A Critical Policy Analysis of Kentucky School Districts’ Trauma-Informed Education Plans

The Commonwealth of Kentucky has taken its first steps in creating trauma-informed K-12 schools through passing the School Safety and Resiliency Act of 2019. School districts were tasked with developing trauma-informed education plans by July 2021. However, the Commonwealth’s mandate gave broad autonomy to school districts in shaping their trauma-informed education plans’ processes and content. Through a critical policy analysis design, this study examined the availability and quality of trauma-informed education plans from each school district in Kentucky and compared them to the trauma-informed framework developed by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. Findings indicate that only 19 out of 171 school districts published their trauma-informed education plans publicly. Out of those 19, only three met all the criteria recommended by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. There is a discussion of how a lack of state-level guidance impacts the quality of trauma-informed education plans followed by recommendations for improving these plans.