79 claims on pp. 6–136 (fact 51, statement 7, evidence 8, conclusion 4, conjecture 6, definition 3).
By appropriately assessing risk of harm and providing tailored interventions, BTAM helps schools manage safety risks while supporting student well-being and reducing reliance on suspensions or expulsions, which research shows can have lasting negative effects and may not effectively reduce the risk of school violence.
Sample (N = 1379) · Teams answering exclusionary discipline and arrest/prosecution questions (Figure 9.2)
Over 75 percent said they rarely or never use exclusionary discipline, and 80 percent rarely or never arrest or prosecute students referred to BTAM teams.
Although it may seem that removing the student from school is the safest option, research has shown that exclusionary discipline, such as a suspension or an expulsion, can have lasting negative effects on students and may not effectively reduce risk.
Most threats are ultimately found not to be credible, and removing students from the school environment can sometimes increase the risk of harm by severing connections to support and oversight.
This approach not only helps prevent violence but also reduces reliance on exclusionary discipline, promoting a safer school environment.
Sample (N = 1384) · Teams answering intervention/safety plan components question
As an example, while 91 percent of principals indicate that their BTAM team has the option to permanently remove students from school via expulsion or relocation, 30 percent of schools report never using this option.
cite page 64 Ch 9: How Do BTAM Teams Develop Intervention Plans?
Restrictive interventions—such as temporary or permanent removal from school or referral to law enforcement—are implemented less frequently.
cite page 64 Ch 9: How Do BTAM Teams Develop Intervention Plans?
Sample (N = 1384) · Teams answering intervention/safety plan components question
Temporary removal from school (suspension) | 3 | 20 | 55 | 20 | 2 | 98 | 95
cite page 65 Ch 9: How Do BTAM Teams Develop Intervention Plans?
Sample (N = 1384) · Teams answering intervention/safety plan components question
Permanent removal from school (expulsion or relocation) | 30 | 38 | 19 | 3 | 9 | 91 | 61
cite page 65 Ch 9: How Do BTAM Teams Develop Intervention Plans?
BTAM in K–12 schools is framed as an alternative to exclusionary school discipline, which has been recognized as risking long-term harms to students and causing other damage to a school’s community (Huang and Cornell, 2021; Cornell et al., 2018; Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports, 2023).
cite page 66 Ch 9: How Do BTAM Teams Develop Intervention Plans?
Our survey provides insight into whether and how schools with BTAM programs in place report that they use exclusionary practices such as suspension, expulsion, and referral to law enforcement as part of their threat management processes.
cite page 66 Ch 9: How Do BTAM Teams Develop Intervention Plans?
Although principals’ survey responses suggest that BTAM teams rarely use exclusionary discipline measures—especially at the elementary level—they show that teams do still use these options (see Figure 9.1).
cite page 66 Ch 9: How Do BTAM Teams Develop Intervention Plans?
Sample (N = 1379) · Teams answering exclusionary discipline and arrest/prosecution questions (Figure 9.2)
Thirty percent of principals reported their BTAM teams never use exclusionary discipline (i.e., they never expel students, place them in different schools, or suspend them for a month or more).
cite page 66 Ch 9: How Do BTAM Teams Develop Intervention Plans?
Sample (N = 1379) · Teams answering exclusionary discipline and arrest/prosecution questions (Figure 9.2)
Meanwhile, 46 percent of principals said their BTAM teams rarely use exclusionary discipline; 21 percent reported doing so sometimes; 3 percent reported frequently turning to exclusionary discipline; and 1 percent said they always employ such measures.
cite page 66 Ch 9: How Do BTAM Teams Develop Intervention Plans?
Our results also suggest that exclusionary discipline practices are more common than referrals to law enforcement (i.e., arresting or prosecuting students for their threatening or concerning behavior).
cite page 66 Ch 9: How Do BTAM Teams Develop Intervention Plans?
Although it is concerning that a handful of schools reported engaging in such practices frequently or every time a case is referred to the BTAM team, we do not have information about the size of teams’ caseloads or about the nature of specific cases.
cite page 66 Ch 9: How Do BTAM Teams Develop Intervention Plans?
Overall, our data demonstrate that BTAM teams do not commonly rely on exclusionary practices as the means of intervening with students who display behaviors that elicit concerns for the safety of themselves and others.
cite page 66 Ch 9: How Do BTAM Teams Develop Intervention Plans?
Our data also show that elementary schools—whose BTAM teams likely deal with relatively less serious student behavior compared with secondary schools—were particularly likely to say they never use exclusionary discipline for students referred to a BTAM team.
cite page 66 Ch 9: How Do BTAM Teams Develop Intervention Plans?
However, although these practices are less common in elementary schools compared with middle and high schools, some elementary schools said that their BTAM teams have expelled or referred students to law enforcement with some regularity.
cite page 66 Ch 9: How Do BTAM Teams Develop Intervention Plans?
However, schools might suspend students for shorter amounts of time that still might be considered exclusionary.
cite page 66 Ch 9: How Do BTAM Teams Develop Intervention Plans?
