Five useful campus exercise priorities for 2026 are continuity of essential functions, accessible communication and decision-making, family reunification and accountability, facilities and multi-building coordination, and closure of earlier corrective actions. Each institution should adjust that list using its emergency operations plan, risk assessment, legal requirements, community needs and evidence from previous exercises.
This article provides a planning framework and excludes active-threat, weapons, use-of-force and tactical-response topics. Schools and campuses should follow current official guidance and applicable state, local and institutional requirements.
How the priorities were selected
Each priority affects multiple hazards and parts of the campus community. Each can also be exercised progressively, beginning with low-disruption discussion or simulation and moving to live validation when required.
The list is not a forecast of the most likely incidents. It is a way to strengthen functions that help an institution manage many different disruptions.
Priority 1: continuity of essential functions
Identify the learning, care, housing, research, administration, communication and support functions that cannot stop without serious consequence. Exercise the decisions that protect them when a building, system, supplier or part of the workforce is unavailable.
Begin with one dependency. Ask leaders to set priorities, activate alternate arrangements and communicate service changes. Include recovery: how will the institution decide when to return, reconcile records and support staff and students after the immediate disruption?
Priority 2: accessible communication and decisions
Exercise how information is verified, approved and distributed to different audiences. Test primary and alternate channels and require messages that are usable by people with different language, disability and technology needs.
Communication is a workflow, not only a notification system. Include the handoff from operations or facilities to leadership, from leadership to communications, and from the institution to families, staff, students and partners. Evaluate accuracy, timing, consistency and next-update commitments.
Priority 3: reunification and accountability
Schools should practice how student status is maintained, transferred and reconciled, and how authorized release and exceptions are managed. Colleges and universities may need different accountability and assistance processes based on their population and structure.
Use synthetic records in simulations where possible. Include an unavailable database or communication path so staff can practice an approved alternate. Add live site activity only when flow, accessibility, transport or physical handoffs need validation.
Priority 4: facilities and multi-building coordination
Campuses are systems of buildings, utilities, roads, access points and service dependencies. Exercise how a condition in one area changes decisions elsewhere. A map or digital twin can support route, staging, access and continuity discussions before a live drill.
Include facilities personnel and the people responsible for accessibility, transport and campus operations. Validate critical physical assumptions in person; a digital representation is a planning aid, not proof that a route or system will function.
Priority 5: retesting corrective actions
Review open findings from exercises, incidents, audits and plan updates. Select actions that are complete on paper but not yet demonstrated. Retesting can be small: a 30-minute communication simulation, a leadership decision vignette or a focused facilities walk-through.
Track implementation and effectiveness separately. A revised procedure is implemented when it is approved and communicated. It is effective when later evidence shows that people can use it and the inte
nded problem has improved.
Match each priority to a low-disruption format
Priority | Low-disruption starting point | Later validation |
|---|---|---|
Continuity | Leadership tabletop | Functional operation from an alternate arrangement |
Communication | Browser-based message simulation | Live test of selected channels |
Reunification | Workflow tabletop with synthetic records | Focused site or release drill |
Facilities | Map or digital-twin scenario | Walk-through or selected systems drill |
Corrective actions | Micro-simulation | Format matched to the original finding |
Build a realistic 2026 calendar
Sequence activities around academic calendars, staffing and existing meetings. A practical plan may include orientation for new staff, quarterly leadership exercises, short team simulations, one partner event and a focused live validation. Provide make-up opportunities for essential roles.
Do not overload one event with all five priorities. Use a consistent evaluation and improvement process so evidence accumulates across the year.
Maintain a source and change log
Record which plan, policy and official guidance informed each exercise and the date reviewed. Assign owners for scenario and contact-list updates. Review the program when guidance, facilities, technology, partnerships or community needs change.
The strongest 2026 exercise plan is not the largest. It is the one that reaches the right people, addresses documented needs, protects participants and demonstrates that previous improvements changed performance.
Sources
US Department of Education Emergency Planning: https://www.ed.gov/teaching-and-administration/safe-learning-environments/school-safety-and-security/emergency-planning
US Department of Education Emergency Exercises Fact Sheet: https://www.ed.gov/media/document/rems-emergency-exercises-fact-sheet-508c-2022-113227.pdf
SchoolSafety.gov Exercise Starter Kits: https://www.schoolsafety.gov/department-homeland-security-exercise-starter-kits
CDC Children and School Preparedness: https://www.cdc.gov/children-and-school-preparedness/php/preparation.html
FEMA Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program: https://training.fema.gov/programs/nsec/hseep/
Continue the conversation
Every training environment has different constraints. If you are working through how to make scenarios more repeatable, measurable, or accessible, share your training challenge with us.
