4.4. SR 06-04-2001 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Introduction and Overview of Program This package contains curriculum materials for Project ALERT, a 14-lesson drug prevention program for middle grade students. Project ALERT, adapted from a curriculum developed and tested by RAND, is periodically reviewed by the RAND team and the materials are continuously updated. Longitudinal studies have proven the program effective at helping young people identify and resist pressures that lead to experimentation with drugs, and at preventing teenage experimenters from becoming regular drug users. An integrated curriculum, Project ALERT is organized into fourteen weeldy lessons - eleven lessons in the core program and three booster lessons to be taught the following year. The materials in this package include lesson plans, videos, posters, and homework assignments to be reproduced as handouts. The introduction first describes the philosophy underlying the curriculum - the principles and teaching strategies that guided its design. The program's credentials are presented as evidence of its drug prevention effectiveness. Program Philosophy Middle grade students are a group vulnerable to social influences but not yet heavy users of alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, or other drugs. The goal of Project ALERT is to reduce the use of those dangerous substances by keeping nonusers from trying them and by preventing nonusers and experimenters from becoming regular users. Underlying Assumptions Five assumptions undergird Project ALERT. Each is listed here, along with a descrip- tion of how it is reflected in the curriculum. Assumption 1: Adolescents start using drugs primarily because of social influences (peers, parents, siblings, media) and because they want to emulate behavior they view as mature and independent. Implementation: The curriculum helps adolescents resist those social influences, by (1) countering arguments that drug use is widespread and desirable (most people don't smoke; drugs don't make you mature, independent), and (2) teaching students specific resistance skills. A unique feature of Project ALERT is its emphasis on help- ing students identify internal as well as external pressures to use drugs. Young adoles- cents frequently fail to recognize the subtle but powerful ways we put pressure on ourselves - even when no one is specifically trying to influence us ("I'll be left out if[ don't act like the others."). Short psychodramas graphically portray these "pressures from inside ourselves;' and role-playing exercises help students learn techniques for resisting them. Introduction and Overview I 1