Integration of BTAM with MTSS/PBIS

ALIGNING BEHAVIORAL THREAT ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT WITH A MULTI-TIERED SYSTEM OF SUPPORT BUILDING A CONTINUUM OF PREVENTION AND INTERVENTION

While permission to reprint this publication is not necessary, when quoting, paraphrasing, or otherwise referring to this report, the citation should be: National Threat Assessment Center & Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports. (2025). Aligning Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management With A Multi-Tiered System of Support: Building a Continuum of Prevention and Intervention.

In an attempt to follow prescribed models and/or state mandates, schools and districts occasionally establish school safety and other prevention efforts (e.g., school climate, BTAM) separate from broader prevention systems, other existing student support programs, and, in some communities, separate from the district itself.

Siloed implementation like this can strain limited resources and may result in less effective and less efficient supports for students.

Common barriers to integration include lack of cross-team coordination, limited professional development, and challenges in aligning different data systems and intervention approaches.

Multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) like Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) can provide a framework for a BTAM team to extend options for prevention and intervention by working in conjunction with a broader system designed to provide access to proactive and early intervention for students needing support.

Likewise, implementation of BTAM can support MTSS/PBIS implementation through enhanced processes and procedures for intensive interventions.

While MTSS/PBIS or BTAM can each be effectively implemented alone, for schools that are implementing either MTSS/PBIS or BTAM, the integration of the two frameworks offers several possible advantages: • Streamlined systems and processes • More efficient resource utilization • Enhanced communication and collaboration • Improved data collection and analysis of implementation and effectiveness • Better outcomes for students and staff • More comprehensive prevention and intervention strategies BTAM is

Aligning BTAM and MTSS/PBIS implementation is mutually beneficial for the enhancement of school climate, student well-being, and safety.

In order to support teams in achieving these valued outcomes, the U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) and the Center on PBIS have partnered to develop this joint document intended for school and district leaders as well as members of both BTAM and MTSS/PBIS teams.

Recognizing that each school’s journey will be unique, it then provides considerations for aligning and integrating BTAM and the MTSS/PBIS framework and supporting students with disabilities throughout the BTAM process.

A behavioral threat assessment approach complements existing, related student support programs (e.g., MTSS/PBIS). This combination of approaches promotes successful outcomes for all students and decreases the risk of harm to the school community (NTAC, 2021).

The above sections illustrate that BTAM and PBIS align in several ways.

Both are behavior-based and emphasize student behavior as a form of communication and an indicator of well-being.

Each also focuses on proactive and preventative supports and utilizes multidisciplinary teams to identify students in need, assess their behaviors in context, and provide appropriate interventions and supports.

Moreover, both accentuate the value of supportive, trusted, caring relationships between students and staff and the importance of a safe, healthy school climate and culture.

In schools, the PBIS framework provides the opportunity for a BTAM team to utilize existing school resources and work cooperatively with a broader system of prevention designed to provide equitable access to proactive, early intervention for students in

Relatedly, BTAM supports PBIS implementation by expanding the continuum of interventions and supports available for students who are engaging in concerning or threatening behavior.

A collaborative approach such as this serves to strengthen a positive school climate and promote student emotional and physical well-being.

School leadership should determine how teams will address, support, and align aspects such as school safety and climate; clarify goals and roles to avoid duplication; and efficiently attend to matters of prevention, safety, and student support needs.

The intent of this section is to illustrate how BTAM and MTSS/PBIS can work together to enrich supports for students and staff and enhance implementation efficiency and effectiveness.

Teaming is essential for implementing BTAM and multi-tiered frameworks such as PBIS (Eber et al., 2019).

Both MTSS/PBIS and BTAM emphasize the multidisciplinary representation of skill sets among team members to ensure that varying points of view are represented and that access to information and resources is broad (see Table 1).

INTEGRATED REPRESENTATION | INTEGRATED REPRESENTATION • Individuals with detailed knowledge about the school’s current MTSS/PBIS initiative | • Individuals with detailed knowledge about the school’s current BTAM initiative

One promising approach for aligning BTAM and MTSS/PBIS is to expand team membership for both by integrating membership across the teams and then defining roles and expectations for collaboration.

Adding partners across teams can provide an expanded view of the two frameworks, the practices implemented to support students to better outcomes, and the data available to inform support strategies.

For example, integrating a member of the PBIS leadership team onto the BTAM team can help provide a greater level of awareness of the available behavioral data and the full menu of universal (Tier 1), targeted (Tier 2), and intensive (Tier 3) supports available to layer and match to student needs during the behavioral threat assessment and management process.

As well, integrating a member of the BTAM team onto the PBIS leadership team can help promote early identification of concerning and/or threatening behaviors and early intervention.