Sample (N = 1379) · Teams answering exclusionary discipline and arrest/prosecution questions (Figure 9.2)
Total | 30 | 46 | 21 | [unlabeled] | [unlabeled]
cite page 67 Ch 9: How Do BTAM Teams Develop Intervention Plans?
Sample (n = undeterminable of 1379) · Teams answering exclusionary discipline and arrest/prosecution questions (Figure 9.2)
Elementary | 43 | 42 | 13 | [unlabeled] | [unlabeled]
cite page 67 Ch 9: How Do BTAM Teams Develop Intervention Plans?
Sample (n = undeterminable of 1379) · Teams answering exclusionary discipline and arrest/prosecution questions (Figure 9.2)
Middle | 13 | 52 | 30 | 4 | [unlabeled]
cite page 67 Ch 9: How Do BTAM Teams Develop Intervention Plans?
Sample (n = undeterminable of 1379) · Teams answering exclusionary discipline and arrest/prosecution questions (Figure 9.2)
High | 11 | 52 | 32 | 4 | [unlabeled]
cite page 67 Ch 9: How Do BTAM Teams Develop Intervention Plans?
NOTE: This figure depicts response data from the following survey questions: “When your BTAM team assesses students, how frequently are students expelled, placed in a different school, or suspended for one month or more for their threatening or concerning behavior?” and “When your BTAM team assesses students, how frequently are students arrested or prosecuted for their threatening or concerning behavior?” (n = 1,379).
cite page 67 Ch 9: How Do BTAM Teams Develop Intervention Plans?
Includes expulsion, relocation (i.e., placed in a different school), and suspension for one month or more.
cite page 67 Ch 9: How Do BTAM Teams Develop Intervention Plans?
Third, schools appear to be focused on more supportive interventions, as opposed to restrictive measures, including exclusionary discipline, at least as the most frequently chosen steps in responding to incidents.
cite page 83 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
When principals did select the use of disciplinary measures in response to behavior included in a scenario, they opted for supportive discipline measures, such as in-school detentions and removing privileges—versus outright exclusionary discipline, such as out-of-school suspension or expulsion.
cite page 83 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Even for the most serious scenarios, referral to law enforcement and permanent removal from school did not make principals’ lists of top interventions (although principals did frequently select temporary removal from school for a few scenarios).
cite page 83 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
This finding does not indicate that schools are avoiding exclusionary discipline practices altogether; indeed, our results indicate that schools are still turning to such practices, some frequently (see more on this point below).
cite page 83 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
However, the patterns in Figure 11.3 suggest that exclusionary discipline and referral to law enforcement are not the most common way that schools address the behaviors and situations depicted across our scenarios.
cite page 83 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
the desire to keep students in school means that there are appropriate reasons to limit the use of exclusionary discipline, unless removing a student from school is necessary to ensure the near-term safety, functioning, or well-being of the school community.
cite page 89 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Temporary school suspensions, longer-term separations from school, and even expulsions are all tools available to and used by schools, although shorter suspensions are more frequently used compared with these other longer-term exclusionary actions.
cite page 89 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
the possibility that BTAM could increase the use of either exclusionary discipline or criminal justice approaches in responding to student behavior has been a concern for civil society groups and a focus of policy debate around BTAM as a school safety practice.
cite page 89 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
However, BTAM is not synonymous with discipline, and concerns about misuse are often more about implementation fidelity than about BTAM as a violence prevention approach more generally.
cite page 89 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
at least some schools said they would likely take or recommend these types of actions in response to examples of student behavior included in the scenarios.
cite page 89 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Principals’ likelihood of indicating they would consider exclusionary discipline tended to increase along with incident severity level, though there were exceptions.
cite page 89 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 1419) · Scenario observations, high severity: actions taken or recommended (p082, p087, p090, p092)
For the most severe scenarios, around 70 percent of schools said they would likely suspend the involved student, and between one in five and one in six said they would permanently remove the student from school.
cite page 89 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Importantly, schools in a smaller subset indicated that they would suspend students in response to behavior depicted in middle-level scenarios
cite page 89 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
this is somewhat in line with findings from previous studies of behavioral threat management in schools, which suggest that many schools implement short-term suspensions as an immediate response to some student behavior to give their BTAM team time to complete a behavioral threat assessment and decide on appropriate longer-term interventions, including support-focused interventions (Jackson et al., 2025).
cite page 89 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Short-term suspensions may also help ensure the immediate safety of the individual student and broader school community.
cite page 89 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (no n: a percentage change, not a share of a sample) · a percentage that is not a share of a sample (e.g. a percentage-point change or a weighted estimate of the population)
Although other studies show that most K–12 principals do not believe that exclusionary discipline measures teach students valuable lessons and help avoid future behavior incidents, 12 percent nationally still do believe that suspensions and expulsions give students the opportunity to learn from their behavior (Perera and Diliberti, 2023).
cite page 89 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
In our survey, schools also appeared more likely to use these types of measures at the secondary level, compared with the elementary level.
