Guidelines for Student Threat Assessment: Field-Test Findings

Abstract

A demonstration project was conducted to field-test guidelines for schools to use in responding to student threats of violence. Results from 188 student threats occurring in 35 schools over the course of one school year are described. School-based teams used a decision-tree model to evaluate the seriousness of a threat and take appropriate action to reduce the threat of violence. Using threat assessment guidelines, the majority of cases (70%) were resolved quickly as transient threats. More serious cases, termed substantive threats (30%), required a more extensive evaluation and intervention plan. Follow-up interviews with school principals revealed that almost all students were able to continue in school or return to school after a brief suspension. Only 3 students were expelled, and none of the threatened acts of violence were carried out. These findings indicate that student threat assessment is a feasible, practical approach for schools that merits more extensive study.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dewey G. Cornell

Dewey G. Cornell received his PhD in Psychology (Clinical) from the University of Michigan in 1981 and currently holds the Curry Memorial Chair in Education in the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. He directs the Virginia Youth Violence Project and teaches in the Programs in Clinical and School Psychology.

Peter L. Sheras

Peter L. Sheras received his PhD in Psychology from Princeton University in 1973. He is Professor of Education and Director of Clinical Training for the Programs in Clinical and School Psychology in the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. His clinical and research interests include adolescent behavior, parenting, school crisis response, and violence prevention. He is co-author of the Stress Index for Parents of Adolescents.

Sebastian Kaplan

Sebastian Kaplan received his MSEd in Special Education from Simmons College in Boston in 1998. After working as a special education teacher, he enrolled in the doctoral program of the Curry Programs in Clinical and School Psychology in the School of Education at the University of Virginia. Currently he is completing his internship at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire.

David McConville

David McConville received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Virginia in 2004. His doctoral dissertation concerned the predictive value of the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory in juvenile offenders. He is currently completing postdoctoral training at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Vermont.

Julea Douglass

Julea Posey received her MEd in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard University in 2001. She worked as the assistant to the Senior Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Education and then as a research associate at the Character Education Partnership (CEP) in Washington, DC before returning to graduate school as a doctoral student in Education at the University of Virginia.

Andrea Elkon

Andrea Elkon is a doctoral student in the Programs in Clinical and School Psychology in the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. She is currently completing her clinical psychology internship at the William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute in Columbia, South Carolina.

Lela McKnight

Lela McKnight received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Virginia in 2004. She completed her internship at Miami Children's Hospital and is currently a pediatric psychology post-doctoral fellow at the Emory University School of Medicine.

Chris Branson

Chris Branson is a doctoral student in the Programs in Clinical and School Psychology in the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. His clinical and research interests include juvenile delinquency and intervention programs for at-risk youth.

Joanna Cole

Joanna Cole received her MS in School Counseling from the University of Rochester in 1998. Currently she is a doctoral student in the Programs in Clinical and School Psychology in the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. Her clinical and research interests concern at-risk youth and their families, juvenile delinquency, teen pregnancy, and chemical dependency.