For decades, K–12 school officials have been relying on drills as a best practice for improving emergency preparedness in schools. A crucial component of emergency planning, drills are a safety training measure designed to familiarize students and staff with a school's emergency procedures. They provide the opportunity to test procedures, reveal weaknesses in procedures, build staff and student awareness, improve response and coordination, clarify roles and responsibilities, and improve individual performance.
As reported in an article in School Psychology Review, existing research suggests that drills implemented according to best practice can increase students' knowledge and skills of how to respond in an emergency, without elevating their anxiety or perceived safety (Zhe & Nickerson, 2007). Similarly, a guidance document compiled by the National Association of School Psychologists and the National Association of School Resource Officers reported that practicing disaster response procedures has been found to increase the probability of adaptive behavior during a crisis (2014).
Any hesitation during an emergency can have serious and harmful consequences. Thus, helping teachers, staff, and students understand various emergency response strategies and how to implement them is crucial. Administrators can make effective emergency drills better by exploring ways to incorporate enhanced decision making and cognitive thinking. These enhancements should encourage teachers, staff, and students to "think on their toes" when emotions may be high.
Incorporate Interchangeable Roles and Staff Initiation
One recommended way to enhance school safety drills is by incorporating interchangeable roles and staff initiation. These enhancements give drill participants the opportunity to decide whether to evacuate, barricade classroom doors, counterattack an armed intruder, and so on.
For example, when practicing a lockdown drill, instead of an administrator initiating the drill, a custodian or teacher would make the initiation—without consulting anyone else. More often than not, threats that require a lockdown don't happen near a school's main office, so it's important that teachers and staff members are able to decide when this protocol should be initiated.
Similarly, students should be taught to follow the direction of their teacher in an emergency. However, in the event that their teacher is incapacitated, they also need to know how to make important safety decisions. For instance, students should be fully aware of outside door locations nearest to them, their options for hiding places beyond their classrooms, and so on.
No doubt, drills provide learning opportunities. And, especially during the discussions that follow drills, school safety technology can serve as a great aid in further educating teachers, staff, and students. For example, some schools use software-mapping systems that display detailed building maps and photos, including locations of doors, windows, closets, hallways, classrooms, life-safety items, and more. Not only can staff members view these maps and photos to better prepare for emergencies themselves, teachers can also share the maps with students to remind them of their surroundings and options for specific emergency protocols.
Similarly, during a drill where staff members are changing roles, fast and easy reference of school emergency plans and protocols could be extremely beneficial. For example, if during the drill, the school secretary is fulfilling a role that is unfamiliar to her, she could quickly reference a mobile app that contains easy-to-read action plans on how to respond to a specific emergency.
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