Threats of Violence by Students in Special Education

The following is a summary of a study investigating threats of violence by students in special education presented by Sebastian G. Kaplan, Julea R. Posey, and Dewey G. Cornell at the 2003 American Psychological Association conference in Toronto. Both the poster and the accompanying handout are available in PDF format.

Abstract

We compared threats of violence made by K-12 students in special education (93 cases) or regular education (95 cases). Threat information was gathered in two school districts field-testing guidelines for responding to student threats of violence. Special education students committed threats at a significantly higher annual rate (33/1,000 students) than regular education students (6.9/1,000) and made more substantive threats (39.8%) than students in regular education (20%). Students classified as Emotionally Disturbed (ED) made the highest threat rates and most serious threats. Students in special education who made threats also committed significantly more disciplinary infractions during the school year, including more infractions involving violent acts and disorderly conduct, than regular education students who made threats. There was no significant difference in days of school suspension that special and regular education students received in association with a threat incident. Post-threat behavioral improvement was more likely in regular education students.

Rationale

Reports from the FBI (O'Toole, 2000) and Secret Service and U.S. Department of Education (Fein, et al., 2002) recommended that school systems institute a threat assessment model for responding to student threats of violence. Little is known about student threats of violence, although students in special education tend to commit disciplinary violations at a higher rate than regular education students (Leone, et al., 2000; Skiba, et al., 1997). Threats of violence pose a dilemma for educators, who must balance federal requirements protecting the rights of special education students against needs for school safety. The present study examined threats of violence by students in special education by addressing the following questions:

Study Questions

1. Are there differences between students in special and regular education in threat rate and severity?

2. Are there differences in threat rate and severity associated with special education classification (e.g. ED, LD, and OHI)?

3-5. Are there differences between students in special and regular education who made threats in:

• Disciplinary infractions committed during the school year?

• Disciplinary consequences for the threat incident?

• Post-threat adjustment?

Methods

We trained two school divisions using our Guidelines for Responding to Student Threats of Violence (Cornell, 2001). We collected information about 188 threats that were reported to school principals during one school year. Male students made 77.7% of the threats while female students made 22.3% of the threats. The racial/ethnic composition was 54.8% Caucasian, 43.1% African-American, 1.1% Hispanic, and 1.1% other groups.In following the guidelines, school principals classified threats as transient (relatively less serious threat such as an angry remark that is resolved with an apology or explanation) or substantive (more serious threat which the principal judged that the student might carry out). For information on our threat assessment guidelines, see the Youth Violence Project website.

Results

1. Threat Rates and Severity : Special education students committed threats at a significantly higher rate than regular education students (χ 2 = 142.1, p < .001) (Figure 1). While special education and regular education students made comparable numbers of threats in elementary school and high school, special education students made more threats in middle school (χ 2 = 7.86, p < .05) (Figure 2). Special education students were more likely to make serious substantive threats than regular education students (χ 2 = 10.57, p < .01) (Figure 3).

2. Special Education Classification : ED students had higher threat rates than LD and OHI students (χ 2 = 126.08, p < .001) (Figure 1). Furthermore, ED students committed a disproportionate number of substantive threats (χ 2 =10.2, p < .05) (Figure 4).

3. Other Discipline Infractions : Students in special education committed significantly more disciplinary infractions, including more violent incidents (F = 9.9, p < .01, R 2 = 0.47) and more disorderly conduct (F = 13.9, p < .001, R 2 = 0.67) , than students in regular education (Wilks’ Lambda = 0.37) (Figure 5) .

4. Suspension Differences : Although special education students made more serious threats and committed more discipline infractions than peers in regular education, differences did not exist for use of school suspension (χ 2 =.27, p > .05) or length of suspension, in response to the threat incident (t = 1.13, p > .05) (Figure 6) .

5. Post-Threat Behavior Differences : As rated by school principals, regular education students were more likely to exhibit improved behavior following the threat incident, while special education students were more likely to display declining behavior, in the months following the threat incident (χ 2 = 13.6, p < .01) (Figure 7).

Figure 1. Threat Rates	Figure 2. Grade Levels
Total School Enrollment* Number of Threats Rate per 1,000 Students Regular ED 13,612 95 6.9 Special ED-All 2,788 93 33 ED 271 57 210 LD 1,028 29 28 OHI 399 18 45
*School enrollment based on the total number of students in the two school divisions (35 schools) that participated in the field-test project.	N = 188, including 86 Elementary, 61 Middle, and 41 High school cases.

Figure 5. School-Year Discipline Infractions

N = 188. Statistically significant group differences for Violent and Disorderly Conduct infractions.

Figure 6. Suspension Differences
Was the student suspended for the threat?	What was the average number of suspension days?
No Yes Regular Ed   52.3% 47.7% Special Ed   46.8% 53.2%
N = 91. Number of days suspended was only available for one school division.

Figure 7. Post-Threat Behavior Differences

N = 176

Conclusions

Threats of violence appear to be more prevalent among students in special education than regular education. Nearly half of all threats reported to school principals were made by special education students, even though special education students represented only 17% of enrollment. This study was conducted in schools that were field-testing threat assessment guidelines, and only included threats reported to school administrators, so should be replicated in other school divisions. Special education teams should be prepared to respond to student threats of violence in the classroom and to consider the link between the student’s handicapping condition and threatening behavior in manifestation determinations and functional behavior assessments.

References

Cornell, D.G. (2001). Guidelines for responding to student threats of violence. Charlottesville: Virginia: University of Virginia.

Fein, R.A., Vossekuil, F., Pollack, W.S., Borum, R., Modzeleski, W. Reddy, M. (2002). Threat assessment in schools: A guide to managing threatening situations and to creating safe school climates. Washington, DC: U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Department of Education.

Leone, P.E., Mayer, M.J., Malmgren, K., & Meisel, S.M. (2000). School violence and disruption: Rhetoric, reality, and reasonable balance. Focus on Exceptional Children, 33, 1-20.

O'Toole, M.E. (2000). The school shooter: A threat assessment perspective. Quantico, Virginia: National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Skiba, R.J., Peterson, R.L., & Williams, T. (1997). Office referrals and suspension: Disciplinary intervention in middle schools. Education and Treatment of Children, 20, 295-315.