Threat Assessment

Threat assessment is an approach to violence prevention that focuses on behavior and communication of threats and other forms of conflict before escalation.  A problem solving methodology is used to evaluate the risk of violence posed by someone and an individual intervention is developed to resolve the issues that exist and may have caused the concerning behavior or communication.

1. Identifying and Reporting Threats Students, families, employees and visitors who identify a threat are to report the behavior to a school based administrator (e.g., principal or assistant principal), division administrator (e.g., emergency manager, human resources, etc…), or a school resource officer.
2. Initial Review and Conversation After the threat has been identified the school administrator or division administrator will conduct an initial conversation with the individual if there is no concern that the individual is an imminent harm to others.
3. Threat Assessment Review Two members of the threat assessment team will review the initial report of concerning behavior and determine whether the entire threat assessment team shall meet on the report using the division’s threat assessment guidelines.
4. Threat Assessment Monitoring/Intervention If the threat assessment review determines that the threat is easily and readily resolved the report is referred back to the school/department. If the threat assessment review determines that the resolution of the report is more involved and requires further review the entire team will review the case and any records associated with resolution as needed.

Arlington Public Schools has partnered with the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia’s Youth Violence Project to provide free threat assessment training for students and parents.  Threat assessment is a national standard for school safety programs that help students, families, employees and visitors understand the threat assessment process, and to provide guidance regarding recognition of threatening or aberrant behavior that may represent a threat to the community, school or self.  Participating in the program is completely anonymous and voluntary.

This training program is designed for all students ages 12 and up and parents of all students in Arlington Public Schools.  We encourage parents to be available to discuss questions your student may have after viewing the program. The 15-minute program is a way to learn about the threat assessment process Arlington Public Schools will use and how it can prevent violence. When logging into the training program you will be asked to identify your school, but not yourself.

The Youth Violence Project of the Curry School of Education, University of Virginia, is provided in collaboration with the Department of Criminal Justice Services and the Virginia Department of Education.  It is supported by Grant #NIJ 2014-CK-BX-004 awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.  Dr. Dewey Cornell is the project’s principal investigator and Dr. Jennifer Maeng is the project director. Inquiries into the project can be directed to jlc7d@virginia.edu.

• Parent Training Program
  The parent program can be access through website: www.schoolthreatassessment.com Access Code:  pcbwba
• Student Training Program
  The student program can be access through website www.schoolthreatassessment.com Access Code:  seqgek
• Employee Training Program
  The employee program can be access through website www.schoolthreatassessment.com Access Code:  tv2stk