CISA, along with other organizations throughout government, law enforcement, and communities nationwide, is postured to continually enhance school safety and security. These resources help schools prevent, protect, mitigate, respond to, and recover from emergency situations. This includes addressing the factors that lead to violence, safeguarding schools, students, and staff from an incident, and prioritizing prevention efforts. Schools can use these tools to develop an actionable, comprehensive, and customizable targeted violence prevention plan that maintains a safe and supportive learning environment for everyone.
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School Safety
SchoolSafety.gov
This site provides a one-stop-shop for federal school safety resources, programs, and actionable recommendations for creating a safe environment where students can thrive. It aims to share best practices and strategies to help K-12 school safety community members safeguard schools.
Link: SchoolSafety.gov
Enhancing School Safety Using a Threat Assessment Model: An Operational Guide for Preventing Targeted School Violence
This guide provides actionable steps schools can take to develop comprehensive targeted violence prevention plans for conducting threat assessments in schools.
Link: Enhancing School Safety Using a Threat Assessment Model: An Operational Guide for Preventing Targeted School Violence (.pdf, 952 KB)
Enhancing School Safety Using a Threat Assessment Model: Executive Summary
This summary provides actionable steps for developing comprehensive targeted violence prevention plans for conducting threat assessments. This model focuses on decreasing the risk of students engaging in violence against themselves or the school community and can be customized to fit a specific school’s needs.
Link: Enhancing School Safety Using a Threat Assessment Model: Executive Summary (.pdf, 952 KB)
K-12 School Security Guide (3rd Edition) and School Security Assessment Tool
This guide provides a comprehensive doctrine and systems-based methodology to support schools in conducting vulnerability assessments and planning to implement layered physical security elements across K–12 districts and campuses. The guide is designed and organized for local education agencies to employ in conjunction with the K-12 School Security Assessment Tool (SSAT), a web-based tool that provides further guidance on school physical security planning and implementation. Together, this guide and the companion tool outline action-oriented security practices and options for consideration across the K-12 school community.
Link: K-12 School Security Guide 3rd Ed. (2022)(.pdf, 3.3mb); K-12 School Security Assessment Tool (2022)
School Safety and Security
This site provides free tools and resources for communities to connect, plan, train, and report threats to different institutions. It includes guides and information on school safety, insider threats, violence against faith-based venues, and explosive devices.
Link: School Safety and Security
Active Shooter Preparedness: School Security and Resilience
This video provides information geared towards educators, school resource officers, and school administrators who serve in important roles in safeguarding schools.
Link: Active Shooter Preparedness: School Security and Resilience
Additional DHS Resources:
Campus Resilience Program Resource Library
This website provides campus resilience program resources for the academic community to address a range of threats and hazards affecting schools and campuses nationwide. The resources help increase awareness of current risks and threats in the academic community; provide tools and content for schools to measure specific campus vulnerabilities; include best practice guides and templates to help schools act; and list opportunities for schools to evaluate their preparedness, response, and recovery capabilities.