and determinations about schools. It has really incentivized educators within those buildings to really make sure theyve organized their schools to be safe and supportive environments for students. Just to give you a quick data point, since weve instituted the safe and Supportive School strategy five years ago, we went from having 1 3 of our schools receiving the seal of approval on that certification to now having close to 75 of our schools meet that. Our goal is obviously 100 , but that is already dramatic progress in a fiveyear period. Rep. Scott rep. Scott that is what happens if you rep. Scott that is what happens if you intervene. What happens if you do not intervene and a child is subject to a trauma . Dr. Jackson students that have been exposed are more likely to repeat the behavior that they have either experienced or been exposed to. One of the things we have also focused on, in addition to gun violence and the effect of at some is also looking of the challenges that many of our lgbtq students experience. Many of them have a higher likelihood of being exposed to traumatic incidents in their lives, so that has become a bigger priority in cps. But we tend to see if this is untreated is students drop out of school. Students are at a higher risk for unproductive behaviors. They are also at a higher risk for suicide and some other things that can be really traumatic. One of our goals is to really intervene as soon as possible to try to reverse some of those negative outcomes. Rep. Scott very quickly, can you tell me the importance of title iv a Student Support services . Dr. Jackson we talked a lot about this today. Projects like the project prevention funding and others that the district has been able to apply for really provide us with additional funding and support, or could provide us with additional funding and support, so that this is sustained. We now know better, so it is incumbent upon us to do better, and i. Place where weve really reached a utopia, if you will, we will be providing support for the educators that work with our students as well. I talked a little bit about secondary trauma earlier, and i really want to lift that up. We have a Teacher Shortage in the country, and we know that that is even greater in some of our more challenging schools, where there is a higher rate of students who have experienced traumatic episodes and incidents. If we do not adequately train the teachers who work with them every day, we will continue to see turnover and continued to see these cycles persist. Chair sablan dr. Jackson timothy give very much. Thank you come up dr. Jackson, thank you very much. Mr. Scott, thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Ms. Hofmeister, it is often the case that children struggling with trauma do not communicate with teachers the stress and other trauma related problems they face. What have you found to be common indicators of a child struggling with trauma or Traumatic Stress . Ms. Hofmeister often, a child who appears disengaged, as i mentioned earlier, does have a story behind that. That is something that, as teachers begin to foster the connection, they begin to understand a little more deeply it is occurring. That could be an older sibling that is in middle school that is taking care of the younger children, who got them to school on time. There could be barriers that occur that we can see as we dive a little deeper about those who are chronically absent. So it is incumbent upon us to meet our kids where they are, and to look for ways to remove barriers, first identify those, and remove them so our students are able to be successful. I think we focused a lot in the last number of years on student achievement, and we have set a high bar for student achievement, but we also have not had the expansive conversation we are having now about all aspects of the student, thinking about the whole child, and that is something that we are doing differently. Those types of indications that a student is having struggles can look different for every child. We need teachers and educators and School Leaders and School Board Members to have new eyes, a new lens to view the students they are serving, and then act on evidence to create Trauma Sensitive School policy. Rep. Timmons thank you. You talk about removing barriers to getting children help. What can be done to encourage kids to actively seek help . Ms. Hofmeister i think it is about being sensitive to where our kids are. It cannot different in different settings. I am thinking of an example just at the start of the school year. You have tornado drills. I was reaching out, and one of my School Superintendents mentioned how they had, and l reno, a very significant they reno, a very significant tornado in may. An example of what we can do is what they did. It was a trauma informed policy. They had the new eyes to see kids that were going to go through that tornado drill, 15 of them that were very impacted by that event. They had a caring Adult Holding their hand through that entire exercise. They were there for them through the rest of the day. It is a small thing, but it made a great difference in those childrens lives, and it also allowed them to at least stay as focused as possible on learning that day. But the superintendent told me learning was not taking place for them that day. It brings back triggers. As we think about those triggers, we cant make assumptions about what those will be. Students who have endured abuse at home or have witnessed violence in the home oklahoma has a high level of incarcerated men and women, in fact, the largest incarcerated population in the world per capita in our state, and this is something that impacts families, and many of our children have a high of Adverse Childhood Experiences. So having eyes to see the child where they are and be willing to more of a use blanket, cookiecutter approach to trauma is the call. We want to simply to build a relationship, and it unfolds from there. Rep. Timmons thank you. What role does the family play in this process . Ms. Hofmeister a significant role. We believe that Strong Families make Strong Communities and make strong schools. We want to strengthen families, and we also, ads educators, want to reach out to families to meet them where they are. We want to find ways to include had where perhaps they also a negative experience with school and dont want to come to school. They dont want to be as engaged as we know that they need to be, and that it will benefit their children. So we will meet them where they are anymore welcoming way, intentionally welcoming of our families, and