Five useful campus exercise priorities for 2026 are continuity of essential functions, accessible communication and decision-making, family reunification and accountability, facilities and multi-building coordination, and closure of earlier corrective actions. Each institution should adjust that list using its emergency operations plan, risk assessment, legal requirements, community needs and evidence from previous exercises.
This article provides a planning framework and excludes active-threat, weapons, use-of-force and tactical-response topics. Schools and campuses should follow current official guidance and applicable state, local and institutional requirements.
How the priorities were selected
Each priority affects multiple hazards and parts of the campus community. Each can also be exercised progressively, beginning with low-disruption discussion or simulation and moving to live validation when required.
The list is not a forecast of the most likely incidents. It is a way to strengthen functions that help an institution manage many different disruptions.
Priority 1: continuity of essential functions
Identify the learning, care, housing, research, administration, communication and support functions that cannot stop without serious consequence. Exercise the decisions that protect them when a building, system, supplier or part of the workforce is unavailable.
Begin with one dependency. Ask leaders to set priorities, activate alternate arrangements and communicate service changes. Include recovery: how will the institution decide when to return, reconcile records and support staff and students after the immediate disruption?
Priority 2: accessible communication and decisions
Exercise how information is verified, approved and distributed to different audiences. Test primary and alternate channels and require messages that are usable by people with different language, disability and technology needs.
Communication is a workflow, not only a notification system. Include the handoff from operations or facilities to leadership, from leadership to communications, and from the institution to families, staff, students and partners. Evaluate accuracy, timing, consistency and next-update commitments.
Priority 3: reunification and accountability
Schools should practice how student status is maintained, transferred and reconciled, and how authorized release and exceptions are managed. Colleges and universities may need different accountability and assistance processes based on their population and structure.
Use synthetic records in simulations where possible. Include an unavailable database or communication path so staff can practice an approved alternate. Add live site activity only when flow, accessibility, transport or physical handoffs need validation.
Priority 4: facilities and multi-building coordination
Campuses are systems of buildings, utilities, roads, access points and service dependencies. Exercise how a condition in one area changes decisions elsewhere. A map or digital twin can support route, staging, access and continuity discussions before a live drill.
Include facilities personnel and the people responsible for accessibility, transport and campus operations. Validate critical physical assumptions in person; a digital representation is a planning aid, not proof that a route or system will function.
Priority 5: retesting corrective actions
Review open findings from exercises, incidents, audits and plan updates. Select actions that are complete on paper but not yet demonstrated. Retesting can be small: a 30-minute communication simulation, a leadership decision vignette or a focused facilities walk-through.
Track implementation and effectiveness separately. A revised procedure is implemented when it is approved and communicated. It is effective when later evidence shows that people can use it and the inte
nded problem has improved.
Match each priority to a low-disruption format
Priority | Low-disruption starting point | Later validation |
|---|---|---|
Continuity | Leadership tabletop | Functional operation from an alternate arrangement |
Communication | Browser-based message simulation | Live test of selected channels |
Reunification | Workflow tabletop with synthetic records | Focused site or release drill |
Facilities | Map or digital-twin scenario | Walk-through or selected systems drill |
Corrective actions | Micro-simulation | Format matched to the original finding |
Build a realistic 2026 calendar
Sequence activities around academic calendars, staffing and existing meetings. A practical plan may include orientation for new staff, quarterly leadership exercises, short team simulations, one partner event and a focused live validation. Provide make-up opportunities for essential roles.
Do not overload one event with all five priorities. Use a consistent evaluation and improvement process so evidence accumulates across the year.
Maintain a source and change log
Record which plan, policy and official guidance informed each exercise and the date reviewed. Assign owners for scenario and contact-list updates. Review the program when guidance, facilities, technology, partnerships or community needs change.
The strongest 2026 exercise plan is not the largest. It is the one that reaches the right people, addresses documented needs, protects participants and demonstrates that previous improvements changed performance.
Sources
US Department of Education Emergency Planning: https://www.ed.gov/teaching-and-administration/safe-learning-environments/school-safety-and-security/emergency-planning
US Department of Education Emergency Exercises Fact Sheet: https://www.ed.gov/media/document/rems-emergency-exercises-fact-sheet-508c-2022-113227.pdf
SchoolSafety.gov Exercise Starter Kits: https://www.schoolsafety.gov/department-homeland-security-exercise-starter-kits
CDC Children and School Preparedness: https://www.cdc.gov/children-and-school-preparedness/php/preparation.html
FEMA Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program: https://training.fema.gov/programs/nsec/hseep/
Continue the conversation
Every training environment has different constraints. If you are working through how to make scenarios more repeatable, measurable, or accessible, share your training challenge with us.