Week 4 Discussion 2 - Student Threat Assessment

Threat Assessment at School: A Primer for Educators BY SHANE R. JIMERSON, PHD, NCSP, University of California, Santa Barbara DEWEY G. CORNELL, PHD, University of Virginia, Charlotteville

Threat assessment represents an important component of a comprehensive approach to school safety that

gives schools an alternative to zero tolerance discipline policies. Threat assessment is a violence

prevention strategy that involves: (a) identifying student threats to commit a violent act, (b) determining

the seriousness of the threat, and (c) developing intervention plans that protect potential victims and

address the underlying problem or conflict that stimulated the threatening behavior.

The goals of threat assessment are to keep schools safe and to help potential offenders overcome the

underlying sources of their anger, hopelessness, or despair. Effective threat assessment provides adults

with useful information about a student’s risks and personal resources. Among the other potential student

risks that can be identified and prevented are suicide, alcohol and drug use, physical abuse, dropping out,

and criminal activity.

IMPLEMENTING THREAT ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES IN SCHOOLS

Effective procedures to assess threats include establishing district-wide policies and procedures, creating

interdisciplinary assessment teams, and educating the school community.

Establish District-Wide Policies and Procedures

All threats of violence must be taken seriously and investigated, so it is important to have a specific policy

and established procedures for dealing with student threats. The policy should clarify the role of educators

in relation to that of law enforcement, identify the threat assessment team, and specify the team’s training

requirements.

Create an Interdisciplinary Assessment Team

Effective threat assessment is based on the combined efforts of a school-based team including

representatives from administration, mental health, and law enforcement. In unusually complex cases, the

team might draw upon professionals in the local community. The interdisciplinary team approach

improves the efficiency and scope of the assessment process and reduces the risk of observer bias.

Educate the School Community About Threat Assessment

Successful implementation of a threat assessment approach hinges on educating the entire school

community about the importance of a positive school climate that focuses on providing help for students

before problems escalate into violence. Schools should regularly assess their climate, with particular

emphasis on students’ trust in adults and willingness to seek help for problems and concerns. All members

of the community, especially students, must understand the distinction between seeking help to prevent

violence and ‘‘snitching,’’ or informing on someone for personal gain. Written materials should be publicly

available and specific efforts should be made to explain relevant aspects of the threat assessment policy to

staff members, students, and families.

TYPES OF THREATS

A threat is an expression of intent to do harm or act out violently against someone or something. It may be

spoken, written, or symbolic. Many students who make a threat will never carry it out. Conversely, others

who pose a real danger may not make an explicit threat. Threats may be communicated to the intended

victim or related to a third party. There are a number of different types of threats:

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N Direct threats indicate a specific act against a specific target delivered in a straightforward, clear, and

explicit manner.

N Indirect threats tend to be vague, unclear, and ambiguous. Violence is implied, but threat is phrased

tentatively and suggests that a violent act could occur,

not that it will occur.

N Veiled threats strongly imply but do not explicitly threaten violence.

N Conditional threats are often seen in extortion cases, with a warning that a violent act will happen unless

certain demands or terms are met.

CONDUCT AN INDIVIDUALIZED ASSESSMENT OF

EACH THREAT

Threat assessment is most properly concerned with risk

reduction and prevention efforts rather than statements

of prediction.

Considering Risk for Violence

There is no easy formula or profile of risk factors that

accurately determines whether a student is going to

commit a violent act such as a school shooting. Most

students who display multiple risk factors will never

become violent offenders, and some who pose a real

threat will not demonstrate a prescribed level of risk. The

use of profiling (i.e., ranking a student’s behaviors and

risk factors against a set of criteria) strongly increases

the likelihood of misidentifying students who are thought

to pose a threat. Moreover, the process focuses solely on

identification, not intervention, and fails to provide the

necessary help to troubled students.

In considering the risk of violence, teams should

consider the following: (a) Is the student responsive to

efforts to resolve the problem or conflict that precipi-

tated the threatening behavior? and (b) Has the student

engaged in behavior that indicates intent and capability

to carry out the threat?

The assessment process should incorporate referrals

to appropriate mental health and social services, as well

as a system for following up on the effectiveness of the

intervention. In addition, it is essential for threat

assessment teams to be aware that homicide and

suicide are correlated with each other. The assessment

of suicide risk should be included in appropriate cases.

Roles for School Psychologists

An appropriate role for a school psychologist on a threat

assessment team is to evaluate the student’s need for

educational and psychological services, seek information

that helps the team understand the student’s motives

and reasons for making a threat, and make recommen-

dations focused on meeting the student’s needs and

resolving the problem or issue that stimulated the

threatening behavior.