finding new ways to do that. When youre homeless, when youre a mother who is homeless school, andld in youre moving from district to ,istrict or school to school the trauma means that you have to be more fleeing, for example. We still have to have a way to connect, and those are some examples. Rep. Timmons thank you for your testimony. Mr. Chairman, i yield back. Chair sablan i will now recognize ms. Hayes for five minutes. Rep. Hayes good morning, and thank you for being here for this very important hearing. I taught in and now represent a Congressional District that has been defined by tragedy. Newtown sandy hook is in my district. We trained all of our social on Early Childhood. All teachers and faculty members went through professional development on emotional and social learning. One of the presenters told us as a group that our children were scoring just as high as veterans on the trauma scale. I know personally that once educators begin to see children through a trauma informed lens, they can shift from blaming them for the behavior to beginning to understand the root causes of those behaviors. What i want to talk about today is the fact that trauma extends the on the point of impact. Grief counseling happens the day after something happens at a school, but the grief resulting from those tragedies extends into our communities, and i see that everyday in connecticut 5. This spring, one of the parents of the children at sandy hook tragically took his own life. Are ask you, if the adults still struggling, imagine what children are going through. We recently did a study in connecticut, and the results were astonishing. 90 of kindergartners reported experiencing a. C. E. Events, but only 23 were currently displaying symptoms. What this tells us is that 60 of students that 67 of students are experiencing a. C. E. s that are unidentified and untreated, allowing them to worsen over time. So i cringe to think that these children are comingofage and have all of these experiences that they do not know how to address. Mr. Chair, i wouldve to introduce this testimony that i just cited into the record. Thank you. My question today, i have two questions. , whatfor dr. Burke harris can we do post trauma for families to make sure they have the support that they need two years, five years down the road, especially in communities that have polarizing and targeted issues we can identify . I think the one thing we can all agree on is that it is not the childrens fault, the families that they come from. My next question is for dr. Jackson. What do you think the impact of secondary trauma is on the educators who have to come a year after year, stand in front of children . Often time we think of the events i just described, children with prolonged trauma as a result of their daily and direction, and teachers who see this year after year. It is kind of hard to feed hope into someone when you are just repeating the cycle every single year. Dr. Burke harris . Dr. Burke harris thank you. Those are excellent questions. I think there are a couple of critical pieces. Number one, a recognition that trauma and our communities is so common that a true Public Health approach involves universal precautions. This is why Trauma Informed Care in our educational system is so critical because we have to be providing these supports and services repeatedly as part of our way of doing business in education in order to respond to the endemic levels of trauma we are seeing. Another piece is the role of screening and partnership, cross sector partnerships. Prominence of trauma is so high, i hear teachers, doctors, Law Enforcement saying, what can we do . How can we be part of the solution . When each of us takes our little piece, there is a tremendous amount we can do to support resilience and buffering across our communities, and increasing that cumulative dose of buffering, making sure that every adult in the environment understands not only how they are managing their own history of adversity, because as you mentioned, it is not just vicarious trauma for educators rep. Hayes im sorry, but i expirelet my time without speaking about what happens to teachers. Dr. Burke harris absolutely. We see depression as a result of some of the things theyve been able to hear , not only because the stories are so challenging, but because, in some cases, it is a feeling of hopelessness. When we dont have the resources, but we dont have a place to point students and families to, when they have the courage to share with us what is going on, teachers feel hopeless in that regard, and that can contribute to some of the depression and things that have been reported. Rep. Hayes thank you. Mr. Chair, with that, i yield back. Chair sablan thank you, ms. Hayes. At this time, i am going to recognize the ranking number of the full committee, dr. Fox, for five minutes, please. Rep. Foxx thank you. I want to thank our witnesses for being here today. Ms. Hofmeister, you discussed the states conducting cross Agency Collaboration to help address the needs of students experiencing trauma. Can you please explain in more depth what this collaboration it is ake, and why critical component in helping these students . Ms. Hofmeister thank you very much. Yes, this is essential. We are working in oklahoma in the department of education to work with our partners in the department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse services. With that work, for example, we have more of our students prevent in the Needs Assessment survey. Just for the last reported school year that we have data from, we had 47,940 students 8, andipate in grades 6, 12. From that, we were able to learn a lot about the evidence that they are providing us with input , and then develop strategies to meet needs. As we have partnerships, it goes beyond just one or two agencies. Actually, it is acrosstheboard. We are working with the to parmenter corrections. With the department of corrections. I want to see those parents engaged that are able to be engaged in the lives of their children, even through something unique with parent conferences virtually where that is appropriate. We are grappling with health issues, and we are working with other entities within the state to work with dhs and the Health Department to work on battling the physical aspects of health as well, so it is paramount. Rep. Foxx you mentioned in response to representative questions about the family that you have the largest per capita incarceration rate in oklahoma in the country. I would assume from that that there are a lot of singleparent families in oklahoma. Have