A school is implementing BTAM and MTSS/PBIS and wants to ensure that both teams are actively aligned in their shared missions of prevention and support. The school’s administration works collaboratively with the leaders of the BTAM team, the MTSS/PBIS Tier 1 team, and the MTSS/PBIS Tier 2 and 3 combined team to review each team’s composition and identify opportunities for crossover membership.

Having BTAM representation present at the Tier 1 team meetings helps to enhance awareness of additional support systems and interventions for students with intensive needs.

Likewise, having BTAM representation and expertise present at the Tier 2 and 3 combined team meetings helps to build capacity for early identification and early intervention for students in distress or who may be displaying concerning and/or threatening behavior.

Similarly, having MTSS/PBIS representation present at the BTAM team meetings helps to enhance knowledge and expertise in the school’s larger SEB support framework and leverage existing school resources for students receiving individualized management and support plans or individualized safety plans (e.g., BTAM interventions explicitly linked to existing Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 supports).

The district’s BTAM coordinator is an active member of the team to enhance awareness and connection to the work of the school-based BTAM teams across the district.

The district’s MTSS/PBIS coordinator is an active member of the team to provide knowledge about current SEB programming across the district and campus-level efforts to enhance school climate.

Having the district’s BTAM coordinator and MTSS/PBIS coordinator both serve on this leadership team helps build capacity to identify natural points of alignment and opportunities to work in conjunction.

Table 2 summarizes important systems-level considerations for each of the three tiers within the MTSS/PBIS framework.

Multidisciplinary team with integrated membership and expertise (i.e., BTAM and MTSS/PBIS representation)

By working in conjunction with a school’s MTSS/PBIS team, a BTAM team can leverage the full continuum of practices, supports, and interventions to enhance their supports for students in distress.

Likewise, by collaborating with the school’s BTAM team, an MTSS/PBIS team can amplify its efforts for prevention and intervention across the tiers.

FIGURE 3 | SAMPLE ALIGNED PRACTICES TO SUPPORT STUDENTS

A BTAM team is developing an individualized management and support plan for a student who poses a risk of harm to themselves or others. As part of the planning process, the team reviews an inventory of existing school-based resources that can be leveraged across tiers (e.g., counselor-led groups, targeted interventions, functional behavioral assessment and planning, scheduling changes).

By working to link the management and support plan to current Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 supports based upon the student’s behaviors, needs, strengths, and stressors, the BTAM team enhances efficiency in its development of an individualized plan.

As well, because the MTSS/PBIS teams have worked to document evidence of effectiveness for all interventions and supports, the BTAM team is better positioned to select effective practices as it tailors the plan to the student.

Using data for decision-making within this framework can support BTAM teams by facilitating access to a range of data sources that can be used to fully understand the context of any concerning behaviors and systems for monitoring the implementation and effectiveness of support and management plans when needed.

Team assessment of MTSS/PBIS implementation (e.g., Tiered Fidelity Inventory [TFI]) | • Team assessment of MTSS/PBIS implementation (e.g., TFI) • Fidelity measures for specific interventions | • Team assessment of MTSS/PBIS implementation (e.g., TFI) • Individual management and support plan fidelity monitoring

Fidelity measures for specific practices | • BTAM and other MTSS/PBIS teams

As well, the BTAM team works collaboratively with the MTSS/PBIS Tier 2 team to include the student in an existing social skills group led by the counselor to receive additional instruction and support their identified SEB needs (e.g., anger management, conflict resolution, social skills).

The BTAM team and the MTSS/PBIS teams all play an active role in creating and sustaining a safe and positive school climate with a culture of respect, trust, and support for students’ social-emotional well-being.

Implementation of all BTAM management and support plans as well as IEP/504 plans should be linked directly to a school’s advanced tier systems of support (i.e., Tier 2, Tier 3) to ensure implementation is monitored regularly and plans are adjusted to ensure students fully benefit from supports.

When implemented in conjunction, the PBIS framework provides a structure for the BTAM team to leverage existing resources and capacities to prevent targeted violence and enhance the overall well-being of staff and students, and align with a broader system of prevention designed to provide access to proactive and early intervention for all students needing support.

Likewise, BTAM supports the PBIS framework by enhancing intensive intervention systems for students who may pose a risk of harm to themselves or those around them.

Together, BTAM and MTSS/PBIS teams can create more cohesive and comprehensive approaches to student safety and well-being and build safer, more supportive environments for all students.

Whether a school is implementing BTAM and wants to extend its prevention and intervention options by adding MTSS/PBIS or is implementing MTSS/PBIS and wants to enhance its intensive interventions by incorporating BTAM, the following questions can help guide next steps:

What are the specific desired outcomes or goals that can be achieved by aligning the work? • What are the strengths of our current system that we want to maintain? • What are the gaps or needs in our system that we want to address? • What aspects of BTAM and/or MTSS/PBIS can we use to improve the effectiveness and efficiency within our systems of support?

What do we hope to achieve by expanding and aligning our implementation of BTAM and MTSS/PBIS?