NCJ Number
129862
Date Published
1991
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This document describes the development of DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), its goals and objectives, evaluation results, critical program elements, and its costs and funding sources.
Abstract
DARE is a drug abuse prevention education program intended to give elementary school children skills to resist peer pressure to use tobacco, drugs, and alcohol. The program uses uniformed police officers to teach a formal curriculum to students in the school classroom. Special attention is given to fifth and sixth graders so they may be prepared to resist negative peer pressure in middle/junior high school and high school. The Bureau of Justice Assistance of the U.S. Department of Justice has funded four regional training centers to disseminate the DARE program. The DARE Training Center Policy Advisory Board sets policies and procedures for DARE. Evaluation results to date indicate that DARE students, compared to those who have not participated in DARE, have significantly lower substance use since graduation from the sixth grade. DARE students are also significantly more likely to use effective refusal strategies taught in the DARE curriculum. Critical program elements are joint planning, a written agreement, officer selection and training, curriculum, classroom instruction, officer appraisal, informal officer-student interaction, teacher orientation, inservice training, parent education, and community presentations. Appended DARE lessons and endnotes