you done anything to look at the impact of singleparent families on what is happening with students and how to deal with that as trauma . Ms. Hofmeister yes, thank you for that question. What we know on the a. C. E. Index, having divorced within the family impacts children as an Adverse Childhood Experience, so it does contribute. In oklahoma, we have among states a leading divorce rate as well. We also have come a because of the high incarceration rate, many children we also have, because of the high incarceration rate, many children in foster care. All of that said, it is about strengthening families. We see in oklahoma they need for loving family members, parents, grandparents, extended family. And where we dont have that, we see in to bridge that gap for students. Work as wet of this think about trauma informed practices and community. Thank you. In your testimony, 75 of your students suffer from moderate to severe depression. That is a staggering number. Is the work you are doing informed instruction develop for this issue and how much does the data about Student Needs drive the development of the Instruction Program . Ms. Hofmeister thank you again. This is the Needs Assessment where we did receive that compelling information from students. We also know it doesnt have to simply be a program about Mental Health. We see crossover impact with our Career Pathway work and postsecondary planning with the individual career academic planning, which is now a requirement for actuation. Sixth, seventh, eighth grade. Our students tell us, those students who engaged in this have purpose. Beyondeness of a future the tassel and graduation. That it is about something more. Teachers who now arent just delivering tests at the end of a course, but looking beyond that at the student and their strengths. This has had an impact on hope and on traumainformed practice that was unexpected and we are studying with our researchers. Rep. Foxx thank you. I yield back. I will be more strict on time because we have more members in line for questioning. Mr. Uld like to recognize moral for five minutes. Im really sorry. Shalala. Thank you. Madam Surgeon General last year which iished a report, will submit for the record, following an investigation of immigrant children in Detention Centers will stop the report outlined how the child separation policy makes worse the trauma that immigrant children have already experienced on their journey to this country. They found separated children exhibited higher separation anxiety, fear of abandonment, and postTraumatic Stress disorder than children who had not been separated from their parents. The report said, some separated children expressed acute grief that cause them to cry inconsolably. Many of these children will eventually attend our schools when released from custody. Some of them will stay in Detention Centers, in which for example in the homestead facility, which had over 1000 children, the teachers had no training in trauma. Could you tell us what the science says about the effect of separating Young Children from their parents and placing them in inadequate conditions . Unequivocalce is both that this is a harmful practice and increases childrens physical health risks as well as their mental, psychological, and developmental risks. Rep. Shalala thank you. Perhaps the executive director for chicago could comment. You had a lot of immigrant children in your School System, your own experience with these children, separated from their families for some period of time. I would expand the comments doctor harris made particularly, a welcoming city, sanctuary city, a lot of students immigrate to the United States and set up a home in chicago. We do our best to support students, to disclose their status and with that resource and support around navigating the school process, making sure they dont have barriers to enrollment but working with students to make sure there is stability in their home life and they have access to resources or know how to access those resources. I would count this as an area we could be doing more. Earlier was a comment about our students and families and how they trust the School System or any government agency. The more we show an awareness around the need to support students and families they will disclose to us their status and ask that support and make it easier for us to identify students who may have experienced trauma. We see a huge disconnect if you will because many of our families, our immigrant families do not trust Government Agencies enough to disclose their status. What advice in the large facilities we now have, children separated from their parents, we have not thought about or invested in training the teachers, what advice would you give on insisting that if we hold unaccompanied children, we out to be training the teachers . We definitely agree that our teachers need and actually want professional development support. Students of all kinds of trauma are arriving at our doors and coming from the school bus. Teachers are telling us they want more practical advice as well. It is something we are addressing with a state level trauma summit because the demand has been so great, teaching in the shadow of trauma. Trauma is trauma. We open our arms wide for any child who comes through this door and our teachers deserve to have the training needed and we are using our title, 4 as well, afforded to us under the flexibility and i am grateful for that. Thank you very much, at this time i will recognize you for five minutes, mister morelle. I want to respond to congresswoman shalalas comments. I have been on the border three times and i know, at least we were told, in may alone, 15,000 children came to this country unaccompanied by their parents. I think we should all agree it is better for children to be with their parents and apparently under american law we have to accept most of these, i would be happy to work to make sure these children are not allowed in this country are sent back to their countries of origin where they are reunited with their parents and secondly i know one of the things that bothers border guards, frequently it is one parent. This bothers in central america, i will be happy to work with you. The country of origin for children with both parents. The point if they are being incarcerated by us in the facility and offering educational services, whatever services we are offering. Thats the problem, too many people around here just because the statistics they throw down these questions, 75 of children in oklahoma suffer moderate or serious depression in the class of 28 kids, 21 suffering depression. 