Virginia Model

The Virginia Model for Student Threat Assessment is a

set of guidelines for school administrators to use in

responding to a reported student threat of violence.

School authorities navigate through a decision tree

process of investigation and efforts to resolve the

conflict or problem that precipitated the threat (see

Appendix). The reader is referred to Cornell and Sheras

(2005) for more information about the model.

THREAT MANAGEMENT

Once the initial assessment has taken place, the team

must be prepared to act expeditiously based on the

imminence of danger.

Options for Intervention

Some interventions might need to be staged immediately

(e.g., bringing the student in question under adult

supervision) while others require long-term planning

and monitoring (e.g., conflict resolution efforts). The

team must consider whether the student can stay in

school, what alternatives may be needed, how and when

to notify families, if and when to involve law enforce-

ment, and what mental health, social service, and school-

based interventions are required to reduce the student’s

risk for violence. In cases where a criminal offense has

been committed, law enforcement may choose to

conduct a criminal investigation and pursue legal action

against the presumed offender or offenders. In these

cases, the team may need to distinguish its actions from

those of law enforcement.

Threat Management Plan

If the school determines that an individual poses a threat

of violence, a plan should be developed that involves

individual management, monitoring, and support. Three

functions of threat management are: (a) controlling and/

or containing the situation to prevent a possible attack,

(b) protecting potential targets of the threat, and (c)

providing support and guidance to aid the student who is

at risk for violence in dealing with his or her problems in

an appropriate and adaptive manner.

SUMMARY

A comprehensive interventions-based approach can

reduce the risk to both potential victims and perpetra-

tors. Threat assessment must be an integral part of a

system that fosters a safe, supportive, and effective

school environment, characterized by trust between

students and adults, respect for others, parent involve-

ment, and collaboration between school and community.

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REFERENCE

Cornell, D., & Sheras, P. (2005). Guidelines for responding to

student threats of violence. Longmont, CO: Sopris West.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

Print

Cornell, D., Sheras, P., Gregory, A., & Fan, X. (2009). A

retrospective study of school safety conditions in

high schools using the Virginia Threat Assessment

Guidelines versus alternative approaches. School

Psychology Quarterly, 24, 119–129.

Cornell, D., Sheras, P., Kaplan, S., McConville, D., Douglass,

J., Elkon, A., et al. (2004). Guidelines for student threat

assessment: Field-test findings. School Psychology

Review, 33, 527–546.

Fein, R. A., Vossekuil, B., Pollack, W. S., Borum, R.,

Modzeleski, W., & Reddy, M. (2002). Threat

assessment in schools: A guide to managing threatening

situations and to creating safe school climates.

Washington, DC: U.S. Secret Service and U.S.

Department of Education. Available: http://www.

ustreas.gov/usss/ntac/ssi_guide.pdf

Jimerson, S. R., & Brock, S. E. (2004). Threat assessment,

school crisis preparation, and school crisis response. In

M. J. Furlong, M. P. Bates, D. C. Smith, & P. M. Kingery

(Eds.), Appraisal and prediction of school violence: Context,

issues, and methods. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science.

Online

National Association of School Psychologists, Crisis and safety

resources: http://www.nasponline.org/educators/index.

aspx#crisis

O’Toole, M. E. (2000). The school shooter: A threat

assessment perspective (Critical Incident Response

Group Report). Quantico, VA: Federal Bureau

of Investigation. Available: http://www.fbi.gov/

publications/school/school2.pdf

U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center:

http://www.ustreas.gov/usss/ntac_ssi.shtml

Virginia Youth Violence Project: http://youthviolence.

edschool.virginia.edu

Shane R. Jimerson, PhD, NCSP, is a Professor in the

Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology

at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Dewey G.

Cornell, PhD, is a forensic clinical psychologist, Professor in

the College of Education at the University of Virginia, and

Director of the Virginia Youth Violence Project. Portions of

this handout were adapted from: Jimerson, S., Brock, S.,

Greif, J., & Cowan, K., Threat assessment at school: A primer

for educators, in Helping Children at Home and School II:

Handouts for Families and Educators (NASP, 2004).

E 2010 National Association of School Psychologists, 4340 East West Highway, Suite 402, Bethesda, MD 20814—(301) 657-0270

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Appendix. The Virginia Model for Student Threat Assessment

Note. From Guidelines for Responding to Student Threats of Violence, by D. Cornell and P. Sheras, 2005, Longmont, CO: Sopris West. Copyright 2005 by Sopris West Educational Services. Reprinted with permission.

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