ERIC Number: ED672954
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Feb-4
Pages: 171
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: 978-1-977414-23-6
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Strengthening School Violence Prevention: Expanding Intervention Options and Supporting K-12 School Efforts in Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management. Research Report. RR-A2966-1
Brian A. Jackson; Pauline Moore; Jennifer T. Leschitz; Benjamin Boudreaux; Jo Caulkins; Shoshana R. Shelton
RAND Corporation
Violence by K-12 students is disturbingly common. Ensuring that schools have effective ways to identify and prevent such incidents is becoming increasingly important. Various concerning behaviors or disturbing communications, including direct threats, can precede acts of violence. Although removing every student exhibiting such behaviors might seem prudent, doing so can be counterproductive, limiting the effectiveness of safety efforts. With effective systems for behavioral threat assessment and management (BTAM), schools can assess and respond to concerning behavior to protect the community and respond to the student whose behavior caused concern. To do so, schools need the tools to respond. Tools may include restrictive measures or law enforcement involvement in the most serious cases, but other options can be more effective. Those additional options include different types of mental health intervention, counseling, and other supports. Teams with extensive tools available to them can better customize interventions, increasing the chance of positive outcomes for all involved. In this report, the authors draw on published literature and extensive interviews with education and public safety practitioners to build an inventory of the many intervention options that are valuable for schools in the management phase of BTAM. In addition, drawing on varied approaches from the fields of counseling, school discipline and behavioral management, and other professions that must match appropriate services to the needs of youth in their care, the report discusses decision support tools to help management teams implement this critical part of efforts in preventing targeted violence and keeping school communities safe.
Descriptors: School Violence, Prevention, Intervention, Risk Assessment, School Safety, Elementary Schools, Secondary Schools, Student Behavior, Behavior Problems, Mental Health, Counseling, Discipline, Behavior Modification, Positive Behavior Supports
RAND Corporation. P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138. Tel: 877-584-8642; Tel: 310-451-7002; Fax: 412-802-4981; e-mail: order@rand.org; Web site: http://www.rand.org
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: Elementary Education; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center (HSOAC) (DHS); RAND Homeland Security Research Division (HSRD)
Grant or Contract Numbers: 70RSAT22D00000001; 70US0923F1DHS2684
Author Affiliations: N/A