21 of 28 . That is what the data tells us. We have surveyed 47,900. I just encourage you. I was not aware you had so many immigrants. The immigrants you invited to your sanctuary city how many come with immigrant children, how many one parent . I dont have that information and dont want to make up any numbers. That is very relevant. Why dont you get that information for us . We do not collect that information as a School District. We have removed every barrier for students to enroll. It is not information we even collect. You dont know, if johnny breaks his arm or something you dont know if no parents are at home, or one parent is at home or two parents . We go for every student who is parent or guardian of record, we dont know initially a students status, we dont ask that information when they unroll. It doesnt matter, our doors are open. That is not the point. Thats not the purpose of this hearing. Of something horrible happens, a Health Crisis, parents should know. If mom and dad should know, if no parents or guardian or Foster Parent should know. We have information for the guardian. You cannot tell us the people who came here. It is not information we collect. Next question, follow up on the congressman foxxs comments, also its of statistics by race as far as people getting in trouble in school, do you adjust that for parents at home . We have had a dramatic change in 50 years in this country, less children raised with both parents at home and some absolutely wonderful parents. I think overall, might be better sometimes both parents there. You were adjusted for parental situation. When we disaggregate the data we look at race, socioeconomic class, whether the student is a special needs student or not we do not disaggregate the data based on needs. That stuns me. That is something we can change peoples behavior on. The future is not going to change. I hate to interrupt. You have been very patient. Five minutes. Mister chairman, this is an important topic and i appreciate each of the witnesses and their testimony. This is really really important topic. I had some prepared remarks i will dispense with. In upstate new york, rochester has the last several years been identified as number 2 or 3 in terms of childhood poverty among cities so something that is distressing. I have been working on a number of initiatives to touch on briefly. In the context of the work i have been doing around poverty, would admit to the fact i thought people would talk about trauma that it was generally regarded as physical trauma, domestic violence, neighborhood violence, and it became clear to me, sensitized to the fact that it is housing and food insecurities, things you dont necessarily see easily. That has led me to lead an effort in rochester the last several years with philanthropic support not only Trauma Informed Care in our community but in and entered disciplinary way. In the medical community pediatricians and Nurse Practitioners see trauma, Classroom Teachers and educators see trauma. In rochester we are trying to break down silos between education, health and Human Services so that those professionals can all speak to one another to identify trauma. Something i am very engaged in, very optimistic about. I wanted to ask a couple questions. You have done a good job identifying impacts of trauma on development, future success in life for children and you have talks a great deal about the types of things you are doing. One of the things i would like to ask you to talk in more detail about and i will start with Nadine Burke Harris but any pointillist panelist who wants to come into. How to identify trauma in children. Im sure there are questions you could ask, obvious things about children who are withdrawn but i suspect some children carry the impact of trauma that are harder to see. Curious what research tells you and what you are doing to become more sensitive to or more aware of traumas that dont have an identifiable manifestation, what the research tells you and what you are doing with innovation around that. You are right. Some children demonstrate behavioral or learning difficulties but many will not. Many children, there are no outward signs that is why screening is so important and california has moved toward children and adults. Talk about what that screening consists of, trying to get at that. The screening consists of the ten criteria in Adverse Childhood Experiences questionnaire that dont include poverty or Community Violence but the screening in california, the unrelated events does include other social determineds of how like food insecurity, that is used for kids and the traditional for adults. May i ask you, these five minutes go by so quickly, when you are looking at food insecurities is it done through an interview with the child or do you get data from other sources you somehow integrate . How do you get to that . The screening is done in the primary care home, a questionnaire families fill out and the way we do it in california is identify a screening so we dont necessarily tell us what your child experienced, only how many. That allows the primary care clinicians to rapidly in that short 15 minutes pediatric visit identify who need Additional Services and they can receive those from a social worker. The respondents still feel stigmatized, being truthful with the environment is their child is living in . Is it getting easier to get to that . It is much easier than higher disclosure rates. I appreciate it. I recognize Mister Taylor for five minutes. I will yield two minutes for the continuous line of questioning. So i am troubled, not troubled, understand it. The ability to drill down and identify his self identification by a parent or guardian. Any verification you do . How do you get i know this is granular but identify things that are hard to identify . 