Abstract
The Virginia Student Threat Assessment Guidelines were developed in response to U.S. government studies recommending that schools should adopt a threat assessment approach to prevent school shootings. The Virginia Guidelines prepare school-based teams of school administrators, mental health professionals, and law enforcement officers to investigate and resolve student threats of violence using a standard decision tree. Simpler cases involving transient threats are resolved quickly while complex, substantive threats require a more extensive evaluation and development of a safety plan. Two field tests and three controlled studies demonstrated that threat assessment is a safe, efficient, and practical procedure that can reduce the use of long-term suspension from school and improve important qualities of school climate.
Keywords
- Mental Health Professional
- School Climate
- Intervention School
- Safety Plan
- School Authority
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.
Buying options

References
Allen, K., Cornell, D., Lorek, E., & Sheras, P. (2008). Response of school personnel to student threat assessment training. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 19, 319–332. doi: 10.1080/09243450802332184
American Psychological Association Zero Tolerance Task Force. (2008). Are zero tolerance policies effective in the schools? An evidentiary review and recommendations. American Psychologist, 63, 852–862. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.63.9.852.
Borum, R., Bartel, P., & Forth, A. (2002). Manual for the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY). Lutz, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
Borum, R., Cornell, D., Modzeleski, W., & Jimerson, S. R. (2010). What can be done about school shootings? A review of the evidence. Educational Researcher, 39, 27–37. doi: 10.3102/0013189X09357620.
Borum, R., Fein, R., Vossekuil, B., & Berglund, J. (1999). Threat assessment: Defining an approach for evaluating risk of targeted violence. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 17, 323–337.
Brank, E. M., Woolard, J. L., Brown, V. E., Fondacaro, M., Luescher, J. L., Chinn, R. G., et al. (2007). Will they tell? Weapons reporting by middle-school youth. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 5, 125–146.
Clark, S. (2011). The role of law enforcement in schools: The Virginia experience—A practitioner report. New Directions for Youth Development, 129, 89–102.
Cornell, D. (2006). School violence: Fears versus facts. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Cornell, D., & Allen, K. (2011). Development, evaluation, and future directions of the Virginia Student Threat Assessment Guidelines. Journal of School Violence, 10, 88–106.
Cornell, D., Allen, K., & Fan, X. (2012). A randomized controlled study of the Virginia Student Threat Assessment Guidelines in grades K-12. School Psychology Review, 41, 100–115.
Cornell, D., Gregory, A., & Fan, X. (2011). Reductions in long-term suspensions following adoption of the Virginia Student Threat Assessment Guidelines. Bulletin of the National Association of Secondary School Principals, 95, 175–194.
Cornell, D., & Sheras, P. (2006). Guidelines for responding to student threats of violence. Longmont, CO: Sopris West.
Cornell, D., Sheras, P., Gregory, A., & Fan, X. (2009). A retrospective study of school safety conditions in high schools using the Virginia Threat Assessment Guidelines versus alternative approaches. School Psychology Quarterly, 24, 119–129. doi: 10.1037/a0016182.
Cornell, D., Sheras, P., Kaplan, S., McConville, D., Posey, J., Levy-Elkon, A., et al. (2004). Guidelines for student threat assessment: Field-test findings. School Psychology Review, 33, 527–546.
Dusenbury, L., Brannigan, R., Falco, M., & Hansen, W. (2003). A review of research on fidelity of implementation: Implications for drug abuse prevention in school settings. Health Education Research, 18, 237–256.
Dwyer, K., Osher, D., & Warger, C. (1998). Early warning, timely response: A guide to safe schools. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.
Eliot, M., Cornell, D., Gregory, A., & Fan, X. (2010). Supportive school climate and student willingness to seek help for bullying and threats of violence. Journal of School Psychology, 48, 533–553.
Fein, R. A., Vossekuil, B., Pollack, W. S., Borum, R., Modzeleski, W., & Reddy, M. (2002). Threat assessment in schools: A guide to managing threatening situations and creating safe school climates. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program, and U.S. Secret Service, National Threat Assessment Center.
Gregory, A., Cornell, D., Fan, X., Sheras, P., Shih, T., & Huang, F. (2010). Authoritative school discipline: High school practices associated with lower student bullying and victimization. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102, 483–496.
