These resources help schools and campuses prevent and respond to targeted violence. They include guidance on active shooter drills, behavioral threat assessments, after-action reporting, and strategies for maintaining safety during emergencies. These tools, designed for K–12 schools and Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs), provide practical steps and best practices for creating safe, supportive learning environments.
Active Shooter Situations: Resources for K-12 and IHEs
Police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical services (EMS) personnel (first responders) who come to a school or an IHE because of a 911 call involving gunfire face a daunting task. Though the objective remains the same – protect students and staff – the threat of an active shooter situation is different than responding to a natural disaster or many other emergencies. Below are resources for IHEs and K-12 staff to help prepare for this threat.
- Active School Shooter Situations: Resources for K-12 Staff
- Active School Shooter Situations: Resources for IHE Staff
- Considerations for Education Leaders in Preparing for Active Shooter Drills in Schools
- Sample Letter Template: Safe Firearm Storage (2024)
- National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Study: School Active Shooter Drills Mitigating Risks to Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Health
- In March of 2023, the Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education entered into a congressionally mandated agreement with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to investigate the mental, emotional, and behavioral health and well-being of students and school staff when conducting active shooter drills. The report highlights that school shooting incidents remain a public concern, and safety measures such as active shooter drills have become increasingly common. Although many states mandate these drills, their design and implementation vary widely, and their impact on student well-being is not well researched. The report provides an overview of related research and offers policy and practice recommendations for states, districts, and schools.
- After-Action Reports: Capturing Lessons Learned and Identifying Areas of Improvement (2022): This fact sheet offers best practices and resources to help schools, districts, and higher education institutions create after-action reports that strengthen emergency management planning and improve emergency operations plans.
- Active Shooter: How to Respond (2008): This U.S. Department of Homeland Security resource provides guidance for how to prepare for and respond to active shooter situations.
- Timeless School Safety Strategies (2024): This fact sheet outlines ten foundational and timeless strategies that serve as the building blocks for a comprehensive school safety program.
- How State Leaders Can Help Respond to Incidents of School-Based Gun Violence and Support Recovery in School Communities (2024): This resource shares considerations for organizing a state-level response to support schools and districts in recovery from school-based gun violence.
- Planning for Demonstrations, Protests, and Civil Unrest on Higher Ed Campuses (2024): This fact sheet provides information on protests and demonstrations at institutions of higher education, the importance of protecting student voices while maintaining safety, considerations for campus safety leaders and partners, and emergency management planning and developing a Protest/Civil Unrest Annex.
- Threat Assessment in Schools: A Guide to Managing Threatening Situations and to Creating Safe School Climates (2004): This guide includes suggestions for developing a threat assessment team within a school or school district, steps to take when a threat or other information of concern comes to light, considerations about when to involve law enforcement personnel, and ideas for creating safe school climates.
- The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative: Implications for the Prevention of School Attacks in the United States (2004): This joint U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Department of Education report analyzed 37 incidents of targeted school violence in the U.S. to identify common pre-attack behaviors and recommend threat assessment strategies to help schools prevent future attacks.
- Workplace Violence: Issues in Response (2003): This monograph on the response to workplace violence that focuses on prevention, intervention, threat assessment and management, crisis management, and critical-incident response.
- Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design: Enhancing the Security of Your K-12 School Using an All-Hazards Approach (2024)
- Final Report of the Federal Commission on School Safety (2018): This report presents the Federal Commission on School Safety’s findings and recommends practices to advance school safety through prevention, protection and mitigation, and response and recovery. It touches on promoting mental health, addressing related discipline issues, and violence in schools.
- Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) Training Instructions (2022)
- Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) Tabletop Exercise (2022)
- Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) Presentation (2022)
- Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) Resources (2022)