Poverty and trauma impact student brain development, health, and behavior. The stressors of poverty (lack of nutritious food, unstable housing, etc.) and traumatic events can put students in a "fight" or "flight" mode. Operating from such places prevents students from accessing higher-order thinking and negatively impacts learning and achievement. The hyper-awareness, developed as an adaptation to their stressful environments, produces stress hormones that have the potential to harm students' physical health and cognitive development. As a result, students from poverty and trauma may be prone to sickness and have difficulties regulating behavior, and accessing parts of the brain critical to language, memory, and learning. This Backgrounder suggests 12 strategies educators can employ when working with students from poverty and trauma.