Hallfors, D., & Godette, D. (2007). Will the principles of effectiveness improve prevention practice? Early findings from a diffusion study. Health Education Research, 17, 461–470.
Heilbrun, K. (1997). Prediction versus management models relevant to risk assessment: The importance of legal decision-making context. Law and Human Behavior, 21, 347–359.
Heilbrun, K., Dvoskin, J., & Heilbrun, A. (2009). Toward preventing future tragedies: Mass killings on college campuses, public health, and threat/risk assessment. Psychological Injury and Law, 2, 93–99.
Kostinsky, S., Bixler, E., & Kettl, P. (2001). Threats of school violence in Pennsylvania after media coverage of the Columbine High School massacre. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 155, 994–1001. Retrieved November 8, 2012 from http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/.
Kupchik, A. (2010). Homeroom security: School discipline in an age of fear. New York: New York University Press.
Modzeleski, W., Feucht, T., Rand, M., Hall, J., Simon, T., Butler, L., et al. (2008). School-associated student homicides—United States, 1992–2006. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 57(2), 33–36.
Monahan, J., Steadman, H., Silver, E., Appelbaum, P., Robbins, P., Mulvey, E., et al. (2001). Rethinking risk assessment: The MacArthur study of mental disorder and violence. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Mulvey, E. P., & Cauffman, E. (2001). The inherent limits of predicting school violence. American Psychologist, 56, 797–802.
Neiman, S., & DeVoe, J. F. (2009). Crime, violence, discipline, and safety in U.S. public schools: Findings from the school survey on crime and safety: 2007–08, NCES 2009-326. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.
Nekvasil, E., & Cornell, D. (2012). Student reports of peer threats of violence: Prevalence and outcomes. Journal of School Violence, 11, 357–375.
O’Toole, M. E. (2000). The school shooter: A threat assessment perspective. Quantico, VA: National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Reddy, M., Borum, R., Berglund, J., Vossekuil, B., Fein, R., & Modzeleski, W. (2001). Evaluating risk for targeted violence in schools: Comparing risk assessment, threat assessment, and other approaches. Psychology in the Schools, 38, 157–172.
Robers, S., Zhang, J., & Truman, J. (2010). Indicators of school crime and safety: 2010, NCES 2011-002/NCJ 230812. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, and Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.
Sewell, K. W., & Mendelsohn, M. (2000). Profiling potentially violent youth: Statistical and conceptual problems. Children’s Services: Social Policy, Research, and Practice, 3, 147–169.
Singer, M., & Flannery, D. (2000). The relationship between children’s threats of violence and violent behaviors. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 154, 785–790. Retrieved November 8, 2012 from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10922274.
Skeem, J., & Monahan, J. (2011). Current directions in violence risk assessment. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20, 38–42. http://cdp.sagepub.com/content/20/1/38.
Rethinking risk assessment: The MacArthur study of mental disorder and violence . New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Skiba, R. J., & Peterson, R. (1999). The dark side of zero-tolerance: Can punishment lead to safe schools? Phi Delta Kappan, 80, 372–382.
Strong, K., & Cornell, D. (2008). Student threat assessment in Memphis City Schools: A descriptive report. Behavioral Disorders, 34, 42–54.
Syvertsen, A. K., Flanagan, C. A., & Stout, M. D. (2009). Code of silence: Students’ perceptions of school climate and willingness to intervene in a peer’s dangerous plan. Journal of Educational Psychology, 101, 219–232. doi: 10.1037/a0013246.
Urbina, I. (2009). It’s a fork, it’s a spoon, it’s a … weapon? New York Times. Retrieved October 12 from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/education/12discipline.html.
Van Dyke, R., & Schroeder, J. (2006). Implementation of the Dallas threat of violence risk assessment. In S. R. Jimerson & M. J. Furlong (Eds.), The handbook of school violence and school safety (pp. 603–616). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Vossekuil, B., Fein, R. A., Reddy, M., Borum, R., & Modzeleski, W. (2002). The final report and findings of the Safe School Initiative: Implications for the prevention of school attacks in the United States. Washington, DC: U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Department of Education.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cornell, D. (2013). The Virginia Student Threat Assessment Guidelines: An Empirically Supported Violence Prevention Strategy. In: Böckler, N., Seeger, T., Sitzer, P., Heitmeyer, W. (eds) School Shootings. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5526-4_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5526-4_17
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5525-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5526-4
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)