Main Points 1. Virginia schools are safer than the public - PDF document

School Safety in Virginia July 24, 2018 Dewey G. Cornell, Ph. D. School Safety in Virginia • Professor of Education in the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. Dew ey Cornell, Ph.D. • Director of the UVa Youth Violence Curry School of Education Project and faculty associate of the University of Virginia Institute of Law, Psychiatry, and Public Policy. 434-924-8929 Email: youthvio@virginia.edu • Trained as forensic clinical psychologist Website: youthviolence.edschool.virginia.edu • Lead author of Authoritative School Climate Survey • Developed Virginia Student Threat Assessment Guidelines 2 0 1 7 -1 8 Research Team Grant Funding for School Clim ate and Threat Assessm ent Research in Virginia 2018-20 Improvement of school climate assessment in Virginia secondary schools. U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice. 2015-18 Student threat assessment as a safe and supportive prevention strategy. U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice. 2013-14 Student threat assessment as an intervention to reduce racial disparities in school suspension. Open Society Foundations and Indiana University. 2012-16 Development of a standard model for school safety assessment. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. 2009-13 Mental health counseling and bullying prevention for safe schools/ health students. Contract as part of the Albemarle/ Charlottesville Safe Schools/ Healthy Students Project awarded by the U.S. Department of Education to Albemarle/ Charlottesville Schools. 2009-10 Effects of school structure and support on youth violence. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Rear: Patrick Meyer, Jennifer Maeng, Yuane Jia, Tim Konold Prevention. Middle: Francis Huang, Anna Grace Burnette, Dewey Cornell, Brittany Crowley 2006-08 School-based protective factors for youth violence. U.S. Department of Front: Whitney Hyatt, Shelby Stohlman, Katrina Debnam, Marisa Malone Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Main Points 1. Virginia schools are safer than the public perceives. 2. Threat assessment is an effective safety strategy. 3. School climate assessment is a valuable safety tool. Dewey Cornell, Ph.D. 1

School Safety in Virginia July 24, 2018 Annual Gun Toll - 3 3 ,0 0 0 deaths - 6 7 ,0 0 0 injuries 5 yrs x 100,000 = 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 total 5 0 0 ,0 0 0 2 7 5 outside of schools Shootings per day APA report is available at http:/ / w w w .apa.org/ pubs/ info/ reports/ gun-violence- prevention.aspx Shooting deaths from : National Vital Statistics http:/ / w ebappa.cdc.gov/ sasw eb/ ncipc/ dataRestriction_inj.htm l Shooting injuries from : http:/ / w ebappa.cdc.gov/ sasw eb/ ncipc/ nfirates2 00 1.htm l For every shooting in a school, Schools are m uch safer there are 1 ,6 0 0 + outside of than the surrounding schools com m unity. 2005 ‐ 2010 Homicides in 37 States 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 W hen w as the last tim e a Residence 9847 4455 student w as m urdered at one Street Parking lot/garage 1209 of Virginia’s K-1 2 public Outdoors 629 schools? Restaurant/bar 533 Restaurants are 10x more Store/gas station 492 dangerous than schools. Public building/business 288 Homes are 200x more dangerous than schools. Hotel/motel 211 49 School Source: FBI National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) database. Selected locations. School includes colleges. See Nekvasil & Cornell (2015) Psychology of Violence, 5, 236-245. Dewey Cornell, Ph.D. 2

School Safety in Virginia July 24, 2018 Costly Reactions to School Violence The fear of school violence has generated costly and ineffective reactions. http: / / www.bloomberg.com/ news/ articles/ 2013-11-14/ schools-boosting-security-spending-after-newtown-massacre • Copy cat hoaxes • Attention-seeking • Students in crisis The Expansion of Zero Tolerance From No Guns to • No Toy Guns • No Nail clippers • No Plastic utensils • No Finger-pointing • No Jokes • No Drawings • No Rubber band shooting No accidental violations Dewey Cornell, Ph.D. 3

