Reviewer Comments

Randy Kamphaus, Ph.D.
Department of Educational Psychology
University of Georgia

I found the text to be well conceptualized and written. The format is easy to follow and practical, leading school personnel through all stages of threat assessment implementation. Most importantly, I think that the authors do an outstanding job of communicating the long-successful nature of U.S. Secret Service threat assessment methods to an audience with little exposure to Secret Service concepts or practices. The text is a great service in this regard because it is not easy to bridge disciplines such as law enforcement and education. The authors, however, succeeded in this effort by writing an exceedingly clear document.

I also appreciate the fact that the information in the text is based on both the substantial experimental and research base of the Secret Service and complemented by the school-based research of Drs. Cornell and Sheras. I think that the authors make a convincing case for the use of this approach for dealing with threats, especially given the lack of scientific evidence for zero-tolerance or other evidence. Their approach represents a very important practical contribution to schooling.

 

Dr. Ronald Stephens, Director
National School Safety Center

Dewey Cornell and Peter Sheras have done an outstanding job providing school administrators with insightful guidance and suggestions for dealing with student threats.  They underscore the importance of teamwork, clarity of purpose and the process of response.  In today's tense climate, this is a "must read" for educators.

 

John Monahan, Ph.D.
Professor of Law and Legal Medicine
University of Virginia School of Law

While others speak in fuzzy generalities, Dewey Cornell and Peter Sheras offer detailed, step-by-step, practical advice for how to respond effectively to students who threaten violence. Their clear-eyed and level-headed prescriptions for assessment and action are grounded on a rare blend of cutting-edge empirical research and thoroughgoing familiarity with the lived environment in which teachers and school administrators labor. These Guidelines are, by far, the best thing I have read on what is now a central issue in American education.

Michael Smith
Past President
California Council of School Attorneys

These Guidelines represent legal "best practices." School districts that follow these Guidelines will reduce their liability exposure.

 

Shane R. Jimerson, Ph.D.
Professor of Child and Adolescent Development and Professor of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology, Gevirtz Graduate School of Education
University of California Santa Barbara

Guidelines for Responding to Student Threats of Violence is an excellent practical resource for educational professionals. This book presents straightforward step-by-step activities for school-based practitioners to appropriately assess and effectively respond to students who threaten violence and also highlights the results of related research.  The forms for threat assessment documentation and behavior support plans included in the book provide a concrete format for gathering information and planning appropriate actions.  The authors elucidate the importance of systematic threat assessment procedures in a comprehensive school safety plan. The quality of this book makes this an essential addition to any professional library.   

 

Russell Skiba, Ph.D.
Associate Professor in Counseling and Educational Psychology
W.W. Wright School of Education
Indiana University

With their Guidelines for Responding to Student Threats of Violence, Cornell and Sheras have written a remarkably useful book on a topic of prime importance to schools and school administrators. The guide fills provides a rare combination of solid scholarship and down-to-earth practical guidance for school principals and members of school threat assessment teams. Grounding their work in the current best research and expert opinion in the area of threat assessment and school violence, Professors Cornell and Sheras challenge many of the commonly accepted myths about dealing with student threats. Best of all for school practitioners, the book translates our best knowledge into highly readable and eminently usable information for front-line educators faced with the complex task of responding to threats. Throughout, the writing is clear and straightforward. I found the case studies and the frequently asked questions section particularly useful. In sum, this book fills a very significant void in practice. It weaves together scholarly findings and practical suggestions as well as any educational publication I've seen, making a fine contribution to our understanding of this critical issue.

 

Michael J. Furlong, Ph.D.
Professor of Education
Gevirtz Graduate School of Education
University of California Santa Barbara

After Columbine and other notable school shootings occurred, "experts" came forward to offer schools methods to identify potentially violence students. These procedure were not founded in sound research, were unproven, and were not school-friendly. In contrast, Cornell and Sheras took a more reasoned approach. They drew upon the threat assessment literature and their work with the FBI School Shooter Task Force to carefully design, implement, and evaluate a balanced approach to address violent threats made in schools. This work has no equal in school-based threat assessment literature. The authors have shown the utmost scholarship and integrity in the development of this resource guide. It is informative, practical, integrates easily into school procedures, and it is backed by objective research. This book is required reading for all school safety teams. It will provide a core resource for the training of my school psychology students. Implementing the procedures described in this guide will not only make schools safer, it will make them more humane and caring.

C. Jo Ann Burkholder, MS, CPP
Administrator, Student Assistance Program for Roanoke County Schools , Virginia
Former President, National Student Assistance Association

This manual is absolutely fantastic! It is comprehensive and practical with sound practices guided by current research. Busy school administrators will relish the concise reading and step-by-step guidance. The authors provide excellent information for determining intent and differentiating the seriousness of the threat during the investigative process. The examples are realistic day-to-day school events that resonate with school personnel!