88,000 primary care providers. In order for those 88,000 to identify primary care, that is why we use the identify screen. When that screen shows a family needs more services for whatever reason they are referred to as someone who can do and identified screening. They thoroughly identify . That is a primary care provider . On the health side of the primary care provider. Do you match that with anything you get out of the classroom . One or 2 risk factors on the social side or the health side can you aggregate that data, wouldnt have normally thought that child was suffering looking at one piece or one dimension, a troubling pattern tells us we ought to do x. Those are the systems we hope to put in place and i look forward to that. Thank you for extending that courtesy. Dont know if anyone had the aggregating in formation but if i can borrow my time from Mister Taylor. Two minutes, i probably used them both. Appreciate Mister Taylors indulgence. A question for you. Where is coming from . Do you have data on what the forces are, what are the sources . It is childhood abuse, neglect, other forms of child practice and those could be when we are thinking strictly about Adverse Childhood Experiences those are different events that occurred in divorce of a parent, inc. This percentage oklahoma leads the nation, we know that this is in our world, in schools, focus on learning but we really cant learn until we have some of that connection and some of those other areas addressed but we also know it is a heavy burden for teachers and that is not something we are asking to burden teachers more and more with new mandates or additional programs necessarily that they must bear. We would like to see an awareness of Practical Applications of trauma, instruction that could be as simple as telling a child what to do instead of what not to do. A child that has washing over the green in constant fight or flight mode, not to do what you do when you say stop. A teacher can simply say it is time to open our book or walk in the hall. Those are practical examples of tools teachers can use and they dont have to know a childs history to do that. Speaking of history what is put in place in terms of privacy, things we can think about, something important to all of us. How do you think about privacy, knowing about the trauma, how far you go . Privacy is important and thank you for bringing that up. That has been outside the scope of what we focus on in Public Schools. Our teachers, with a new awareness are able to make connections regardless of details that might have occurred and that is an important first step. Here is a program used between Law Enforcement and schools called handle with care. Our Law Enforcement, noticed a child is there, connected with the school and let them know handle this child with care. I yield back. I would like to recognize miss davis. For five minutes. Thank you, mister chairman. This is politically wellinformed and inspirational panel. We have been talking about sources of trauma. One of the issues that hasnt come is the impact on students, not the only one, and we had a hearing here recently, he asked about the use of federal money. She stated she lacks the authority, to tell school they cannot use federal funding, but i wonder where you feel this comes in and have a show of hands, part of the solution. Is it part of the solution to addressing gun violence . It is something requested of the state department of education, for federal and state level. If you feel gun reform can be part of the solution to trauma and how you think that might be . The act of countdown drills can be traumatic for them. Homicide rates, 49 times higher. How could we remove those reforms . Some of what we are talking about, meeting the needs of students early, how that, when that is unaddressed, there are serious complications and issues that arise. Our is keeping them where they are early and we believe the best use of our funds is the key. I have another question that speaks to the need for us to be responsive to teachers. Common sense gun reform is extremely important. Many times when we see acts of violence in school it is a manifestation of things that have gone unnoticed or missed in a way that can be better addressed with the right policy in place. One other thing i would like to add is what we do in tps is take seriously threats of violence, work directly with families. Weve taken an approach where even if it is Something Like a student making a threat online, we address that and we dont go in with a Law Enforcement mentality initially. Some other cities in schools have taken an approach but it gets to the real issue of why a student would post this information and in a few occasions when it is just a prank, there is something going on that needs to be addressed so we connect them with resources but following that students and keeping track, are they getting the resources they need, do they have these ideas and that is one of the things we have been pretty proud is the right word but we feel good we have a good process in place rather than being on the back of everybodys mind. What i mention quickly, one of the issues is oklahoma. Really quickly, talk about secondrate trauma, and learning and grants to teach that. What would it look like if we supported teachers in this effort and acknowledged it made a difference, what would that look like . What is the most important thing to address that . Please respond in writing . I would like to recognize the Ranking Member for 5 minutes. Thank you, mister chairman. We know that the family is one of the 7 cultural pillars in our society, logistically we know the family has been under severe attack in this nation. In 1950, 93 of households, both parents were there for those children and today less than 60 . I know we have done a lot of staying in trying to come to grips with the real problem. Are we doing anything as far as reaching these young people to change the cycle . If the cycle continues, how does it get better . Have you anything to offer with regard to that or are we trying to fix what problem we have and ignoring the real problem . In Public School, we are there to serve children with a variety of backgrounds and our educators are there to address their academic needs and recognize we are unable to work on those without first building that connection. Getting to know families and reaching out to families is important. This builds a strong community. Our approach is different than it was years back. We are needing to be more creative in how we make those connections and also recognize it is important to have School Counselors in place, the need for academic counseling and those who provide crisis counseling or referring students and families to receive support through other community resources. You have the flexibility, when i talk to teachers, pretty limited in some regard, what they can do and share with their students, their Life Experiences which is one reason we are losing teachers, because they feel they are being observed and criticized every step, yet sounds they are becoming the family. This is very true. We know that in oklahoma, we are looking for teachers to be a replacement family for those being put in foster care. There are limits to what a teacher can share with a student in oklahoma . There would be some limits i suppose that, i am not