Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) Technical Assistance (TA) Center

School Behavioral Threat Assessments: An Introduction
An overview of school behavioral threat assessments to prevent and reduce targeted violence.
 

The Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) Technical Assistance (TA) Center, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Education (ED), Office of Safe and Healthy Students (OSHS), is pleased to offer a one-day Train-the-Educator training designed to familiarize schools and school districts with school behavioral threat assessments in preventing and reducing targeted violence at K-12 schools. Topics covered include how a threat assessment team can be integrated into the broader framework of school safety, security, emergency management and preparedness put forth in the Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans (School Guide).

Training Description

As part of a comprehensive school emergency operations plan (school EOP), it is important for schools and school districts to understand how to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to and recover from critical incidents. This training introduces participants to various components of school behavioral threat assessments, which were originally put forth by the Safe School Initiative (SSI), alongside new information and guidance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation as presented in the School Guide. Participants will learn about effective characteristics of threat assessments for consideration when forming their own approach and team. Specialized topics will also be addressed, such as the use of social media in threat assessments. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss concepts in small-group discussions and practice a basic threat assessment in a tabletop exercise.