Threat Assessment in Schools: A Guide to Managing Threatening Situations and to Creating Safe School Climates

Since June 1999, the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Secret Service have been working as a team to better understand--and ultimately help prevent--school shootings in America. Findings indicated that incidents of targeted violence in school were rarely impulsive; that the students who perpetrated attacks usually planned them out in advance with planning behavior that was often observable; and that, prior to most attacks, other children knew that the attack was to occur. This document uses these findings to create a process for identifying, assessing, and managing students who may pose a threat of targeted violence in schools. Eight chapters include: (1) "Introduction: Threat Assessment and the Prevention of Targeted School Violence"; (2) "Creating Climates of School Safety: A Foundation For Reducing School Violence"; (3) "Key Findings of the Safe School Initiative's Study of Targeted School Violence"; (4) "Implementing a School Threat Assessment Process"; (5) "Conducting a School Threat Assessment"; (6) "Managing a Threatening Situation"; (7) "Action Plans for School Leaders: Creating a Safe and Connected School Climate and Implementing a Threat Assessment Program"; and (8) "Conclusion: Threat Assessment as a Decision-Making Tool". An appendix contains a list of annotated resources. (Contains 24 references and 2 resource Web sites.) (RT)