Statewide Implementation of Student Threat Assessment in Virginia Public Schools

In 2013, Virginia became the first state to mandate the use of threat assessment teams in all 1,900 public schools. An important foundation for this initiative was a series of controlled studies that found that the Virginia Student Threat Assessment Guidelines was a safe and efficient process that reduced use of school suspensions, especially among minority students. Because of its focus on a problem-solving approach rather than a zero tolerance approach to student misbehavior, threat assessment has consistently reduced school suspension rates. The reduction of racial disparities in school suspension has emerged as an important national concern. The Virginia Guidelines is recognized as an evidence-based practice by the National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices and approximately half of Virginia schools report using this model. This paper will report on the initial phase of a 4-year, federally-funded project to evaluate the statewide implementation of threat assessment, using data on approximately 5,000 threats recorded by schools during their first year. The initial data on these cases are being analyzed, and follow-up data are being collected through a state-mandated survey with required participation by school authorities. The first-year results will be presented at the conference and will include the types of threats made at elementary, middle, and high schools and the demographics of students who made threats and their intended recipients. We will report threat outcomes and responses, including disciplinary consequences and student support services. Of special interest is the use of threat assessment as an alternative to zero tolerance discipline that has reduced suspension rates among minority students. Finally, we will describe the larger project, which includes an inventory of threat assessment models and practices, examination of the association between implementation fidelity and school suspension rates and other school outcomes, identification of best practices, and a randomized controlled study of a program to improve threat assessment team functioning.