Lockdown drills have become a routine part of the school year. But should they be?

"JILLIAN PETERSON: Students will often say that they do feel more prepared. They will also say that they feel more anxious, more worried and more fearful that a school shooting is going to happen at their school. And so those are the two things that we very much have to weigh against each other. FADEL: How do you do that? I mean, how do educators weigh the effectiveness versus the harm?"

"You know, there have been cases where we can maybe point to them and say, I think because these kids had drilled, they were able to get behind doors faster and lock them, and maybe deaths were prevented. There are other cases we can point to and say, because these kids drilled in a certain way and that's not how the shooting happened, maybe more kids died than would have needed to,"

Lockdown drills aim to prepare students and staff for potential mass-violence events. Students commonly report feeling more prepared after drills, yet they also report increased anxiety, worry, and fear that a shooting could occur at their school. Evidence about whether drills reduce casualties is limited and mixed. Some incidents suggest drills enabled faster protective actions and may have prevented deaths, while other incidents suggest drill procedures did not match how a shooting unfolded and may have contributed to greater harm. School districts must weigh potential preparedness benefits against mental-health harms amid uncertainty.

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