sure how to answer that. We just want our teachers to feel supported so they can support our students and having more of our School Counselors is beyond the service to coach teachers, to provide the kind of training many of us are talking about but in the classroom setting, classroom management, building that kind of are you able to talk about the family and the importance of the family unit, design of the family and those kinds of things, are you allowed to do that . In Public School we support family and that is paramount in our agency at the state department and oklahoma recognizing Family Engagement is key to success and we are making that a priority. When these students leave school what is their feeling towards the family, do they realize this is for us to not have children before we get married and we get married and have children and raise those children with a set of values that give them the freedom to do what i was able to do because i had an amazing family . Do they understand what really has to change . May i add something . I think one of the pieces that is critical about this is reducing stigma and reducing blame and shame, that is critical for healing and recognition for families of understanding how the experience parents have, their own adversity can be handed down and recognizing the key of stable relationships. I yield back, thank you for that. I would like to recognize for 5 minutes miss bonamici. These are issues this Committee Works on and i want to know if they should be part of the solution. Paid family leave, affordable childcare, a real challenge. We need to look at prevention as well as how to address a serious issue. It was very enlightening. Growing awareness and some of them have been mentioned. Representative shalala talked about immigrants. When i talked to kids they are afraid to go to school because they dont know if their parents will be home when they get back. That is a concern. I had a young woman at a townhall meeting, first thing she does when she walks into a classroom is figure out where she can hide or how she could escape. You can understand why these kids are going on so much trauma with gun violence and immigrant families and trying to get rid of the stigma. We want to make sure everyone gets the help they need and you mentioned the lgbt queue students facing discrimination, higher suicide rate and an ability to do well if they are feeling that pressure. In oregon and across the country they are doing what they can to support these students but they need extra resources and several of you mentioned the academic enrichment grant program. I have been a leader on giving that lee funded, make sure they have the resources to support those students. Nadine burke harris, 2018 report by child trends, children of color represented among children who have experienced trauma, 61 of africanAmerican Children, and latino children have experienced at least one Adverse Childhood Experience after American Children are disproportionately subject to discipline in a gao report. How did this trauma and early adversity affect marginalized students particularly africanamerican and native American Students . It is not one of the adverse experiences, what we understand is cumulative adversity leads to the toxic stress response which causes the harm. Experiences of discrimination based on race, National Origin or other forms of discrimination add to the cumulative adversity and put those individuals at greater risk of Mental Health and social behavioral risk. The evidence just the Opioid Crisis is creating new challenges. In october 2018 Congress Passed support for patients and communities to address the Opioid Crisis. The bill included 50 million to support trauma informed practices in schools but that has not been funded. What would you do with funding like this in your School District with regard to the opioids . These resources would make a difference in chicago. A lot of times when we talk about opioid addiction one thing we would do is expand the work we are doing and we do have engagements with many of our parents for University Structure and with additional support, able to help train them and in some cases direct them to other resources to break that cycle would be helpful to us so i would say more awareness and language to address those issues and reduce barriers to getting support. Any recovery high schools for high School Students in recovery so that pressure we dont, we have prioritized Health Clinics for some of our schools who do provide that support to students and people in the community but we dont have a recovery high school. In my remaining seconds, one quick anecdote that is meaningful to me, the principal told us an example of implementation for conformed practices as a student, going to the school with his hood up and when they let him he did well in school. Thank you, i yield back. I will recognize miss wild. Thank you, mister chairman. It would be lovely if everyone had a perfect family. I dont think there is a definition of the perfect family. My own family of origin was flawed. My current family that includes two children doing fairly well is also flawed. I am distressed by the comments we have heard that lay all of this at the feet of the family and the fact that there may be a number of children who are two parent families. I dont think anybody disagrees about the effects, that is what im hearing from all of you. It is so important, first is awareness. I really appreciate it. We need to understand and know more about it but the second and most obvious elephant in the room is funding for these programs. That includes supporting teachers who have been put in the unfortunate position of having to become counselors and pastors in addition to what they went into teaching for which is educating students and the issue of secondary trauma. On that funding issue it seems clear to me that we have a lot of work to do to convince our colleagues across the aisle that there is not only a place but a demand and a need for federal funding to support these programs. With that in mind i would like to ask a couple questions why everybody should care about providing additional funding. We know there are distressed School Districts all over the country. My School District which is the seventh district of pennsylvania, we have one severely distressed district and in that district, 3000 puerto rican families following hurricane maria, it is very much contributed to the issues faced by distressed School Districts that have trouble affording textbook supplies. We have to do a job convincing. Let me address this