Any school system with few or more resources could easily use members of existing student assistance multi-disciplinary teams to execute the investigation and follow-up services. Training teams, using this guide, will increase their effectiveness and efficiency in being proactive and following a protocol when needing to act quickly.

The chapter on mental health assessments is cutting edge. Most Mental Health professionals, in schools or the community, do not have a standard guide for conducting an assessment when a student makes a substantive threat. This format systematically includes significant individuals from different areas of the student’s life in order to complete a thorough appraisal and make appropriate recommendations. A thorough discussion of intervention options and consequences challenges school personnel to explore alternatives to assist the victim(s), maintain school safety and the student who made the threat.

All school administers need to set in place the practices described in this book to maintain a safe and supportive school environment.

 

Ron Palomares, Ph.D.
School Psychologist
Washington, D.C.

The Guidelines for Responding to Student Threats of Violence, by Dewey Cornell and Peter Sheras, is an excellent book that finally fills the gaping hole found on the bookshelf of every school administrator. However, it should never rest on the bookshelf, it is meant to be used and referenced often. The Guidelines provides school principals and other staff the rationale and step-by-step process to respond to potentially dangerous students and situations. It is easily read and provides all that is necessary to focus on addressing the issue of school violence. The opening chapters provide clear definitions of what threats are and why threat assessment teams are necessary. With the necessity of threat assessment teams clearly made, the authors then provide a complete blueprint to making the school environment safe and how to resolve student conflicts that underlie threatening behaviors, including sample forms that are ready for use, clear case examples, and even a FAQ section regarding violence in schools.

Not only does this book provide an easy to understand and follow process in responding to student treats of violence, it is supported by research. The research comes from both a through literature review and their own extensive applied work in this area. Thus, the authors furnish the necessary evidence-based underpinnings required for schools to consider when modifying or creating new programs. With the excellent explanation and rationale, excellent step-by-step process to build a program, wonderful copy-ready sample forms, and clear examples, this book provides all a school needs to start from scratch or to modify their current program to be truly responsive to the threat of violence in their school building.

 

Kenneth S. Trump
President
National School Safety and Security Services

Drs. Cornell and Sheras present a blend of research and practical application.  Their recognition and involvement of School Resource Officers is especially refreshing since SROs are too often under-acknowledged for the important role they play in working with school staff to assess and manage student threats.  The case studies and practical exercises take threat assessment principles beyond the generic rhetoric of many post-Columbine "expert" publications to a new level of resource for practical application.

 

Jeffrey Sprague, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Special Education
Institute on Violence and Destructive Behavior
College of Education
University of Oregon

Cornell and Sheras have written a definitive and much-needed guide for responding to student threats of violence in schools. While the FBI and Secret Service reports on threat assessment and school shooters were useful sources of information and ideas, this book provides a step by step and practical guide for responding that will be invaluable to school administrators.

This book is the first complete guide for schools to move from capacity building to threat assessment protocols to data-based decision making and evidence-based student support plans. Cornell and Sheras provide useful and detailed examples throughout the book and an excellent summary of their research on the actual patterns of threats in schools. Every school administrator should use this comprehensive book, and it would be invaluable for use in administrator licensure programs.

 

L. Bernard Hairston, Ph.D., Principal
Burley Middle School , Albemarle County , Virginia

Our school division has used the threat assessment guidelines for the past four years. The guidelines offer simple steps to evaluate the severity of an incident from horseplay to a very serious expression. I have noticed that my assistant principal and I have been more consistent in our decision making and recommending consequences and support for students and families since implementing the guidelines. We have also noticed greater support and confidence from parents when they realize we are using a research based model to guide in our decisions.

Randy Borum, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Mental Health Law and Policy
Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute
University of South Florida

In these Guidelines, Cornell and Sheras give schools a practical, step-by-step, empirically tested approach for responding to a wide range of student threats of violence. This is truly a nuts-and bolts "how-to" guide that educators, administrators and law enforcement can pick-up and put to immediate use. In these most uncertain situations, Guidelines for Responding to Student Threats of Violence provides much needed structure, support and guidance.

 

Kirk Heilbrun, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
Drexel University

These Guidelines offer a comprehensive approach to threat assessment in schools that is clear, practical, and supported by extensive research findings.  Cornell and Sheras provide an approach that balances the needs of schools with those of students and their families in managing the risk of serious school violence without unduly disrupting important academic and social aspects of the school environment.  This will be an indispensable resource for every school system in North America .