After the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, Virginia became the first state to require colleges to conduct threat assessments, later requiring K-12 schools to do the same.
A method for schools to figure out which student threats foreshadow violence, threat assessment was adapted from the Secret Service. When following these methods, a team trained in the model will work to discern the extent to which a threat made by a student is actually menacing. Once a threat is made, a team of school administrators, mental health professionals and law enforcement officers will investigate: collecting facts, interviewing witnesses and determining its threat level.
