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The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of trauma-informed practices (TIP) on the academic achievement of fifth-grade students in Tennessee, focusing on English Language Arts (ELA) outcomes assessed by the state’s summative test, Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP). Raw-scale fifth-grade ELA data was mined with approval from a district data supervisor and the four participating school principals. Using Mann-Whitney U and independent t-tests, the study compared two trauma-informed schools (TIS) with two non-TIS across the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years. The TIS schools had 366 fifth-grade students test in 2021-2022, while 355 fifth-grade students tested in non-TIS schools. In 2022-2023, 346 students in TIS and 315 in non-TIS were tested in fifth-grade ELA TCAP. The study grounded in the trauma-informed care (TIC) theoretical framework addressed challenges posed by adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and how they significantly impede student development and learning. The results consistently showed that non-TIS outperformed TIS counterparts in ELA assessments, with statistical analyses indicating significant differences favoring non-TIS schools. Despite the absence of anticipated positive outcomes in TIS performance, findings suggest that TIP may still contribute to creating a supportive school community that enhances students' emotional resilience and behavioral regulation. This research underscores the complexities of assessing TIP effectiveness solely through standardized test scores and advocates for further exploration of long-term social-emotional outcomes and the fidelity of TIP implementation, emphasizing the importance of schools prioritizing the holistic development of trauma-affected students.