A National Portrait of School Tip Line Use

School tip lines, which are structured systems that allow students, parents, school staff, or community members to report information about potential threats, are a promising approach to school safety. Tip lines, which focus on preventing incidents that are threats to school safety or student well-being, come in various forms, including computer applications, Web sites, and telephone hotlines. Studies have shown that, in many school shooting incidents and other attacks, there were warning signs known to other individuals before the act was carried out. Leveraging such knowledge about potential threats, tip line systems relay information to the most appropriate parties, such as school officials, law enforcement officers, and mental health professionals, so action can be taken before an incident occurs. 


Although tip lines are promising, very little is known about how widely they have been implemented and what their characteristics are. This report is based on survey responses from a nationally representative sample of 1,226 school principals conducted from February through July 2019. The survey, conducted by RTI International, an independent, nonprofit research institution, was designed to document the prevalence of tip lines, types of schools that are more likely to use tip lines, ways in which tip lines are designed and implemented, challenges of operating tip lines, and perceived effectiveness of tip lines. 


 Key Findings 

• Just over half (51%) of public middle and high schools in the United States currently have a tip line in operation. – Most tip lines are relatively new. Sixty percent have been in operation for less than 3 years. • Principals perceive tip lines as an effective school safety strategy, addressing multiple threats: – Seventy-seven percent believed that their tip lines made them more aware of safety issues at their school. – Over 50% said that their schools’ tip lines had prevented violent incidents. – Two-thirds believed that their tip lines allowed their schools to respond more effectively to bullying. – Seventy-three percent reported that their tip lines had prevented incidents of self-harm or suicide. 
• Over half of tip lines are staffed or monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, such that a staff member receives calls, texts, or other entries in real time. 
• Most are described as anonymous rather than confidential. 
• Most schools involve school administrators (89%) and law enforcement officers (56%) in their tip line programs, but only about 25% involve mental health professionals or students as active partners. • The most common challenges to operating a tip line include the following: – Receiving tips with insufficient information to act on – Raising student awareness and getting students to submit tips – Identifying false or bogus submissions – Receiving tips for situations that are considered out of scope – Raising community awareness