Conclusion

BTAM is a student safety and support process to address potential safety risks and provide student support and intervention.

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.

Such approaches that promote successful outcomes for all students can decrease the risk of harm to the school community (National Threat Assessment Center, 2021).

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 teams or initiatives already exist to promote school safety, climate, or behavioral support?

TEAM/INITIATIVE PRIMARY FOCUS OR CONCERN ADDRESSED TEAM MEMBERSHIP FIDELITY DATA COLLECTED (Y/N) OUTCOME DATA COLLECTED (Y/N) COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION SHARING ROUTINES WITH OTHER TEAMS

What opportunities exist to combine, collaborate, enhance, or add as needed? • Do multiple teams address the same primary focus or concern? • If fidelity or outcome data are not collected for the work conducted by the team, how could they be added? • If an area of school climate or safety is not addressed, what is missing?

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 specific practices, data, and systems are needed to achieve the desired outcomes or goals?

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

What practices or supports do we need to add to achieve this outcome?

What data would we need to know if we are doing these practices as intended?

What data do we need to know if students are benefiting?

How should team membership be adjusted to enhance awareness and expertise across teams?

How will we communicate and share relevant information across teams?

What training is needed and who should receive it?

What ongoing coaching or problem-solving supports are available?

To learn more about the implementation of behavioral threat assessment and management (BTAM) in K-12 settings and NTAC’s research, see Enhancing School Safety Using a Threat Assessment Model, Protecting America’s Schools, Averting Targeted School Violence, and Improving School Safety Through Bystander Reporting.

For more information regarding the implementation of the PBIS framework and multi-tiered systems of support, visit the resource pages What is PBIS?, Why Implement PBIS?, and Getting Started from the Center on PBIS.