With standardized testing and predetermined subgroups garnering the attention of educational leaders, abused and neglected children have fallen deeper into the crevice of the system. For years these children have been ignored, save the obvious, visible bruises or child-initiated confessions. Because researching children is difficult without parental consent, it is nearly impossible to expose this problem with any level of legitimacy. By combining research from scientific research and the humanities, autobiographical flashbacks fuse with narratives that vividly detail the author's disturbing encounters with abused children as a school administrator. The effect is the realization that public schools unknowingly feed on weaker children beneath the awning of accountability.

This call to action for educators examines how childhood trauma impacts cognitive, emotional and social development, and offers perspectives and strategies for fostering trauma-sensitive school cultures. Strong evidence indicates the central problems that underlie many behavioral and emotional obstacles to learning are rarely identified by educators. When these issues are properly understood and addressed, teachers, administrators and parents can more effectively serve students' emotional and social needs, resulting in dramatic improvement in academic outcomes, attendance, teacher retention and parental involvement.