Reducing Stress in Schools: Restoring Connection and Community

In Reducing Stress in Schools, Mathew Portell, Ingrid L. Cockhren, Tyisha J. Noise, Julie Kurtz, and Julie Nicholson provide a toolkit of actionable, evidence-based practices for PreK-12 teachers, administrators, and staff to support students' and adults' nervous system regulation. Rooted in the tenets of trauma-responsive education and current neuroscience, these strategies address stress-related behavioral challenges present in schools, including fight, flight, freeze, and fawn behaviors. Unique in its approach, this book raises awareness of the collective trauma caused by the pandemic, highlights the effects of racial and historical trauma, draws attention to educators' stress and burnout, and proposes strategies for stress reduction drawn from a diverse range of practitioner experience.

The authors show that, in the post-COVID-19 era, as students and educators contend with unprecedented exposure to mental health stressors, research supports classroom management via relationship-building interventions. They demonstrate how alternatives to exclusionary discipline practices can promote social-emotional learning, counter learning loss, and improve student skills such as sensory literacy, resilience, and frustration tolerance.

This work delivers clear guidance throughout chapters that feature real-world case studies, sample conversations, and questions for reflection and discussion. It also includes recommendations for countering resistance to the implementation of trauma-responsive practices for classroom management. Ultimately, it gives educators the tools to build schools that reduce stress and strengthen racial justice, equity, healing, and safety.