cite page 89 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Policy debate around BTAM generally focuses on whether the approach increases the likelihood of students being removed from school or arrested and prosecuted, because the debate is framed around potential threats posed by students, because law enforcement can be involved in assessing and framing responses to student behavior, or for other reasons.
cite page 89 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
The response to these critiques is that such outcomes are counter to what
cite page 89 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 351) · Scenario A respondents (schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team), Table A.16
A (Elementary) | 11 | 2
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 335) · Scenario B respondents (schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team), Table A.16
B (Elementary) | 30 | 2
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 131) · Scenario C respondents (schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team), Table A.16
C (Elementary) | 32 | 1
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 148) · Scenario D respondents (schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team), Table A.16
D (Elementary) | 21 | 3
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 136) · Scenario E respondents (schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team), Table A.16
E (Elementary) | 16 | 0
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 137) · Scenario F respondents (schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team), Table A.16
F (Elementary) | 45 | 7
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 133) · Scenario G respondents (schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team), Table A.16
G (Elementary) | 29 | 5
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 1419) · Scenario observations, high severity: actions taken or recommended (p082, p087, p090, p092)
H (Elementary) | 70 | 15
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 734) · Scenario I respondents (schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team), Table A.17
I (Secondary) | 8 | 3
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 139) · Scenario J respondents (schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team), Table A.17
J (Secondary) | 60 | 12
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 128) · Scenario K respondents (schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team), Table A.17
K (Secondary) | 9 | 3
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 103) · Scenario L respondents (schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team), Table A.17
L (Secondary) | 56 | 11
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 134) · Scenario M respondents (schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team), Table A.17
M (Secondary) | 48 | 8
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 126) · Scenario N respondents (schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team), Table A.17
N (Secondary) | 27 | 12
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 105) · Scenario O respondents (schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team), Table A.17
O (Secondary) | 52 | 24
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Sample (N = 1419) · Scenario observations, high severity: actions taken or recommended (p082, p087, p090, p092)
P (Secondary) | 73 | 19
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
For example, suspension.
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
For example, expulsion or transfer to an alternative school.
cite page 90 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
In essence, a BTAM program that is leading to the increased use of exclusionary discipline or more student arrests is “doing BTAM wrong.”
cite page 91 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
many schools employ temporary suspension as an immediate response to an incident to ensure the safety of the individual student and broader school community, while a BTAM team conducts its threat assessment and determines the best path forward (Jackson et al., 2025).
cite page 91 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Temporary removal from school | [unlabeled] | [unlabeled]
cite page 92 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
Permanent removal from school | [unlabeled] | [unlabeled]
cite page 92 Ch 11: How Are Schools Using BTAM to Respond to Student Behavior?
As noted above, one concern around the use of BTAM at schools across the country is the potential for its impact on schools’ use of exclusionary discipline practices overall and whether exclusionary discipline is used fairly across the student population (for a review, see Cornell et al., 2025).
cite page 98 Ch 12: What Do Principals Think Are the Effects of Their BTAM Programs?
We asked principals to estimate the impact of their BTAM program on the level of exclusionary discipline (suspensions and expulsions) at their school and on rates at which such practices might affect different student groups.
cite page 98 Ch 12: What Do Principals Think Are the Effects of Their BTAM Programs?
Sample (N = 1379) · Teams answering exclusionary discipline and arrest/prosecution questions (Figure 9.2)
Over 75 percent said they rarely or never use exclusionary discipline, and 80 percent rarely or never arrest or prosecute students referred to BTAM teams.
Sample (N = 1384) · Principals at schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team answering Table A.40 (intervention/safety plan components)
Temporary removal from school (suspension) | 1.8 | 3.3 | 20.2 | 55.0 | 19.6
Sample (N = 1384) · Principals at schools with a school- or district-level BTAM team answering Table A.40 (intervention/safety plan components)
Permanent removal from school (expulsion or relocation) | 9.5 | 29.7 | 38.4 | 19.2 | 3.2
Sample (N = 1608 | 1379 by column) · Table A.48 columns: official+other school-based teams (1,608); official teams only (1,379)
Never | 31.0 | 29.7
Sample (N = 1608 | 1379 by column) · Table A.48 columns: official+other school-based teams (1,608); official teams only (1,379)
Rarely | 46.2 | 46.0
Sample (N = 1608 | 1379 by column) · Table A.48 columns: official+other school-based teams (1,608); official teams only (1,379)
Sometimes | 19.3 | 20.6
Sample (N = 1608 | 1379 by column) · Table A.48 columns: official+other school-based teams (1,608); official teams only (1,379)
Frequently | 2.7 | 2.8
Sample (N = 1608 | 1379 by column) · Table A.48 columns: official+other school-based teams (1,608); official teams only (1,379)
Every time | 0.8 | 0.9
Only respondents who said their school has a school- or district-level BTAM team (or an alternative team that performs BTAM-like functions) saw this question.
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