Prefer lockdown drills over highly realistic, unannounced active shooter exercises, embedding them in layered emergency preparedness¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The brief recommends that districts distinguish lockdown drills from active shooter exercises when deciding what to conduct. It states that "Lockdown drills are easily incorporated into the school day and can help prepare for any active threat, whereas active shooter exercises require considerable planning and may be costly to implement". It situates drills within "a layered approach to emergency preparedness" involving threat assessment teams, robust emergency management plans, and internal door locks, and urges schools to weigh whether a lockdown drill without inducing trauma prepares students better than a highly realistic, unannounced exercise.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Districts need thorough emergency response plans and clearer statutes defining drill parameters, which the brief says few statutes currently provide.

Constraints¶

• The brief cautions that media coverage of realistic training has brought all drills under scrutiny for potentially traumatizing effects, and that many jurisdictions mandate drills while statutes remain unspecific.

Target Learners¶

• K-12 students
• school faculty and staff

Target Learning Goals¶

• emergency preparedness
• school safety planning

Related Strategies¶

• Prioritize a research agenda on the long-term effects, optimal parameters, and trauma-skill tradeoffs of lockdown drills
• Implement multi-disciplinary threat assessment with reporting mechanisms and safe channels for students to come forward
• Scenario Based Training

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Schildkraut, J., Grogan, K., & Nabors, A. (2020). Should schools be conducting lockdown drills? WestEd. https://www.wested.org/resources/schools-lockdown-drills/