Response of school personnel to student threat assessment training

Abstract

School safety has become an important area of concern for school improvement. This study examined the effects of staff training as means of improving school responses to student threats of violence. A multidisciplinary sample of 351 staff from 2 school divisions completed pre-post training surveys as part of a 1-day training program using the Guidelines for Responding to Student Threats of Violence (Cornell & Sheras, 2006). Analysis of pre-post surveys found large changes in staff attitudes toward school safety and violence prevention efforts. There was a substantial decrease in concerns about school homicide and increased awareness of effective violence prevention efforts. There was a drop in support for zero tolerance and profiling approaches, along with increased knowledge of threat assessment principles and concepts. These changes were sustained across school divisions serving a challenging urban population and a more affluent, suburban population. Similar effects were found across all school personnel. These findings demonstrate the viability of training staff in a student threat assessment approach.

Keywords:

• student violence
• threat assessment
• school safety
• professional developments