Rigid structure. High admission fees. A largely white, wealthy student body. The phrase “therapeutic school” might bring to mind images of troubled teen boot camps, private boarding schools, or residential in-patient treatment facilities doubling as schools.

Yet outside the for-profit sector, more alternative schools with therapeutic approaches are helping disadvantaged K-12 youth simultaneously achieve personal and academic wellness.

“Too often in education, we rely on models that are failing students, especially our most vulnerable,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan wrote in an essay published recently on Medium. “We need to change this by investing in models that are proven to work for our most disadvantaged students.”

That means tackling underlying issues that contribute to poor learning among low-income K-12 students, including trauma.

In the report “Understanding the impact of trauma and urban poverty on family systems: Risks, resilience and interventions,” the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) found that urban kids “often encounter multiple traumas over many years,” while having fewer overall resources available to help them process and recover from those experiences.

Nearly half of the 9.7 million U.S school children in urban areas are considered low-income, and the NCTSN report found 83% of inner city youth had experienced at least one traumatic event. Chronic stress resulting from trauma is proven to have a long-lasting effect on children’s brains, impacting neurological pathways and sometimes resulting in learning disabilities. In major U.S. cities, the study reported ten percent of kids under the age of six had already witnessed a shooting or stabbing.

Just a single traumatic event can trigger consequences like a decline in schoolwork, according to the American Psychological Association.

Their main recommendation for combating the problem? Incorporating a strategy similar to the trend of whole-child learning, one that considers the child, their family, and their community.

In districts like Los Angeles, where a reported 80% of students are from low-income families, trauma is an everyday reality for many students. The 8-school charter elementary and middle school network Camino Nuevo is tackling that problem with a comprehensive approach.

Inside Camino Nuevo classrooms, approximately 25% of students attend group therapy sessions. Parents and care-givers can also attend adult group sessions. In some ways, school staff are trained like social workers, helping to connect families to healthcare, legal, and housing resources.

Because most Camino Nuevo students are low-income and qualify for Medi-Cal, the state pays for services from mental health providers. The schools partner with private counseling services, including the Los Angeles Childhood Development Center and Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services.

With a 98% graduation rate, the charters are proving far more successful than the district’s overall rate of 68%. Compared to all California schools statewide, the charters were in the top 70% with an API Statewide Rank of 8. On the 2012-2013 California High School Exit Exam, 93% of Camino Nuevo students passed English, and 96% passed math. For LAUSD overall, the percentages were 77% and 78% respectively.

In Chula Vista, CA, the tuition-free Mi Escuelita Therapeutic Preschool is for children ages 3-5 who experienced family violence before they enter kindergarten. The school, a partnership between the Chula Vista Elementary School District and South Bay Community Services, accommodates 72 students, all referred by local law enforcement, Child Welfare Services, domestic violence programs, homeless shelters, or community organizations. Another 50-90 are waitlisted. Three full-time staff therapists help students and their caregivers alike, whether they’re parents, foster parents, or relatives.

The program is funded in part by First 5 San Diego, a non-profit aimed at caring for “the whole child” across the first five years of life to make sure kids enter kindergarten ready to learn. It’s also funded by the California Emergency Management Agency.

A longitudinal study executed by the University of California San Diego (UCSD) evaluated 200 Mi Escuelita kids over the course of six years, from 2006 through 2012. They followed most into Chula Vista Elementary School, and found that “children who participated in the Mi Escuelita program performed equal to, and often better, than their peers on several different academic outcomes.”

“Mi Escuelita students had greater success rates in passing the local area achievement tests in math, reading, and writing in kindergarten, demonstrating the effectiveness for the Mi Escuelita program on school readiness,” the report stated. 96% met LAM standards for math, 82% passed reading, and 38% passed writing. The passing averages for the rest of the Chula Vista Elementary students were 80% for math, 65% for reading, and just 25% for writing.

Notably, by grade three, Mi Escuelita grads were still faring better than the public elementary school’s general population. They also showed continued success on California State Tests, outperforming peers.

The potential impact of therapeutic schools like the Camino Nuevo charters and Mi Escuelita goes well beyond their own student bodies. By helping children overcome trauma to succeed in school, they’re better equipped to rise out of poverty, and therefore less likely to engage in cyclical behaviors as adults that could traumatize their own children. Kids are more likely to thrive and succeed, academically and beyond.

Would you like to see more education news like this in your inbox on a daily basis? Subscribe to our Education Dive email newsletter! You may also want to read Education Dive's look at how cities are taking innovative approaches to provide K-12 computer science.