NCJ Number
223815
Journal
Journal of Drug Education Volume: 38 Issue: 1 Dated: 2008 Pages: 1-14
Date Published
2008
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This article examines the effect of a substance abuse prevention program, “Project Success” on its target audience.
Abstract
The article found that Project SUCCESS (PS) had a positive impact on both grades and absenteeism for 2 years following exposure. It was also noted that these findings were particularly unique, as PS was not designed to affect these outcomes. PS is a substance use prevention program that targets indicated high school students. The work used archival data to explore the program's effects on students' academic achievement and disciplinary problems. Using a quasi-experimental design that compared students exposed to the program to those not exposed in five schools, it examined the effects of PS on grades, absenteeism, and disciplinary problems. Using longitudinal analyses that linked individual students' program exposure data to their academic performance, the work found that PS had a positive impact on both grades and absenteeism for 2 years following exposure. The article notes that it was essential to demonstrate such effects if such types of prevention curricula are to survive in schools that face multiple competing demands for class time. It was also recommended that future evaluations of school-based prevention curricula routinely include academic performance. For the first section addressing short term outcomes, data were derived from a total of 3,895 non-repeating students attending 3 successive ninth grade cohorts in 5 inner-city high schools in a large metropolitan school district. For the second part of the work, a subsample of 712 students who entered ninth grade in 2003 in the same 5 schools was used. Figure, tables, and references