From Practice to Purpose: Rethinking How We Prepare for Active Threats

Beyond Awareness: Seeing Safety Through Every Child’s Experience 

We all want our children to walk into school each day and feel safe – wholly and completely safe.

For many schools, that commitment has translated into drills, protocols, and training designed to prepare for the unthinkable. These efforts are important and necessary, but over time we’ve come to understand that how we prepare matters just as much as whether we prepare at all.

In some cases, well-intentioned efforts to increase readiness have introduced new concerns, particularly when drills are conducted in ways that can elevate fear or traumatize students. Research continues to affirm that while preparedness activities can build knowledge and confidence, they must be implemented thoughtfully to avoid unintended psychological impact.

That tension—between the need to prepare and the responsibility to protect—has shaped the development of our newest resource, Best Practice Guidance for School Safety and Lockdown Drills: Preparing for Active Threats.

When Preparedness Requires Reflection

This guide is the result of over a decade’s worth of collaborative effort alongside the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) and the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO), grounded in both research and real-world experience. First published in 2014, and updated in 2017 and 2021, this latest and most significant edition reflects the evolution of our collective knowledge and experience in violence prevention. At its heart is a simple but important shift in approach: 

Preparedness is not about creating the most realistic drill or the most intense simulation. It is about building the life skills of safety– knowledge, confidence, and the ability to respond without causing harm in the process.  

We know that students look to the adults around them for cues. When adults are calm, clear, and confident, students are more likely to feel secure and capable. We also know that learning happens best when it is developmentally appropriate, introduced gradually, and reinforced over time. That is why this guidance emphasizes beginning with discussion-based, low-stress approaches and building thoughtfully from there – rather than relying on high-intensity experiences that may do more harm than good.  

Beyond Compliance

Too often, school safety becomes a matter of compliance. Leaders can view it as a requirement to fulfill, a task to complete, a box to check. But compliance is not safety. Real safety is built over time. It grows from relationships, shared understanding, and a culture where every member of the school community knows their role and feels supported in carrying it out.

Drills are part of that work but, they’re not the full picture. Effective preparedness must also include prevention, planning, communication, and care for the emotional well-being of students and staff alike.

Centering a Comprehensive Approach

Best Practice Guidance for School Safety and Lockdown Drills reflects something we hold deeply at Safe and Sound Schools: a commitment to approaching safety through a comprehensive framework.

Every student brings their own experiences, needs, and perspectives into the classroom. Preparedness efforts must account for those differences, ensuring that activities are appropriate, inclusive, and responsive to the realities of each school community. When we approach safety through that lens, we move beyond procedures and toward something more meaningful.

We move toward environments where students both know what to do and trust the adults guiding them. This is the type of safety that allows students to feel confident that they will remain supported before, during, and after any crisis.

Moving Forward with Intention

This resource is not intended to prescribe a single approach. Instead, it offers a framework for thoughtful decision-making – one that helps schools balance readiness with care, urgency with responsibility, and action with reflection. It is an invitation to pause, to evaluate, and to move forward with intention, because the goal has never been simply to practice for a crisis.

The goal is to ensure that every student and educator is protected in a way that preserves both safety and well-being. We invite you to explore the guide, share it with your teams, and consider how it can support your ongoing efforts.

Together, we can continue building schools that are not only prepared but truly safe and sound.

With gratitude,

Michele