National Center for School Safety

The Youth Violence Project leads the school threat assessment section of the National Center for School Safety (NCSS). Our work includes an online resource of professional and a national cadre of experts on school threat assessment, as well as school threat assessment training resources (below).

NCSS Experts & Literature Resources

The NCSS provides training and technical assistance in the following seven areas:

• Capacity building: National Association of Elementary School Principals and the School Superintendent’s Association
• Crisis intervention: National Council for Behavioral Health
• Deterrent measures: University of California, Los-Angeles
• Law enforcement training: Michigan State University
• Notification technology: Sandy Hook Promise Foundation
• Threat assessment: University of Virginia School of Education and Human Development
• Violence prevention and mental health: University of Michigan, Sandy Hook Promise Foundation and the School Superintendent’s Association

If you have questions about the National Center for School Safety please contact [email protected]. For more information about school threat assessment, please contact [email protected]. An article published by the National Institute of Justice summarizing the results of our federally funded study of threat assessment in Virginia schools is available online. A key conclusion is that threat assessment is an alternative to zero tolerance that results in very low rates of school removal and does not generate racial/ethnic disparities. Another conclusion is that school teams need training and support, and the kind of model they use makes a difference in school disciplinary outcomes.

This project was supported by Cooperative Agreement No. 2019-YSBX-K001 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in our reports are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Justice.