This document is intended to provide a brief overview of Active Shooter Drills in schools, including key components, participants, prevalence, and effectiveness of programs.

 

What are Active Shooter Drills?

Active Shooter Drills are practices designed to increase knowledge and preparedness in order to effectively respond to incidents of school shootings. There is variability in procedures across states and districts, such as:  

• Drills that occur with preparation versus drills that occur unannounced.

• Drills that use props (i.e. airsoft guns) versus drills that do not.

• Drills that focus on passive (i.e. lockdown) responses versus active (i.e., barricading door, countering the shooter) responses (Jonson et al., 2018).

  • Passive responses are the most common practice

  • Active responses, which consists of (a) leaving the scene, (b) if unable to leave, barricading the entry point, and (c) storming or distracting shooter, are a recent response to school shootings.

 

Who can participate?

Participation in active shooter drills differ based on the philosophy or training program that is adopted by the school district. Some common participants include school administrators, teachers, students, parents, and law enforcement officers.

 

What are the statistics?

• In 2003-04, 79% of schools had a plan in place for shootings compared to 92% of schools in 2015-16 (U.S. Department of Education, 2018)

• Over “70% of schools practiced drills specifically addressing active shooters”; approximately 46% have included students (Campbell, 2018).

• Some states (Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Tennessee) have mandated active shooter drills. Yet, many decisions about the logistics are left up to the school districts (Rygg, 2015).

 

What are some Active Shooter Training Programs?

• Safe Schools (safeschools.com)

• ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate)

  • 4,000+ school districts have participated in ALICE (alicetraining.com)

 

What are some potential benefits and drawbacks to active shooter drills?

Benefits

• Prepare students and staff for an active shooter event.

• Adopt similar strategies as other programs (i.e., Realistic simulations used in M.A.D.D).

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Drawbacks

• Create mistrust or sense of fear in school.

• Cause potential traumatization among participants (i.e. unawareness, realistic simulation).

• Lead to potential hypersensitivity or desentization to shootings following drills.

• Place unrealistic expectations on students, especially in crisis. (i.e., students asked to use objects in the classroom to counter intruder).

(Gubiotti, 2015; Krause, 2014; & Ryggs, 2015)

 

Best Practices and Recommendations

• Consider the developmental level (trauma, special needs, etc.) of students prior to drills.

• Mental health supports available before, during, and after drills.

• Complete trainings from less to more intensive. Some scholars argue that alternative options to active shooting drills, such as presentations or small group activities, can be just as effective.

 

Conclusions

There are mixed viewpoints regarding the topic. There is limited scholarly research investigating the effectiveness of Active Shooter Drills on school safety outcomes or the psychological impacts on children.



 

Resources

Campbell, A. F. (2018, March 14). After Parkland, a push for more school shooting drills Vox. Retrieved from   

     https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/16/17016382/school-shooting-drills-training

Gubiotti, M. (2015). Opposing viewpoints: Preparing students, teachers, and the community for school shootings:

     Saving lives with active shooter simulations. Children's Legal Rights Journal, 35(3), 254.

Krause, M. (2013). Intruder defense services: A look at in-progress responses to school shootings.

Jonson, C. L. (2017). Preventing school shootings: the effectiveness of safety measures. Victims & Offenders, 12(6),

     956-973.

Jonson, C. L., Moon, M. M., & Hendry, J. A. (2018). One Size Does Not Fit All:Traditional Lockdown Versus Multioption

     Responses to School Shootings. Journal of School Violence, 1-13.

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2018). Indicators of School Crime and Safety:

     2017 (NCES 2018-036), Indicator 20. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2008). Active Shooter - How to

     Respond