Based upon more than 20 years of research by the Drug Resistance Strategies Project about why our youth use drugs, D.A.R.E. America collaborated with Penn State University and Arizona State University to create keepin’ it REAL, a state-of-the-art, middle school substance abuse prevention program.
Grounded in cultural norms, the program teaches youth how to live drug-free lives confidently, drawing on the strengths of the students, their families, and communities.
Like the elementary school curriculum, the acronym “REAL” is the central message of the curriculum and teaches youth four ways to refuse drug offers — Refuse, Explain, Avoid, and Leave. These strategies help youth stay away from drugs by preparing them to act decisively and responsibly in difficult situations.
Evidence Based; Proven Efficacious
The curriculum is evidence-based and has been evaluated in a randomized controlled trial and found to be efficacious. The 10-lesson middle-school curriculum is highly interactive, involves multiple media materials that youth find engaging, and, like the elementary school curriculum, is based on Social Emotional Learning (SEL) principles that fit well with current research and practice in teaching middle-school youth.
The rigorous, scientific evaluations of the D.A.R.E. keepin’ it REAL curriculum for students in grades six through nine, show students completing the course evidenced a:
- 32% to 44% reduction in marijuana, tobacco, and alcohol use;
- 29% to 34% decrease in intent to accept substances; and
- Reduction and cessation of substance use.
Xylazine….Worse than Fentanyl
Xylazine….Worse than Fentanyl Increasingly around the country, the animal tranquilizer xylazine — known by street names like “tranq,” “tranq dope” and “zombie drug” — is being used as an additive by drug dealers of illicit fentanyl laced opioids, making its impact...
Fentanyl FAQ and Talking Points
Fentanyl Have a conversation with students or your children. Simply telling teens to not do drugs is not the most effective way to discuss fentanyl and other opioid drug risks. The teens that are the most at risk may just tune this warning out if they feel like...
A Different Kind of D.A.R.E.
The principle is still the same: Friendly officers from the Moorhead Police Department come to fifth grade classrooms every day to prepare kids to make good decisions. But if you attended elementary school in the 1980s and 1990s, when the nationwide program was in its...
Prevention 101: The Science Behind Healthy Decision Making for Students
The D.A.R.E. America – National School Board Association webinar conducted by Richard Clayton, PhD and David L. Wyrick, PhD on August 13, 2019 is now online to view. The webinar will help the listener understand the evidence and theoretical base underlying Prevention Science, identifying the D.A.R.E. curricula as a model program. The D.A.R.E. curricula focuses on providing cutting edge instruction that helps prevent drug use by developing basic, core Socio-Emotional skills needed for safe and responsible choices…
D.A.R.E. Launches New High School Curriculum
myPlaybook: Core is a four-lesson curriculum designed for delivery to High School Students, ideally in 9th or 10th grade. The lesson content is aligned with D.A.R.E. Elementary and Middle school program concepts, continuing the focus on understanding risk behavior…
D.A.R.E. Partners with American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to Launch “More than Sad”…Teen Mental Health Enhancement Lesson
More Than Sad is a 45 minute enhancement lesson designed for delivery by D.A.R.E. Officers to High School students, ideally in 9th or 10th grade. D.A.R.E. collaborated with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) to adapt this lesson for delivery by…
D.A.R.E. Responds to Vaping Crisis with New Enhancement Lesson
Vaping nicotine nearly doubled among high school seniors from 11 percent in 2017 to 20.9 percent in 2018. More than 1 in 10 eighth graders (10.9 percent) say they vaped nicotine in the past year, and use is up significantly in virtually all vaping measures among…
D.A.R.E. Implementing Opioid Education in Schools
D.A.R.E is implementing opioid education programs in schools to combat opioid addiction at a younger age. The enhancement lessons are being taught at each grade level…
D.A.R.E. in 2019 – It’s Science & Evidence-Based Curricula
Read an article about D.A.R.E. by Richard Clayton, Ph.D., former Chair of Health Education and Health Promotion in the College of Public Health at the University of Kentucky. For more than 20 years, he was the director of the federally funded Center for Prevention Research
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Copyright © 2022 D.A.R.E. America. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2022 D.A.R.E. America.
All Rights Reserved.