Gun Violence in Schools Requires a Holistic Education Response
By Deborah Smolover
Columbine. Newtown. Parkland. Uvalde. These names are seared into our national consciousness, synonymous with gun violence that stole the lives of students and educators, devastated entire communities, and reshaped the national conversation about safety in school.
We are long past the point when school violence can be viewed as anomalous acts of horror. It is unrelenting and systemic — and the trauma it creates does not fade away. School violence has fundamentally reshaped the educational experience for an entire generation of students, educators, families, and school communities. And the ongoing trauma further compounds the existing barriers to students’ healthy learning and development — from hunger, to homelessness, to poverty, to the devastating effects of a global pandemic.
Amid this chaos, education policy is still playing catch up. Strategies that meet the trauma-related needs of ALL students, including trauma resulting from school violence, can no longer be just one of a long list of items Federal education policymakers focus on periodically. Strategies to address trauma must become a cornerstone of our education system if our students are to have a chance to thrive. And we must put them in place now, not wait for the next traumatic event to spur another temporary national awakening.
In the aftermath of school shootings, public attention tends to focus on the community where the violence happened — the impact on survivors and their immediate families. And there is no question that those closest to the violence are at greatest risk of lasting trauma. Research from the National Center for PTSD reveals that approximately one in three survivors of mass shootings will develop PTSD, and the same percentage will develop acute stress disorder. But the traumatic effects of school violence aren’t confined to the communities directly impacted. To paraphrase FiveThirtyEight’s Maggie Koerth, writing after the shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, the traumatic impact of violence doesn’t end at the geographic boundaries of the community where it happened, and we need to think more holistically about who is impacted and how we respond. So long as active shooter drills, lockdowns, and widespread media coverage of school shootings are the daily reality for millions of students, educators, and parents, education policies must provide the intentional support and resources everyone in our school communities need to help navigate the resulting trauma.
In the wake of the Robb Elementary shooting, Federal policymakers rallied to pass the most significant gun safety legislation in nearly three decades — including significant investments in the mental health and wellbeing of students and school communities. The legislation is an important — and long overdue — first step, but it remains insufficient on its own.
Like the causes and impact of trauma and gun violence, our policy response must be systemic. That’s why, in addition to championing greater financial investments, America Forward and many other advocates are calling on policymakers to place greater priority on supporting innovative, holistic, community-centered strategies for addressing trauma.
Strategies to mitigate trauma in the long term begins by ensuring that every student in our country has access to the positive developmental relationships, resources, and opportunities they need to develop the breadth of skills required to navigate traumatic events — not just academic skills, but things like communication, self-awareness, empathy, and more. The work of organizations like Appletree Institute, Transcend, Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors, and many others model the kind of holistic, learner-centered approaches that build children’s breadth of skills. Educators and families need more support like this to provide students with skills and knowledge to overcome trauma and thrive.
Federal policymakers are in a unique position to accelerate the adoption of the most effective strategies. Federal education policy can — and should — do more to incentivize school districts, communities, and high-quality partners to work together on the design and implementation of education strategies focused on equipping students, educators, and families to more effectively navigate trauma, from opportunities for integrated skill development to wraparound services to family engagement. And at the same time, policymakers must create strong, evidence-based frameworks to understand the impact of trauma-informed approaches, identify the most effective strategies, and then support the expansion of those strategies across school districts, states, and the country. That’s the goal of the Resilient Education for the Needs of Every Whole-Learner (RENEW) Act, championed by America Forward, and many other advocates, which would create a new, competitive grant program to help nonprofits and school districts develop and implement trauma-informed, whole-learner approaches, and establish a strong evidence framework to assess those approaches.
The trauma facing our students and school communities is unrelenting — whether from violence, global pandemic, or profound lack of resources, and dealing with trauma only in its aftermath is not an effective solution to support students’ long-term, healthy learning and development. Our goal must be to build an education system rooted in trauma-informed approaches that, from day one, give students, educators, and families the tools to navigate trauma. Schools and communities may be able to pilot these approaches on their own, but seeing them at scale in our country requires greater Federal policy commitment. There is no time to waste — the chance for millions of students to heal, grow, and thrive depends on the decisions policymakers make today.
Deborah Smolover is a Managing Partner at the venture philanthropy firm New Profit and Executive Director of America Forward, New Profit’s nonpartisan policy initiative.