Beginning this month, students in and around
Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark, New Orleans and St. Louis will be part
of a nationwide study to test a new, state-of-the-art substance abuse
prevention curriculum delivered through their local D.A.R.E. program. The
Institute for Health and Social Policy at the University of Akron, which
developed the curriculum based on the latest prevention research, is conducting
the test. It is funded by a $13.7 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation.
Nationwide, a total of 80 high schools and
their 176 feeder middle schools will participate in the study. It is estimated
that 50,000 students will take part. Working with D.A.R.E., the University of
Akron will implement and evaluate the effectiveness of the new curriculum over
the next five years. The curriculum will be delivered through the D.A.R.E.
middle (7th grade) and high school (9th grade) program.
'Our local D.A.R.E. officers have received
special training over the summer to prepare them to teach this new curriculum,'
noted Sergeant Craig Fletcher of the Houston Police Department. 'It builds upon
D.A.R.E.’s 20-year history of prevention efforts, enabling our officers to
deepen and strengthen their relationships with the students they work with.'
One key difference in the new curriculum is
that D.A.R.E. officers serve as facilitators of classroom activities. It also
focuses on lifelike and problem-based activities, active learning by students,
and examines the complex reasoning behind decisions and actions. This new
program is designed to reduce the use of tobacco, alcohol and drugs, as well as
prevent violence among youth. If the national study shows that the new
curriculum is effective, D.A.R.E. officials have pledged to make national
implementation its highest priority.
D.A.R.E.—now operating in 80% of all school
districts around the country and reaching over 36 million young people—is the
most extensive substance abuse prevention delivery system in the country.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, based in
Princeton, NJ, is the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to
health and healthcare. It concentrates its grantmaking in three goal areas: to
assure that all Americans have access to basic healthcare at reasonable cost;
to improve care and support for people with chronic health conditions; and to
reduce the personal, social, and economic harm caused by substance abuse --
tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs.
The Institute for Health and Social Policy at the University of Akron was established in 1999 for the study of the delivery of effective health and social services. The goal of the Institute is to improve the quality of services delivered to communities and individuals nationwide in order to decrease negative health and social consequences. Dr. Zili Sloboda is the Principal Investigator of the project. The Director of the Institute, Dr. Richard C. Stephens is the Co-Principal Investigator of this study.