to doctor jackson. What federal program or federal funding are most important supporting schools in creating and sustaining Trauma Informed Care . Funding to support programs like the Sparks Program which lets us work with students and their families doing psychotherapy, these are powerful and impactful programs that are very expensive and School Districts cant afford to do this at scale. I would say programming for trauma informed practices to train all the teachers and other professionals in the district is extremely helpful and can be impactful and one of those things we have trouble finding the necessary resources to support. I could go down the list but im sure my colleagues would like to get there as well. One of the things i wanted to ask you, Nadine Burke Harris, is about the issue of children in the United States getting the Mental Health and Treatment Services they need. How can we in congress and the federal government better support children who are experiencing this . It is critical for us. The screening piece is critical because Early Detection improves outcomes. The second piece, the support for the responses including Mental Health care, trauma informed educational systems. Another cortical piece is Public Education campaign to raise Awareness Among families and everyday americans. I am struck by a quote that i read from doctor robert bloch, former president of the American Academy of pediatrics widely quoted as saying Adverse Childhood Experiences, the Public Health threat facing the nation today, made reference to that. And they dont happen just in low income neighborhoods. The study was done in a population of 70 caucasian, 70 collegeeducated, all middleclass adults. When looking at 2 thirds of americans who experienced this, we are seeing we cannot afford to do Early Detection and Early Intervention. No argument from me. Thank you. Now i would like to recognize for 5 minutes, i asked unanimous consent to deter to the record a letter from an eighthgrader whose campus was destroyed by a super typhoon entitled your experience from public you have no objection i insert this. I do have questions i may not be able to ask, if you answer is needed for your answers. Doctor barker. How has these schools changed its policies, procedures and practices to align with being trauma informed . It has become more inclusive and had to create policies for Health Providers and schoolbased Health Clinics. We have regulations that dont communicate so we changed those policies, Mental Health clinicians get information from our teachers for their therapy sessions and possibly to be back and tell them not the diagnosis but how can they help in the classroom with all these therapies and work with kids and translate to these practices, it cannot be productive. We are moving to the justices in terms of telling kids you go home for 5 days because you are fighting, what happened the night before that you take matters into your own hands. We are working to be more open and change our policies to make sure we are communicating along the lines to help our kids. Procedures and practice. We are using professional developments, with professional personnel and Mental Health, the signs and symptoms, to learn, communicate from different therapists, trauma informed, lets take a look at scenarios, bringing homework to you, two scenarios and the work can explode and talking individually, what happened to you and working in different scenarios, how to react so we are working to help them understand parents and a place for homework at home. Kids are different and they are. I will turn to doctor harris. With manmade Climate Change driving more severe weather, hurricanes and fires devastating entire communities, this committee has heard testimony, students are experiencing postTraumatic Stress disorder. What recommendations do you have for schools, Natural Disasters . You have a minute and a half. I would say again, this reiterates how important it is for all to receive professional education and training how to respond to a traumatic situation. Whether it is the result of a Natural Disaster or the result of Community Violence or violence happening at home. The responses, the fundamentals response makes a difference in improving outcomes, safe, stable and nurturing relationships and environment, ensuring all folks in the educational environment have that training and more than just the knowledge, a set of tools and skills they can apply in the educational environment to support children. Thank you. I will have referenced questions of you and you can respond. I remind my colleagues pursuant to submission for the hearing record submitted to the committee within 14 days preferably in microsoft word format. The material submitted for the matter of the hearing, only a member of the committee are invited and may submit materials for the hearing record, documents are limited to 50 pages each, documents longer than 50 pages will be incorporated into the record, the lengthy must respond to the committee in the required time period but recognize what may no longer work. I would like to enter into the record the 1998 party for the centers for Disease Control and prevention. The report from the usda, the government cant Ability Office regarding challenges of children affected by trauma. Report by the National Child Trauma Network creating, supporting and sustaining trauma, a scholarly article written by research at Washington State university and the connection with experience and elementary children, article by rand on evidencebased practices that are effective in schools for children affected by trauma. For gun safety and the impact of gun violence, things to know about from a and policy by the American Academy of pediatrics on child and adolescent health. Civil rights and the leadership of that. 5 letters for the record from the alliance of education and the federation of teachers, dean Hampton University and the association of National Association of psychologists and National Education association in support of trauma practices in schools. I want to thank the witnesses for their participation today which is very valuable. Members of the committee may have additional questions like i said and we ask the witnesses. The record will be held open for 14 days. I remind my colleagues that questions for the hearing record are needed for Majority Committee staff for 7 days which must be addressed for the subject matter of the hearing. I recognize the Ranking Member for his closing statement. Thank you, mister chairman. I think the witnesses for coming today and i want to clarify i