A retrospective study of school safety conditions in high schools using the Virginia threat assessment guidelines versus alternative approaches.

2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dewey Cornell ◽  
Peter Sheras ◽  
Anne Gregory ◽  
Xitao Fan
Keyword(s):  
High Schools ◽  
Retrospective Study ◽  
School Safety ◽  
Threat Assessment ◽  
Assessment Guidelines ◽  
Alternative Approaches

Traversing the Space between Threats and Violence: A Review of Threat Assessment Guidelines

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 863-871 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Mitchell ◽  
G. Palk
Keyword(s):  
Threat Assessment ◽  
Assessment Guidelines

Preventing School Violence and Advancing School Safety

2020 ◽  
pp. 137-162
Author(s):  
Dewey Cornell ◽  
Brittany Crowley
Keyword(s):  
School Violence ◽  
School Safety ◽  
Zero Tolerance ◽  
Threat Assessment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Security Measures ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Supportive Relationships ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Behavioral Expectations

Schools are one of the safest places for young people, but high-profile cases of school shootings have driven schools to engage in reactive practices such as expensive security measures and zero tolerance discipline that have had unintended negative effects. More proactive practices are needed to prevent violence, with particular attention to the commonplace types of aggression such as bullying and harassment that have serious consequences for students and can be the seedbeds for more severe violence. Overall, schools should place greater emphasis on multitiered prevention strategies that build a school climate characterized by high academic and behavioral expectations for students in the context of supportive relationships. Schools should also adopt threat assessment as a systematic approach to evaluating and helping troubled students. The overarching idea is that making schools safe and supportive environments that foster student well-being and achievement is vital for the prevention of violence.

A developmental perspective on the Virginia Student Threat Assessment Guidelines

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 (129) ◽  
pp. 43-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dewey G. Cornell
Keyword(s):  
Threat Assessment ◽  
Developmental Perspective ◽  
Assessment Guidelines

School Security in the Post-Columbine Era: Trends, Consequences, and Future Directions

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 274-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanna King ◽  
Nicole L. Bracy
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Preparedness ◽  
School Safety ◽  
Behavioral Interventions ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Threat Assessment ◽  
School Security ◽  
Security Measures ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Promising Alternative ◽  
The Impact

Harsh and reactionary school security measures, including policing, surveillance technology, and emergency preparedness strategies increased substantially in the two decades following the mass shooting at Columbine High School in 1999. These strategies have limited empirical support for preventing violence in general and mass shootings, in particular. Instead, they have proven to be problematic, often doing more harm than good by criminalizing student misbehavior, contributing to negative school climate, and having psychological impacts on students’ perceptions of safety. In recent years, many schools have started to explore promising alternative approaches, including threat assessment, positive behavioral interventions, restorative practices, and improving relationships between students and adults. This article reviews the trends in school security from the 1990s through the present, drawing on national data from the U.S. Department of Education and scholarly research on school security. Our specific focus will be on the changes in school security that have been made to prevent or minimize the impact of potential school shooters. We also discuss the consequences of the school security boom and the future directions to ensure school safety.

Threats of Violence by Students in Special Education

2005 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian G. Kaplan ◽  
Dewey G. Cornell
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
General Education ◽  
Emotionally Disturbed ◽  
Threat Assessment ◽  
Education Students ◽  
School Suspension ◽  
General Education Students ◽  
Assessment Guidelines ◽  
K 12

We compared threats of violence made by K–12 students in special education (120 cases) or general education (136 cases) in schools that were implementing threat assessment guidelines for managing student threats of violence (Cornell, Sheras, Kaplan, McConville, Posey, Levy-Elkon, et al., 2004; Cornell & Sheras, in press). Students in special education made disproportionately more threats, as well as more severe threats, than peers in general education. Students classified as emotionally disturbed (ED) exhibited the highest threat rates. Nevertheless, use of school suspension as a disciplinary consequence for threats was consistent for students in special and general education, and few students were expelled. Our findings support the use of threat assessment to manage threats of violence by students in special education.

Student Threat Assessment in Memphis City Schools: A Descriptive Report

2008 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken Strong ◽  
Dewey Cornell
Keyword(s):  
Violence Prevention ◽  
Threat Assessment ◽  
Student Population ◽  
School Year ◽  
Assessment Guidelines ◽  
Memphis City Schools ◽  
Educational Placements ◽  
City Schools ◽  
Prevention Approach ◽  
Disciplinary Consequences

Threat assessment has been widely recommended as a violence prevention approach for schools, but there are few reports of its implementation. Memphis City Schools adapted the Virginia threat assessment guidelines (Cornell & Sheras, 2006) for use by a centralized team serving 194 schools and a student population of 118,000. This article describes 209 student threats referred for assessment during a single school year and the resulting educational placements and disciplinary consequences. There were no reports of students carrying out any of the violent threats. These results support further examination of student threat assessment as a promising approach to dealing with student threats.

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