Referral Rates for School Threat Assessment

Although behavioral threat assessment and management (often shortened to "threat assessment") has become widely used in US schools, no studies have systematically examined how frequently schools conduct threat assessments and how threat assessment rates vary as a function of student and school demographics. Of particular concern is that students with disabilities receive threat assessments at disproportionately high rates. This study examined the 1-year frequency of threat assessments in a statewide sample of 611 elementary, 341 middle, and 269 high schools reporting 15,301 threat assessments, of which 41% concerned students with disabilities. We identified threat assessment rate differences associated with student grade, gender, race/ethnicity, and disability status. We further examined the association between threat assessment rates and school-level demographic characteristics including racial/ethnic composition, prevalence of economically disadvantaged students, and proportion of students with a disability. To place these results in context, we compared findings for threat assessment with out-of-school suspension rates. We discuss reasons why students with disabilities might be referred for BTAM at a high rate and recommend practices for assuring their educational rights and needs are safeguarded. Evolving school threat assessment policies should recognize the practice demands placed on school staff to evaluate a substantial number of students.