School Safety in Virginia July 24, 2018 3 .3 Million Suspensions Per Year Fuel the School to Prison Pipeline Latest available data April 2 0 1 8 https:/ / ocrdata.ed.gov/ StateNationalEstim ations/ Estim ations_ 2 0 1 3 _ 1 4 Prevention m eans “to keep som ething from happening” W e should prevent shootings rather than just prepare for them . Crisis response is not prevention. Photo of gunman This illustrates the we imagine when we think of school shootings. It is an image that directs us to crisis response rather than prevention. A crisis occurs w hen prevention has failed. Dewey Cornell, Ph.D. 4

School Safety in Virginia July 24, 2018 Prevention m ust start Prevention m ust start before the gunm an is before the gunm an is at your door. at your door. Prevention m ust start Prevention m ust start before the gunm an is before the gunm an is at your door. at your door. Threat Assessm ent in Virginia W hat is Threat Assessm ent? 2 0 0 8 – Higher Education 2 0 1 3 – K-1 2 Schools Threat assessm ent is a problem - solving approach to violence prevention that involves assessm ent and intervention w ith persons w ho have threatened violence in som e w ay. Dewey Cornell, Ph.D. 5

School Safety in Virginia July 24, 2018 Accurate Threat Assessm ent Threat Assessm ent is a Avoids 2 Errors … violence prevention strategy. 1 . Over-reaction 1. A classmate, teacher, or someone else reports concern about a person in distress or who is threatening violence. 2. The threat assessment team evaluates the seriousness of the threat. 3. The team initiates assistance to address the underlying problem, conflict or need. In the most serious cases, protective action is taken. Accurate Threat Assessm ent • Developed at Avoids 2 Errors … University of Virginia in 2 0 0 1 2 . Under-Reaction • Extensively studied in Virginia schools • Dissem inated in schools nationw ide. Disclosure: Dr. Cornell sells this book and conducts w orkshops on this m odel. Research on Threat Reported to Principal Threat Assessm ent Step 1. Evaluate Threat. Step 2. Decide if threat is clearly transient or substantive. 1. Cornell, D., Sheras, P. Kaplan, S., McConville, D., Douglass, J., Elkon, A., McKnight, L., Branson, C., & Cole, J. (2004). Guidelines for student threat assessment: Field-test findings. School Psychology Review, 33 , 527-546. 2. Kaplan, S., & Cornell, D. (2005). Threats of violence by students in special education. Behavioral Disorders, 31 , 107-119. 3. Strong, K., & Cornell, D. (2008). Student threat assessment in Memphis City Schools: A descriptive report. Behavioral Disorders, Threat is Threat is clearly 34 , 42-54. substantive. 4. Allen, K., Cornell, D., Lorek, E., & Sheras, P. (2008). Response of school personnel to student threat assessment training. School transient. Effectiveness and School Improvement, 19 , 319-332. 5. Cornell, D., Sheras, P., Gregory, A., & Fan, X. (2009). A retrospective study of school safety conditions in high schools using the Step 3. Respond to transient threat. Step 4. Decide if the substantive Virginia Threat Assessment Guidelines versus alternative approaches. School Psychology Quarterly, 24 , 119-129. threat is serious or very serious. 6. 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. 7. 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. 8. Cornell, D. & Lovegrove, P. (2015). Student threat assessment as a method for reducing student suspensions. In D. Losen (Ed.). Closing the School Discipline Gap: Research for Policymakers . New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Threat is very serious. Threat is serious. 9. Nekvasil, E., Cornell, D. (2015). Student threat assessment associated with positive school climate in middle schools. Journal of Threat Assessment and Management 2 , 98-113. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tam0000038 10. Burnette, A. G., Datta, P. & Cornell, D. G. (2017). The distinction between transient and substantive student threats. Journal of Threat Assessment and Managemen t. http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-56103-001 Step 5. Respond to serious substantive threat. Step 6. Conduct Safety Evaluation. 11. Cornell, D., Maeng, J., Burnette, A.G., Jia, Y., Huang, F., Konold, T., Datta, P., Malone, M., Meyer, P. (2017). Student threat assessment as a standard school safety practice: Results from a statewide implementation study. School Psychology Quarterly . http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/spq0000220 Step 7. Follow up on action plan. 12. Cornell, D., Maeng, J., Huang, F., Shukla, K., & Konold, T. (in press). Racial/ethnic parity in disciplinary consequences using student threat assessment. School Psychology Review . Dewey Cornell, Ph.D. 6