Report page 94

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.

• BTAM Team
• Perceived Effects

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.

• Limitations
• Perceived Effects

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.

• Effect School Climate
• Perceived Effects

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.

• Effect School Safety
• Perceived Effects

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.

• Effect School Safety
• Perceived Effects

cite page 94 Ch 12: What Do Principals Think Are the Effects of Their BTAM Programs?

Figure 12.1: Very ineffective, 5 percent of principals

Sample (N = 1406) · Teams answering effectiveness at maintaining safety

Very ineffective | 5

• Effect School Safety

cite page 94 Ch 12: What Do Principals Think Are the Effects of Their BTAM Programs?

Figure 12.1: Somewhat ineffective, 5 percent of principals

Sample (N = 1406) · Teams answering effectiveness at maintaining safety

Somewhat ineffective | 5

• Effect School Safety

cite page 94 Ch 12: What Do Principals Think Are the Effects of Their BTAM Programs?

Figure 12.1: Somewhat effective, 37 percent of principals

Sample (N = 1406) · Teams answering effectiveness at maintaining safety

Somewhat effective | 37

• Effect School Safety

cite page 94 Ch 12: What Do Principals Think Are the Effects of Their BTAM Programs?

Figure 12.1: Very effective, 51 percent of principals

Sample (N = 1406) · Teams answering effectiveness at maintaining safety

Very effective | 51

• Effect School Safety

cite page 94 Ch 12: What Do Principals Think Are the Effects of Their BTAM Programs?

Figure 12.1: Don’t know, 2 percent of principals

Sample (N = 1406) · Teams answering effectiveness at maintaining safety

Don’t know | 2

• Effect School Safety

cite page 94 Ch 12: What Do Principals Think Are the Effects of Their BTAM Programs?

Figure 12.1 survey question: how effective is this BTAM team at maintaining safety (n = 1,406)

This figure depicts response data from the following survey question: “How effective do you believe this BTAM team is at maintaining school safety?” (n = 1,406).

• Effect School Safety
• Survey Methodology

cite page 94 Ch 12: What Do Principals Think Are the Effects of Their BTAM Programs?

Figure 12.1 includes only principals whose school has a school- or district-level BTAM team

Includes only those who said their school has a school- or district-level BTAM team.

• Effect School Safety
• Survey Methodology

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).

• Perceived Effects
• Prior Research

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).

• Effect School Safety
• Perceived Effects

cite page 94 Ch 12: What Do Principals Think Are the Effects of Their BTAM Programs?