Report page 81

After presenting respondents with each scenario, the survey presented a set of possible intervention options (see Table 11.2).

The interventions spanned a variety of options, from warnings or verbal corrections of behavior to parent consultation and assessment for substance use treatment to temporary removal from school.

Not all interventions are appropriate for every incident.

For example, we might expect a BTAM team to only recommend substance use treatment in cases in which they know or suspect that a student is using or abusing alcohol or drugs.

We acknowledged this in our instructions to principals and asked them to indicate which intervention(s) the primary decisionmaker (whether or not it is the BTAM team) would likely take or recommend in response to the behavior depicted in each scenario.

In this section, we focus on high-level patterns in principals’ responses.

Across every scenario, each displayed intervention was selected by at least half of our respondents.

Warning to named targets or victims of threats and safety planning to protect targets/victims | Target/victim support

Parent consultation or home visit | Notification

Warning or verbal correction of behavior | Supportive discipline

Disciplinary measures (e.g., in-school detention; removal of privileges) | Supportive discipline

Behavioral or movement controls (e.g., changes to arrival time or passing times) | Supportive discipline

Programming to help the student build relationships with trusted adults (e.g., regular check-ins; adult mentoring) | Support-focused

Skill-building services (e.g., social skills- or leadership skills-building program) | Support-focused

Programming to help the student build peer relationships and engagement (e.g., friend or peer mentor groups) | Support-focused

Individualized academic or vocational programming | Support-focused

Special education or disability supports | Support-focused

Mental health counseling or care | Support-focused

Substance use treatment | Support-focused

Family support and intervention programming for the student and their family | Support-focused

Temporary removal from school (suspension) | Restrictive

Permanent removal from school (e.g., expulsion, transfer to an alternative school) | Restrictive

Law enforcement action (for example, arrest), civil or criminal legal proceedings | Restrictive

Interventions are grouped into categories based on Jackson et al., 2025.

Figure 11.3 displays the top three most commonly selected interventions for each of our 16 scenarios.