Threat assessment worksheet: School Threat Assessment Worksheet Template (13 NTAC Themes)

This worksheet helps your team organize an assessment around the 13 investigative themes in the U.S. Secret Service NTAC model. It's a structure for gathering and recording information, not a scoring tool. For the questions behind each theme, see The 13 Investigative Themes.

Address any immediate safety concern first, including notifying law enforcement when a report involves weapons, threats of violence, physical violence, or concerns about someone's safety. Then begin the assessment.

Write factually, note the source of each piece of information, and remember that parents may be entitled to inspect these records. See FERPA and Threat Assessment Records.

Case information

Field	Details
Case number
Student name, grade, school
Date of report
Reported by (or "anonymous")
Team leader
Team members on this case
Immediate safety actions taken (and when)
Law enforcement notified?	☐ Yes, by ____ at ____ ☐ No, not required by threshold

Summary of the concern

What was reported, and what brought the student to the team's attention?

 

 

Information sources

Source	Who / what	Date	Gathered by
Student interview
Reporting party
Parents or guardians
Teachers and staff
Classmates and friends
Social media and online activity
Class assignments
Academic, attendance, and discipline records
Prior reports and interventions
Law enforcement or other records
Other

The 13 investigative themes

For each theme, record what the team learned and the source. Write "unknown" where information is still needed.

#	Theme	What the team learned (with source)
1	Motives: grievances, goals, what the student wants
2	Communications: concerning, threatening, or violent statements, in any medium
3	Inappropriate interests: fixation on attacks, attackers, or violence (consider context)
4	Weapons access: at home or elsewhere; storage; familiarity
5	Stressors: setbacks, losses, bullying; past, current, and upcoming
6	Emotional and developmental issues: in context of diagnosis and baseline
7	Desperation or despair: hopelessness, suicidal thoughts or gestures
8	Violence as an option: views on violence, past use, encouragement from others
9	Concerned others: who is worried, and about what
10	Capacity: organized thinking and resources to act
11	Planning: targets, research, rehearsal, acquiring weapons
12	Consistency: do statements match actions and others' accounts?
13	Protective factors: trusted adults, friends, activities, goals

Team assessment

Considering everything gathered, what is the team's assessment? Describe whether the student appears to be on a path toward harming themselves or others, what needs the student has, and the reasoning. Remember that the team isn't predicting with certainty whether violence will happen; it's identifying factors that make violence a possibility, and needs to address.

 

 

 

Needs identified (each should appear in the management plan):

 

 

Information still needed, and who will get it:

 

Decision record

Field	Details
Date of team decision
Members present
Management plan started?	☐ Yes (attach plan)
Next review date
Recorded by