Building a BTAM team: How to Set Up a School Threat Assessment Team

A threat assessment program is only as good as the team behind it. This guide turns the U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) recommendations into a practical plan for a school or district's first 90 days.

For the bigger picture, start with School Behavioral Threat Assessment: The Complete Guide.

Before you start, involve your district's legal counsel. NTAC's guide advises schools to consult legal representatives so their plans comply with applicable state and federal laws, and many states have their own requirements for school threat assessment teams.

Days 1–30: Form the team

Decide the structure

NTAC notes two common structures:

• One team per school, which knows its students and staff well and can respond quickly.
• One team per district or county, pooling expertise and resources, which often suits smaller districts.

Many districts combine the two: school-level teams handle cases, and a district team provides expertise, consistency, and support for complex cases.

Choose the members

NTAC recommends a multidisciplinary team with people from a variety of disciplines, so that "varying points of view will be represented and that access to information and resources will be broad." A typical core team:

Role	What they bring
Senior administrator (team leader)	Authority to convene, assign, and act; school policy and discipline knowledge
School counselor	Relationships with students, knowledge of supports
School psychologist or other mental health professional	Assessment of emotional and developmental factors
Teacher (or teacher representative)	Classroom perspective, knowledge of the student's day-to-day behavior
School resource officer or law enforcement liaison	Law enforcement perspective, threshold decisions, weapons concerns
Coach, special education staff, or others as needed	Additional relationships and context for a specific case

Name a leader

NTAC is specific: the team "needs to have a specifically designated leader," usually a senior administrator. The leader convenes the team, makes sure tasks are assigned and completed, and owns the decision process.

Pick a name

Some schools use "Threat Assessment Team." Others choose a name that emphasizes support, such as "Assessment and Care Team," to encourage people to come forward. Pick what fits your community.

Days 31–60: Write the procedures

Define concerning and prohibited behaviors

Write down what warrants intervention. NTAC's guide distinguishes prohibited behaviors that need immediate intervention (threatening or engaging in violence, bringing a weapon to school, bullying or harassment) from concerning behaviors that may not indicate violence but still warrant support (a marked decline in performance, increased absences, withdrawal, sudden changes in behavior or appearance, substance use, and emotional or mental health symptoms).

Keep the threshold low. NTAC's point is that it's "much easier to intervene" while a student is struggling than after they've become a safety concern.

Set up central reporting

Decide how concerns reach the team:

• one or more channels, such as an online form, a dedicated email or phone line, or an app
• an anonymous option, because students are more likely to report without fear of retribution
• someone who monitors reports and can respond immediately when safety is a concern

Our Concern Reporting Form template is a starting point.

Set the law enforcement threshold

NTAC's guidance is that reports involving weapons, threats of violence, physical violence, or concerns about an individual's safety should immediately be reported to local law enforcement. Write down your district's threshold, and who makes the call.

Write the assessment procedure

Document, for every case:

• who interviews the student of concern, and who talks to classmates, teachers, and parents
• which records are reviewed (academic, disciplinary, prior reports, and others)
• how the team organizes what it learns, ideally around NTAC's investigative themes
• who documents the case, where, and how
• how decisions are made and recorded

Plan for management and follow-through

Every student who comes to the team's attention needs an individualized plan. Decide how plans are written, who owns each action, how often the team reviews open cases, and when a case can be closed. Our Management Plan template can help.

Days 61–90: Train and launch

Train the team

Walk through practice cases together. NTAC recommends teams meet regularly for "discussions, role-playing scenarios, and other teambuilding and learning activities," so that when a real crisis arises, the team works as a cohesive unit.

Train everyone else

NTAC's eighth step is training for all stakeholders: faculty, staff, and administrators; students; parents; and school resource officers or local law enforcement. At minimum, people need to know:

• what kinds of behavior to report (including "it just didn't feel right")
• how to report, including anonymously
• what happens after they report, and that reporting is not getting someone in trouble

Launch and communicate

Announce the reporting channels, explain the team's purpose in supportive language, and follow up on early reports quickly. When people see that reports are taken seriously and handled with care, they report more.

After launch: keep it working

• Review open cases regularly, not only when something new comes in.
• Look across reports: several small concerns about one student can add up.
• Audit your documentation: could someone new pick up any case and understand it?
• Revisit procedures annually with counsel, and after any significant case.

Sources

U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center, Enhancing School Safety Using a Threat Assessment Model (2018), free at secretservice.gov/protection/ntac.