Complete and submit the trauma-sensitive assessment and planning checklist. This can be found on the Building Trauma-Sensitive Schools resource on the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments’ Safe Supportive Learning website (see Resources section below). Provide evidence of how you used items from the checklist to inform a behavior support plan or individualized education plan.

Submit one of the following: 1) Submit a completed screener used to identify students who may have experienced trauma or are having behavior or mental health concerns. This may include data related to externalizing and internalizing behavior, or adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Any student-identifying information should be removed before submitting. Examples of screeners that might be used include the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) Trauma Version, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), the Pediatric Emotional Distress Scale (PEDS), or the Student Risk Screening Scale (SRSS). The completed screener should include data for at least 25 students. Include with this screener a narrative or chart that demonstrates that the applicant has gone beyond simply collecting data to analyzing the data. 2) Submit an evaluation summary (with student-identifying information removed) that evaluates a student’s social-emotional functioning. Examples of instruments used may include the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), the Social Skills Rating Scale (SSRS), the Emotional Quotient Inventory Youth Version (EQ-i:YV), or another valid and reliable tool. The data should be displayed visually (a graph or chart) that outlines a profile of the student’s skills at a given time, or progress on skills over time. Be sure to maintain confidentiality of any student information (FERPA).

Submit observation results from a supervisor or administrator describing the trauma-assessment practices of the applicant. The observation notes should describe how the applicant effectively uses various observation tools, standardized tools, and/or interviews to assess an individual student’s developmental history, behavior, and exposure to trauma.

Criterion 1: The evidence demonstrates the educator understands how to collect and analyze data. The educator must have been involved in the data collection or analyzing process and not simply sharing data that others have collected and analyzed.

Criterion 2: The submission demonstrates a connection between the assessment skills being used and directly measuring trauma (e.g., assessing the number of ACEs experienced) or indirectly measuring trauma (evaluating behaviors or social emotional skills that might be directly affected by exposure to trauma, or as an indicator of trauma experienced).

Criterion 3: The evidence demonstrates the use of evidence-based instructional materials in trauma-informed practices.

Describe how you use trauma-informed practices to guide your assessment practices in your role, or how you have helped another educator use trauma-informed practices in their assessment practices.

Describe how the students you work with or students in classrooms/schools you support benefit from your use of trauma-informed assessment practices.

How do you plan on further developing your assessment skills or helping other educators develop their assessment skills related to trauma?