Principals report reductions in crime, violence and self-harm and view BTAM as preferable to exclusi
Principals report reductions in crime, violence, and self-harm and view BTAM as preferable to exclusionary discipline.
NCIER®
Perceived Effects
41 claims on pp. 7–136 (fact 29, statement 5, evidence 1, conclusion 3, conjecture 3).
Claims about Perceived Effects
Many principals believe BTAM contributes to a safer, more supportive school environment
Many said they believe that BTAM contributes to a safer and more supportive school environment.
Research question 11: What do principals think are the effects of their BTAM programs?
What do principals think are the effects of their BTAM programs?
Chapter 12 examines principals' perceptions of BTAM's impacts on safety, climate, violence, discipli
In Chapter 12, we examine principals’ perceptions of the impacts that their BTAM program is having on a variety of outcomes, including school safety; climate; violence rates; and the use of exclusionary discipline and law enforcement involvement.
Survey suggests most principals believe implementation proceeded smoothly
Overall, our survey suggests that most principals believe that implementation of their school BTAM program proceeded smoothly.
Table 3.1: Clear BTAM was a better approach than previous ones: 3 / 21 / 76
Sample (N = 450) · Principals answering the implementation experience agreement statements
It was clear BTAM was a better approach to managing student behavior concerns relative to our previous approaches. | 3 | 21 | 76
Authors examined time to perceived effectiveness based on when BTAM program was implemented
We also examined how long it took for principals to perceive that their schools’ BTAM teams were effective based on when their BTAM program was implemented.
Findings counter perceptions that law enforcement are only there for police or court records
Altogether, these findings are counter to some perceptions of the roles that law enforcement personnel play as BTAM team members (i.e., they are exclusively there to provide information from police or court records, which was actually the role least selected by principals).
Chapter 11 offers further analysis of whether assessments and interventions work as expected
See Chapter 11 for additional analyses about whether BTAM assessments and interventions are working as expected in practice.
cite page 66 Ch 9: How Do BTAM Teams Develop Intervention Plans?
82 percent of schools have an official BTAM team; chapter covers these schools
Sample (N = 1408) · Schools with an official BTAM team (82 percent of sample)
This chapter includes the 82 percent of schools that have an official BTAM team, regardless of whether this team is housed at the school level, district level, or both.
cite page 94 Ch 12: What Do Principals Think Are the Effects of Their BTAM Programs?
Survey captured only principals' perceptions, not actual effects on crime or violence
Note that our survey did not attempt to capture actual effects on such outcomes as school crime or violence rates and only captures principals’ perceptions of these issues.
cite page 94 Ch 12: What Do Principals Think Are the Effects of Their BTAM Programs?
Principals think BTAM positively affects safety feelings and climate, and at worst has no effect
Overall, our survey results indicate that principals think that BTAM is having a positive effect on feelings of school safety and school climate more generally, and at worst no effect.
cite page 94 Ch 12: What Do Principals Think Are the Effects of Their BTAM Programs?
88 percent of principals positive on BTAM safety effectiveness: 51 percent very, 37 percent somewhat
Sample (N = 1406) · Teams answering effectiveness at maintaining safety
Nine in ten principals (88 percent) had positive perceptions, including 51 percent who said their team was very effective at maintaining school safety and 37 percent who said BTAM was somewhat effective.
cite page 94 Ch 12: What Do Principals Think Are the Effects of Their BTAM Programs?
Widespread agreement reflects strong national confidence in BTAM as foundational to school safety
This widespread agreement across contexts reflects strong national confidence in BTAM as a foundational element of school safety infrastructure.
cite page 94 Ch 12: What Do Principals Think Are the Effects of Their BTAM Programs?
Widespread BTAM adoption has raised concerns about impact on safety, crime, discipline fairness, cli
The widespread adoption of BTAM at schools across the United States has raised concerns about its impact and perceived impact on a variety of school-specific outcomes, such as safety, crime, fairness of school discipline across all students, and school climate more broadly (see, e.g., Cornell et al., 2025; Cornell, 2020; Nekvasil and Cornell, 2015).
cite page 94 Ch 12: What Do Principals Think Are the Effects of Their BTAM Programs?
Principals had a very positive overall perception of BTAM effectiveness at keeping schools safe
Principals had a very positive overall perception about the effectiveness of their school BTAM program when it came to keeping their schools safe (see Figure 12.1).
cite page 94 Ch 12: What Do Principals Think Are the Effects of Their BTAM Programs?
Roughly 90 percent of principals saw BTAM as effective at safety regardless of school crime level
Sample (n = undeterminable of 1406) · Teams answering effectiveness at maintaining safety
Said another way, regardless of the crime level in their school, roughly 90 percent of principals felt that their BTAM team was effective at maintaining school safety.
cite page 95 Ch 12: What Do Principals Think Are the Effects of Their BTAM Programs?
Survey also asked whether BTAM program affected student and staff feelings of safety at school
We also asked principals whether they believe that their BTAM program affected student and staff perceptions of feeling safe at school.
cite page 95 Ch 12: What Do Principals Think Are the Effects of Their BTAM Programs?
Principals viewed BTAM effect on safety feelings as intermediate: increased, but not significantly
However, principals tended to view this relationship as intermediate in size—that is, principals felt that their BTAM program increased, but not significantly, feelings of safety.
cite page 95 Ch 12: What Do Principals Think Are the Effects of Their BTAM Programs?
