Teaching · Related Services

How trauma-informed is the whole school, as staff see it?

Ask every adult in the building twelve short questions built on SAMHSA’s six principles. Enter the percent agreeing with each, and see which principle is strongest, which is weakest and what to do first.

Start a survey roundWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Related Services toolkit, $99 for 159 items.

The results organizer

One record per survey round. The example school and results are made up.

Loading the form. If nothing appears, turn on JavaScript.

What you get

Teaching · Related Services$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
A summary of one staff survey round on trauma-informed practice: response rate, each principle’s average, strengths, and concerns with a next step each.
Who it is for
School psychologists, counselors, social workers, trauma-informed practice teams and school leaders.
Format
Browser organizer with the twelve survey statements. One saved record per round; printed with its summary or as a blank form; CSV; export and import a file.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Related Services toolkit ($99) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Related Services space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions about an order, access or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.
safetytrustpeerstogethervoiceculturesix principles, one school
Drawn for this page. SAMHSA’s six principles describe a whole organization; the survey asks staff where the school stands on each, and the smallest stone is where to start.

How to use it

  1. Copy the twelve statements into your school’s survey tool with the four-point scale; keep it anonymous.
  2. Invite every adult: bus, lunch and office staff see students at hard moments too.
  3. Enter the percent choosing agree or strongly agree for each statement.
  4. Start with the weakest principle and one action the whole school can see.
  5. Ask again in a semester.

Start a survey round

The survey and how to read it

The twelve statements

Give staff each statement with a four-point scale: strongly disagree, disagree, agree, strongly agree. Enter the percent choosing agree or strongly agree.

  1. Students have a calm, predictable place to go when they are overwhelmed
  2. Staff respond to student distress by helping the student calm first and addressing behavior after
  3. Changes to schedules and routines are explained to students ahead of time
  4. Staff are told how and why schoolwide decisions are made
  5. Students have structured chances to support one another, such as peer mentoring
  6. Staff can talk with colleagues after a hard incident with a student
  7. Families are partners in planning when their child is struggling
  8. Teachers and support staff plan together for students affected by trauma
  9. Students are offered real choices in how they learn and show what they know
  10. Discipline practices teach skills and repair harm, not only punish
  11. Staff learn about the cultures, languages and histories of the students they serve
  12. Discipline and referral data are checked for gaps between student groups

Why six principles

SAMHSA describes a trauma-informed approach as one that realizes the effects of trauma, recognizes its signs, responds across the whole organization and resists retraumatizing, guided by six principles. The survey has two statements for each.

What it is not

This is a staff survey about school practice. It does not ask about any student’s experiences and does not screen for trauma. The 80% and 60% bands are working bands, not norms.

Sources

  1. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach, HHS Publication No. (SMA) 14-4884, 2014.
  2. U.S. Department of Education, National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments. Trauma-Sensitive Schools Training Package, 2018.
  3. National Child Traumatic Stress Network. Creating, Supporting, and Sustaining Trauma-Informed Schools: A System Framework, 2017.
  4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences: Leveraging the Best Available Evidence, 2019.

The example school, round and percentages are made up. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.