SATURDAY | APRIL 4, 2020

9:00 AM - 10:30 AM 

High profile school shootings have fostered the erroneous impression that schools are unsafe places and stimulated massive changes in both school discipline and school security. This presentation will examine the prevalence of school shootings and the comparative safety of schools, and review evidence on the adverse impact of zero tolerance discipline and heightened school security as safety measures. In contrast, school threat assessment offers schools an alternative approach that helps school authorities avoid over-reacting to minor student misbehavior and concentrate attention on helping a smaller number of students who make serious threats of violence. Controlled studies and results from large-scale implementation of school threat assessment show that it is a safe, effective, and equitable practice.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand the prevalence of school shootings and the comparative safety of schools.
2. Examine the deleterious effects of zero tolerance discipline and heightened school security.
3. Explain the rationale and purpose of school threat assessment.
4. Review scientific evidence in support of school threat assessment.