School Safety At A Glance

School safety is an important concern for the more than 49.5 million students and staff in schools across the country. It is fundamental to addressing and preventing youth violence, and fostering positive student well-being, academic achievement, and prosocial...

Staff: Back to School Resources

The following considerations may prove helpful to staff as you plan and prepare for students returning to the classroom:  Consider School Safety Strategies  Implementing restorative practices or social-emotional learning curriculums can help support student...

Caregivers: Back to School Resources

The following considerations may prove helpful to caregivers as you plan and prepare for students returning to the classroom:  Build Healthy Routines The Supporting Youth Mental Health On-Demand Webinar provides guidance on building habits to support the mental...

School Resource Officer Video Series

School Resource Officers (SROs) are present in many communities across the country. SROs must be youth advocates, educators, and protectors of all students in the schools they serve. This video series helps SROs consider the way students think, how to connect with...

A Positive Youth Development Approach to School Safety

Researchers developed a comprehensive model of school safety to describe the multiple pathways that contribute to school safety and positive youth development. This comprehensive model is designed to help practitioners and policymakers understand how the strategies...

K-12 Bystander Reporting Toolkit

This toolkit was created by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC). The toolkit includes simple strategies and guidance that K-12 schools and school districts can use to...

Behavioral Threat Assessment & Management at a Glance

Definition Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management (BTAM) is a form of violence risk assessment that assesses individuals who have threatened harm.  In a school context, a multidisciplinary team works together to promote safety and prevent violence that may impact...

NTAC: Averting Targeted School Violence

In their most recent study, the U.S. Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) examined 67 disrupted plots against K-12 schools from 2006-2018. The key findings of the study are clear and consistent: Individuals contemplating violence often...

2022 Training Needs Assessment Report

Data compiled from 2018-2021 STOP grantee survey responses and NCSS review of 2021 STOP proposals. Purpose The Training Needs Assessment is a tool that allows NCSS to better understand STOP grantee experiences implementing school safety strategies, their specific...

Restorative Practices at a Glance

Definition Restorative practices (RP) are intended to involve all parties affected by a specific offense or situation in order to understand and address the problem. They aim to ensure the needs, harms, and obligations are addressed in an effort to...

2023 STOP Solicitation

The Students, Teachers, Officers Preventing (STOP) School Violence Grant Program is designed to improve K-12 school security by providing students and teachers with the tools they need to recognize, respond quickly to, and help prevent acts of violence and ensure a...

A Quick Guide to School Safety Data Visualization

Data visualization allows data to be presented in an easily-digestible, visual format which reveals patterns and trends. It helps people make sense of the information they are being presented with, and when done well, it allows them to better understand what the data...

Social Emotional Learning at a Glance

Definition Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is an approach to education that supports students’ learning skills and strategies to help them be successful in interpersonal relationships, make healthy choices, and prepare for life beyond the...

Preparing for Changes in Personnel

Retention of staff and effective transitions are important for the sustainability of school safety projects. However, all organizations have to manage changes in personnel, and planning is necessary to ensure continuity when the composition of a team changes. This...

Considerations for Social Media Monitoring and Response

As more schools become involved in social media monitoring and response, a variety of logistical, technological, and ethical challenges appear. This document highlights example practices, concerns, and methods for social media monitoring in a school setting. Also...

Systematic Review: Perceptions of School Resource Officers

School Resources Officers (SROs) have become more consistently present in schools around the country. But how do students, teachers, principals, and parents perceive the role and effectiveness of SROs?  To help answer this question, researchers from Michigan...