Title IV, Part A – Safe and Drug Free Schools

 

The NEFEC Safe and Drug Free Schools Program is committed to providing training in proven-effective Drug and Violence Prevention Curricula for teachers and school staff in participating districts.  Dixie County is one of the school districts that collaborate with NEFEC for the provision of these services. 

 

The Safe and Drug Free Schools project supports the implementation of scientifically research-based programs that reduce violence and illegal drug use.  Dixie County schools are implementing a Get Real About Tobacco program that is supported by this project, in collaboration with NEFEC.  For additional project information, or to provide input on this project, please contact the SDFS representative at NEFEC at www.nefec.org.

 

During the 2008 - 09 school year the Get Real About Tobacco and other support programs were implemented in the middle school as the district’s primary prevention and education curriculums. These programs were evaluated using a retrospective pretest/posttest design. Information regarding student’s attitudes, knowledge and beliefs was collected using an instrument, custom designed by Health-Tech Consultants for the Safe and Drug Free Schools Program, based on the primary outcome objectives of these programs. Summarized below are the results from the survey.

 

Table 1 provides a description of the program participants by grade level.

 

Table 1. Number of Participants by Grade Level

School

Count

6th Grade

102

7th Grade

97

Total

199

 

 

Table 2 provides a description of the program participants by gender and racial/ethnic group.

 

Table 2. Gender and Race of Participants

 

 

White

Black

Hispanic

Other

Total

Female

Count

83

6

5

7

101

%

82.2%

5.9%

5.0%

6.9%

100.0%

Male

Count

60

11

3

1

75

%

80.0%

14.7%

4.0%

1.3%

100.0%

Total

Count

143

17

8

8

176

%

81.3%

9.7%

4.5%

4.5%

100.0%

 

  

Table 3 provides the mean score for the evaluation survey items which assessed students’ beliefs about substance use, bullying, and decision making skills.

Table 3. Survey Items 1-11

 

Test Type

Survey Items

Pretest

Posttest

 

 

Mean

Mean

Change

1. My understanding of how using alcohol, tobacco and other drugs affect's my health.

2.77

3.55

0.78

2. My knowledge of school policy and laws regarding substance use.

3.11

3.56

0.45

3. My understanding of how to resist the pressure of using alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.

3.07

3.58

0.51

4. My understanding of ways to use goal-setting and decision-making skills to make healthy decisions.

2.93

3.50

0.57

5. My willingness to accept responsibility for my own behaviors.

3.14

3.59

0.45

6. My understanding of how messages from media promote alcohol and tobacco use among youth.

2.88

3.54

0.66

7. My commitment to be drug free.

3.27

3.61

0.34

8. My understanding of healthy ways to cope with stress and anxiety.

2.78

3.38

0.60

9. My commitment to not become involved in bullying other students.

3.11

3.53

0.42

10. My commitment to avoid putting myself in situations where I might be exposed to and expected to use drugs.

3.16

3.61

0.45

11. My understanding of good ways to "say no" to drug use.

3.23

3.66

0.43

Scale: 1-Poor, 2- Fair, 3 – Good, 4-Excellent

 

Results from the pretest to posttest comparison indicated that there was a statistically significant difference for all of the above survey items (p<.05). These results indicate that significant changes in students’ beliefs about substance use, bullying, and decision making skills may be attributed to the program.

 

 

 

Florida School Indicators Report - http://data.fldoe.org/fsir/

Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey - http://www.dcf.state.fl.us/mentalhealth/publications/fysas/county06/gilchrist06.pdf

SESIR Data - http://www.fldoe.org/safeschools/sesir.asp

DOE Link for SDFS Hot Topics, etc. - http://www.fldoe.org/safeschools/sdfs.asp