ED466014 - Progress in Prevention: Report on the National Study of Local Education Agency Activities under the Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities Act - ERIC-ED466014 | Content Details

ED466014 - Progress in Prevention: Report on the National Study of Local Education Agency Activities under the Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities Act

Sponsoring Agency: Department of Education, Washington, DC. Office of the Under Secretary

Subject: Crisis Management, Elementary Secondary Education, Government Publications, Prevention, Program Implementation, School Safety, School Security

Abstract: Although school districts are critical to the operation of the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act (SDFSCA) Program, relatively little is known about how they plan, implement, and evaluate their SDFSCA-funded prevention activities. The U.S. Department of Education initiated this study to provide a more complete description of the ways in which districts accomplish these tasks, and to provide a baseline for gauging progress on district implementation of new guidelines for the SDFSCA program. Information is used from 520 districts nationwide surveyed by telephone. Results show that many districts experienced problems developing measurable goals and objectives. Prevention activities typically target students directly rather than classroom or school environments. Only a small. proportion of prevention activities implemented are research-based. For many districts, funding amounts per pupil from either SDFSCA or other sources are modest. Although school districts typically collect information on problem behavior in schools and use the information in many ways, the quality of that information may limit its usefulness. Despite concerns about how student surveys are conducted, districts do realize the importance of using information on problem behavior in program planning. Eighty-nine percent of districts use evaluation information to adopt new prevention activities. (RT) c.