am not talking about stigma or shaming that faith and family in this culture. As i said in the beginning of the hearing the testimony makes clear trauma has a detrimental impact on student lives. We heard a lot of statistics about children suffering as a result of trauma. I am amazed at the numbers we are talking about here. The bottom line is each of those numbers is a child. A child that needs to be helped and given the information they need to succeed in life. We got interesting information about how to help the students. One reason iran for congress is an experience i had in my district. I supported a school, built the school, what it takes in children who have experienced trauma to transform their lives which i was proud to be part of a local movement in augusta, georgia creating the heritage academy, a missionbased school that serves Innercity School kids who have been labeled losers by the School System. Their moms have no choice but to send these children to heritage schools. They have been given up on by everybody but their mom. One of the key elements of the schools kids are given a faithbased education, these children come from broken homes and they learn their value and talk about loving teachers who are free to share their values so the students can learn the truth about what is right and what is wrong. These kids grow up to go to the best schools in georgia and this nation. I have never seen anything like it. It is a complete miracle. Heritage academy is one of the reasons these families need options in education, options that help them connect with individuals who care about them, and help trauma not be a life sickness. It is not for everybody but there are young people that need this. Considering what we have learned about trauma, i believe is even more so. I did share earlier about this book, death on hold, this gentleman experienced everything you described. His life will be the t in trauma. He was under throw. This man made a covenant with god. God would let let him live. I ask you to read this book. It will tell you a lot about what is going on in this culture and what he says needs to be done to turn it around. I encourage you to do that. He is on life without parole and i will do everything i can to get him talking to young people about his experiences, the consequences of those experiences. He is an amazing individual. Thank you again for being here today and helping us to learn more about this issue and i yield back. Thank you very much, mister allen. I now recognize myself. Thank you again, distinguished witnesses, for being with us. The issues today make clear childhood trauma is a basic health Health Crisis that demand our attention. Trauma prevents assessments in school, without adequate care, child victims of trauma can become lifelong victims. When a child is struggling, many schools resort to harsh discipline that not only fails to address this trauma but can elevate it. They understand the care needed for traumatized children lack the resources and assistance to offer adequate services. That is why Congress Must invest in School Practices that ensure children coping with trauma look to schools for support. Let me read again, childrens trauma can be prevented. Where able to recognize the office. We can come together to stop the School Shootings and separation of families at the border, we cannot only care for victims of trauma but prevent children from becoming trauma, only then can we ensure children have a chance of reaching their full potential. Thank you very much to all of you. If there is no further business without objection the committee stands adjourned, thank you. Heres a look at our live coverage friday. On cspan at 10 00 eastern a discussion about countering irans illicit Financial Network with the treasury for financing, marshall billingsly. In the morning on cspan2 House Republicans hold a News Conference in baltimore where they are meeting for their annual policy retreat. The us is a discussion on the us talent and Peace Process and the potential for sustainable talks in the future. On cspan3 the Pew Charitable trust talks about federal state coordination during a recession and the Overall Economic outlook at 8 405 am eastern. Saturday on booktv at 11 00 pm eastern. Change in the old days, if you were a scientist at the university have published your paper and it went into some university library, pretty obscure, hard to find. In the internet age, all of these papers published online. And publicly available around the world. These rogue chemists began looking for these files, specifically for these papers to go through them and appropriate the chemical formula to learn to make these new drugs. At 10 00 Eastern Oregon democratic senator jeff merkley provides a firsthand account of conditions for migrant families at the us southern border in his book america is better than this. Hundreds of boys separated from parents at a warehouse and walmart. I went to find out about it. They decided they didnt want me to see what was going on and called the police and the video went viral and all america was hearing about cages and secret warehousing of migrant children. Watch booktv every weekend on cspan2. Saturday at 6 00 eastern on the civil war, the 1863 campaign in tennessee. The night of the 26, brag orders everybody to concentrate on telehome a. After they the highlands rim is somewhat anticlimactic because with manchester and brag there, brag is ready to fight in the trenches. At 8 00 on lectures in history, Emory University professor debra lips dad, against holocaust denier david having. Basic arguments of denial, no plan, no 6 million, no leadership from hitler, no gas chambers and the last point, this was all made up by jews. Sunday at 5 00 eastern a discussion about shakespeares influence on us politics. At 6 00 on american artifacts, the norman walk well Museum Traveling Exhibit on fdr. Explore our nations past on American History tv every weekend on cspan2. Thursday as the house wrapped up its business for the week, house geordie whip steny hoyer of maryland and minority whip Steve Scalise talk about next weeks schedule, the appropriations process and impeachment efforts. Thank you, mister speaker. I would be happy to yield, and stuff for next week. Help the gentleman for yielding. The speaker on tuesday, the house will meet at 12 00 for a morning debate and 2 00 pm for legislative business and with both postponed until 6 30 p. M. Wednesday and thursday next week the house will meet at 10 00 am for morning our the dates and 12 00 pm for legislative business. On friday the house will meet at 9 00