Positive but intermediate safety relationship could suggest schools already relatively safe
The fact that principals perceive a positive (though perhaps intermediate) relationship between BTAM and feelings of safety at school could suggest that schools are already relatively safe spaces, in part, because extreme violent incidents remain rare.
cite page 96 Ch 12: What Do Principals Think Are the Effects of Their BTAM Programs?
High-crime schools' principals as likely as others to see an intermediate effect on safety feelings
That is, principals in schools who reported higher numbers of violent incidents were just as likely as those in schools with few to no violent incidents to perceive that their BTAM team had an intermediately sized, though positive, impact on feelings of safety.
cite page 96 Ch 12: What Do Principals Think Are the Effects of Their BTAM Programs?
At worst, principals felt BTAM had no impact on school climate (24 percent)
Sample (N = 1377) · Teams answering program impact questions
At worst, principals felt that their BTAM program had no impact on school climate (24 percent).
cite page 96 Ch 12: What Do Principals Think Are the Effects of Their BTAM Programs?
Finding suggests principals believe BTAM influences violence levels to some extent
this finding suggests that principals believe that BTAM is influencing levels of violence at their schools to some extent.
cite page 97 Ch 12: What Do Principals Think Are the Effects of Their BTAM Programs?
Most principals perceived their BTAM program was having some impact on violence levels
Most principals perceived that their school’s BTAM program was having some impact on levels of violence at their school.
cite page 97 Ch 12: What Do Principals Think Are the Effects of Their BTAM Programs?
Discussion: principals believe BTAM has a net positive impact on safety and school climate
Principals around the country believe that BTAM is having a net positive impact on improving safety at their schools and also helping to create more positive school climates.
Principals think BTAM is decreasing rates of crime, violence and self-harm
Survey responses show that principals think BTAM is decreasing rates of crime and violence at school, as well as rates of self-harm.
Many principals strongly agree BTM is preferred over exclusionary discipline approaches
Many also strongly agree that BTM is a preferred approach to managing student behavior concerns, compared with previous approaches that relied primarily on exclusionary discipline measures.
Table A.23 Very ineffective: 4.9 (official + other teams); 4.9 (official only)
Sample (N = 1644 | 1406 by column) · Table A.23 columns: Official BTAM teams and other school-based teams | Official BTAM teams only
Very ineffective | 4.9 | 4.9
Table A.23 Somewhat ineffective: 5.3 (official + other teams); 4.9 (official only)
Sample (N = 1644 | 1406 by column) · Table A.23 columns: Official BTAM teams and other school-based teams | Official BTAM teams only
Somewhat ineffective | 5.3 | 4.9
Table A.23 Somewhat effective: 38.8 (official + other teams); 37.3 (official only)
Sample (N = 1644 | 1406 by column) · Table A.23 columns: Official BTAM teams and other school-based teams | Official BTAM teams only
Somewhat effective | 38.8 | 37.3
Table A.23 Very effective: 48.3 (official + other teams); 50.7 (official only)
Sample (N = 1644 | 1406 by column) · Table A.23 columns: Official BTAM teams and other school-based teams | Official BTAM teams only
Very effective | 48.3 | 50.7
Table A.23 Don’t know: 2.7 (official + other teams); 2.2 (official only)
Sample (N = 1644 | 1406 by column) · Table A.23 columns: Official BTAM teams and other school-based teams | Official BTAM teams only
Don’t know | 2.7 | 2.2
Table A.23 N: 1,644 (official + other teams); 1,406 (official only)
N | 1,644 | 1,406 |
Table A.49, Violence rates: 10.5 / 49.1 / 38.6 / 1.4 / 0.4
Sample (N = 1377) · Appendix A table base (respondents answering the table question; see note for tables)
Violence rates | 10.5 | 49.1 | 38.6 | 1.4 | 0.4
Table A.49, Rates of suicidality or self-harm: 11.5 / 45.8 / 40.4 / 2.0 / 0.3
Sample (N = 1377) · Appendix A table base (respondents answering the table question; see note for tables)
Rates of suicidality or self-harm | 11.5 | 45.8 | 40.4 | 2.0 | 0.3
Table A.49, Suspension and expulsion rates overall: 12.5 / 41.0 / 39.8 / 6.4 / 0.3
Sample (N = 1377) · Appendix A table base (respondents answering the table question; see note for tables)
Suspension and expulsion rates overall | 12.5 | 41.0 | 39.8 | 6.4 | 0.3
Table A.49, Student feelings of safety at school: 2.6 / 7.5 / 24.2 / 58.4 / 7.3
Sample (N = 1377) · Appendix A table base (respondents answering the table question; see note for tables)
Student feelings of safety at school | 2.6 | 7.5 | 24.2 | 58.4 | 7.3
Table A.49, Staff (administrators, teachers, etc.) feelings of safet…: 2.8 / 7.3 / 20.2 / 62.0 / 7.8
Sample (N = 1377) · Appendix A table base (respondents answering the table question; see note for tables)
Staff (administrators, teachers, etc.) feelings of safety school | 2.8 | 7.3 | 20.2 | 62.0 | 7.8
Table A.49 note: n = 1,377. Rows may not sum to 100 percent because of rounding.
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)
n = 1,377. Rows may not sum to 100 percent because of rounding.
Table A.49 note: Only respondents who said their school has a school- or district-level BTAM team
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.
Table A.49 note: Table only includes data from respondents who said their school has a school- or
Table only includes data from respondents who said their school has a school- or district-level BTAM team, not respondents who said they have an alternative team that performs BTAM-like functions.
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