Do lockdown drills do more harm than good?

What’s happening

Saturday marks the 25th anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre that saw two teenagers open fire, killing 12 students and one teacher. In 1999, it was the worst mass school shooting in U.S. history. As the tragedy unfolded on live television, it sent shockwaves through the nation, sparking an intense debate over gun control.

Since Columbine, there have been 404 school shootings, according to Washington Post data. Three of them have surpassed the death toll of Columbine, in places like Newtown, Conn., Parkland, Fla., and Uvalde, Texas — all of which have happened within the past decade.

While youth homicides are far less likely to happen in schools (compared to other locations), parents and policymakers have demanded more safety action following these high-profile school shootings. Many schools have turned to an increase of school lockdown drills, a rare practice before Columbine.

The purpose of a standard lockdown drill is to protect students and faculty from threats within the school. It can extend to things beyond an active shooter, like someone who is at risk for violence, or a wild animal that found its way inside. There are specific steps for a lockdown drill that include: locking the door, turning off the lights, keeping quiet, staying out of sight by avoiding windows and doors and not responding to a knock on the door.

These drills can range from general lockdowns — to ALICE drills (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) that teach how to throw objects or rush the shooter — to an extreme active shooter drill with simulated gunfire and masked “shooters.” Some drills are announced, while others are unannounced, leaving students in the dark until they happen.

Lockdown drills are mandated in more than 40 states, and are seen by many as commonplace as fire drills. Students in more than 95% of public schools practice the procedures.

Why there’s debate

Some research has shown that lockdown drills can be an important tool for students and staff to use in emergency situations: The more they practice, the better they will get at remembering to carry out the steps.

Jaclyn Schildkraut, executive director of the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium at the Rockefeller Institute of Government, says the more extreme active shooter drills simulating an active shooter are giving lockdown drills a bad reputation.

In a 2020 research paper, she wrote that repetition of lockdown drills can help save lives. “This is particularly important as [emergency] drills ... are designed to build muscle memory, which allows a person to perform certain functions in chaotic situations, such as an active attacker, when their mind is still trying to process what is taking place.”

The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) also supports this view; according to its website, “Lockdowns can save lives and are considered best practice in crisis response.”

Jillian Peterson, an associate professor of criminology at Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minn., told CNN that while the rate of mass school shootings has remained fairly consistent over time, the response has increased.

“What's changed is also the fact that we've started running our kids through these lockdown drills, starting at 4 or 5 years old,” Peterson said. “In Minnesota, it's five a year, so you run through 70 of them by the time you graduate. And that really, I think, normalizes this and makes it feel like it's a very present problem, when you're rehearsing and preparing for it all the time.”

While less than 2% of gun deaths a year occur on school grounds, one in seven K-12 parents said their child expressed to them that they were worried or concerned about feeling unsafe at their school, according to a 2023 Gallup poll.

Between 2018 and 2019, Schildkraut and fellow experts conducted lockdown drills and training in a Central New York school district. After the drills, Schildkraut found that while attitudes toward emergency preparedness improved, overall feelings of safety in schools did not. “Specifically, students taking the survey at the end of the project were significantly less likely to report feeling safe at school or in various parts of the building,” the researchers wrote in their findings.

With the near-universal practice of school lockdown drills in place in the U.S., a debate has emerged around whether the constant stress from lockdown drills does more harm than good.

The NASP has also weighed in on the psychological effects, saying, “Depending on circumstances, some lockdowns may produce anxiety, stress, and traumatic symptoms in some students or staff, as well as loss of instructional time.”

Some critics also argue that there’s little evidence that these lockdown drills actually work. According to Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit that advocates for gun control, “There is almost no research affirming the value of these drills for preventing school shootings or protecting the school community when shootings do occur.”

While there is little high-quality research on the mental health risks of lockdown drills, a 2021 study conducted by Georgia Tech researchers in partnership with Everytown for Gun Safety analyzed social media posts in 114 schools in 33 states — before and after lockdown drills.

The researchers discovered that following the drills, anxiety, stress and depression among students increased by 39%-42%. The authors wrote, “We provide the first empirical evidence that school shooter drills — in their current, unregulated state — negatively impact the psychological well-being of entire school communities.”

What’s next

It remains to be seen how best to ensure that students feel prepared for a crisis without inflicting trauma or harmful psychological effects on them.

According to a Pew Research Center poll released this month, 69% of teachers say improving mental health screening and treatment for kids and adults would be extremely or very effective at preventing school shootings, while about half (49%) say that having police officers or armed security present in schools would be highly effective.

Perspectives

When done right, lockdown drills can help save lives

“Drills should be planned by a multidisciplinary team that includes administrators, educators, safety specialists, school-based mental health professionals, facilities personnel and others responsible for comprehensive emergency preparedness. This team can identify and plan for students with different developmental levels and attend to mental health needs before, during and after the drills.” — Jaclyn Schildkraut and Amanda Nickerson, Washington Post

Announcing lockdown drills can minimize harm

“The National Association of School Psychologists recommends announcing lockdown drills so that students can focus on gaining knowledge and skills for emergency preparedness. Despite the data, principals may choose to hold unannounced drills using the vague wording of drill requirements. The principals may be well-meaning but unaware of the harm unannounced drills cause.” — Grace Weeks, a recent college grad who studied the long-term effects of childhood trauma, Daily Press

Schools need to be prepared, but not to the extent of simulating active shootings

“When you simulate those kinds of situations, you don’t know the trauma histories of your students and your staff members, and that could be a trauma trigger.” — Melissa Reeves, past president of the National Association of School Psychologists, to CNN

Even with lockdown drills, some still feel unprepared for what to do outside the classroom

“The issue that worries me is that we are utterly unprepared for an assailant to enter the campus while we stand with our friends, eating lunch and making jokes. I feel lost as I walk through the quad during passing period. I wonder if the sound of a gunshot was to explode nearby, what should I do.” — Student Emily Ito, Los Angeles Times

Prepare school faculty and staff for drills, but spare the students

“It is one thing to prepare the faculty and staff for what to do and how to instruct students in the case of a violent episode; it is quite another to involve children whose innocence need not be compromised. Furthermore, it is far from certain that students would recall what they had learned during occasional lockdown drills amidst the panic associated with the real thing.” — James Alan Fox, Detroit Free Press

More mental health services need to be offered

“There are no mental health resources for the before, during and after [lockdown drills]. None of this is what any of us signed up for, and it’s exhausting that nothing is being done about it.” — Sara Rezvi, a former public school teacher who now directs an after-school program, to the New York Times

Stop active shooter drills and treat mental health

“Things like increased access to in-school mental health services and regular threat assessments are ways that school administrators can keep their students safe without the mental health impacts that active shooter drills have on many students.” — Parent Jara Alvarez-Del-Pino, Indianapolis Star

Shootings on school grounds statistically happen where lockdown drills aren’t needed

“My analysis, as a professor of criminology, of the K-12 school shooting data for the past three years indicates that nearly 90% of the shootings did not take place inside the school itself, but in parking lots, athletic fields or school buses, where lockdown drills and metal detectors are not relevant.” — James Alan Fox, USA Today