The Prevalence of Evidence-Based Substance Use Prevention Curricula in the Nation's Elementary Schools

Current guidelines for school-based substance use prevention suggest that prevention efforts should begin in elementary grades, before students begin using substances. Previous research suggests, however, that the use of evidence-based curricula in these grades may be low. Using a 2005 survey of public school districts in the U.S. that include elementary grades (n=1563), we assessed the prevalence of elementary curricula use, particularly those designated as evidence-based. We found that although 72% of districts administer a substance use prevention curriculum to their elementary students, only about 35% are using one that is evidence-based and only about 14% are using an evidence-based curriculum more so than any other prevention curriculum. We present prevalence estimates for specific evidence-based curricula and conclude by discussing possible reasons for and implications of our findings

The Prevalence of Effective Substance Use Prevention Curricula in the Nation’s High Schools

Despite a substantial proportion of high school students who initiate substance use following middle school, the implementation of universal evidence-based prevention curricula appears to be scant. We report data collected in 2005 from 1392 school-district based drug prevention coordinators, from a national, representative study of school-based substance use prevention practices. Altogether, 10.3% of districts that included high school grades reported administering one of six such curricula that were then rated as effective by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Registry of Effective Programs and Practices or Blueprints for Violence Prevention, and 5.7% reported that they used one of these curricula the most. Only 56.5% of the nation’s districts with high school grades administered any substance use prevention programming in at least one of their constituent high schools

The Prevalence of Evidence-based Drug Use Prevention Curricula in U.S. Middle Schools in 2008

The No Child Left Behind Act mandates the implementation of evidence-based drug prevention curricula in the nation’s schools. The purpose of this paper is to estimate changes in the prevalence of such curricula from 2005 to 2008. We surveyed school staff in a nationally representative sample of schools with middle school grades. Using a web-based approach to data collection that we supplemented by telephone calls, we secured data from 1892 schools for a response rate of 78.2%. We estimate that the prevalence of evidence-based drug prevention curricula rose from 42.6% in 2005 to 46.9% in 2008, and that the prevalence of schools that used these curricula most frequently increased from 22.7% to 25.9% over this period. In addition, the proportion of schools using locally developed curricula also rose, from 17.6% to 28.1%. This study suggests the success of efforts by the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools to increase the prevalence of evidence-based curricula, as well as the need to continue to track the prevalence of these curricula in response to any reductions in the Office’s fiscal support for evidence-based drug prevention curricula in the nation’s schools

Responses to positive results from suspicionless random drug tests in us Public School Districts: Research article

Little is known about the context in which school-based suspicionless or random drug testing (SRDT) occurs. The primary purpose of the current study is to describe school districts’ responses to students’ first positive result in districts with SRDT programs

The Prevalence of Evidence-Based Drug Use Prevention Curricula in U.S. Middle Schools in 2005

Since the promulgation of its Principles of Effectiveness in 1998, the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools of the U.S. Department of Education has promoted the use of evidence-based drug prevention programs in the nation’s schools. We report the results of a survey, conducted in 2005, of a nationally representative sample of 1,721 schools with middle school grades. Respondents comprised the staff member in the school identified as most knowledgeable about the school’s drug prevention programs. The total response rate was 78%. Respondents answered questions concerning which drug use prevention curricula they used, and, if they used more than one, which one they used the most frequently. Three federally-sponsored registries were used to specify which curricula were considered evidence-based. Findings from 2005 were then compared to earlier estimates based on a similar 1999 survey. We found that 42.6% of the nation’s schools with middle school grades were using an evidence-based curriculum, an increase of 8% from our 1999 estimate. The two most prevalent curricula in use, at 19% each, were Life Skills Training and Project ALERT. We note, however, that only 8% of Life Skills Training users and 9% of Project ALERT users reported using those curricula the most, and that only 23% of respondents overall reported that they used an evidence-based curriculum the most. More information is needed as to why over three-quarters of the nation’s schools with middle school grades continue to administer curricula that have not been identified as effective

The Effects of No Child Left Behind on the Prevalence of Evidence-Based Drug Prevention Curricula in the Nation's Middle Schools*

Concerns have been expressed that No Child Left Behind (NCLB) may be reducing the amount of classroom time devoted to subjects other than those for which students are tested. The purpose of this article is to explore whether NCLB legislation has affected the provision of evidence-based drug prevention curricula (EBC) in the nation’s middle schools, a subject area that is not assessed by standardized tests

Random Drug Testing in US Public School Districts

We estimated the proportion of the nation’s public school districts that have high school grades in which random drug testing is conducted. We collected data in spring 2005 from 1343 drug prevention coordinators in a nationally representative sample of school districts with schools that have high school grades; of these districts, 14% conducted random drug testing. Almost all districts randomly tested athletes, and 65% randomly tested other students engaged in extracurricular activities; 28% randomly tested all students, exceeding the current sanction of the US Supreme Court