D.A.R.E. Fact Sheet

 

Series: BJA Published: September 1995 6 pages 15,016 bytes

 

Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) Fact Sheet

 

Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.)

 

Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) is a validated, 

copyrighted, comprehensive drug and violence prevention education 

program for children in kindergarten through 12th grade. D.A.R.E. 

represents a collaborative effort between school and law 

enforcement personnel. The program is nationally coordinated by 

D.A.R.E. America, with input received from State and local 

agencies and communities.

 

The D.A.R.E. curriculum is designed to equip elementary, middle, 

and high school students with the appropriate skills to resist 

substance abuse, violence, and gangs. More than 22,000 community-

oriented law enforcement officers from 7,000 communities 

throughout the country have taught the core curriculum to more 

than 25 million elementary school students. In 1995 alone, it is 

expected that 5.5 million children representing 250,000 

classrooms will receive the core curriculum. An additional 20 

million students will be influenced by the D.A.R.E. components of 

kindergarten through fourth grade visitation lessons, junior and 

senior high curriculums, the special education curriculum, the 

parent program, and the D.A.R.E.+ P.L.U.S. (Play and Learn Under 

Supervision) afterschool activity program.

 

D.A.R.E. is taught by law enforcement officers in 19 countries 

and is being implemented in Department of Defense Dependent 

Schools worldwide.

 

Program Objectives

 

The primary goals of D.A.R.E. are to prevent substance abuse 

among schoolchildren and help them develop effective gang and 

violence resistance techniques. The core curriculum targets young 

children to prepare them to avoid substance abuse and violence as 

they enter adolescence. D.A.R.E. lessons focus on the following 

objectives for all children:

 

o  Acquiring the knowledge and skills to recognize and resist 

peer pressure to experiment with tobacco, alcohol, and other 

drugs.

 

o  Enhancing self-esteem.

 

o  Learning assertiveness techniques.

 

o  Learning about positive alternatives to substance use.

 

o  Learning anger management and conflict resolution skills.

 

o  Developing risk assessment and decisionmaking skills.

 

o  Reducing violence.

 

o  Building interpersonal and communications skills.

 

o  Resisting gang involvement.

 

D.A.R.E. achieves these objectives by training carefully selected 

law enforcement officers to teach a structured, sequential 

curriculum in the schools.  An important byproduct of D.A.R.E. is 

the impact made by these uniformed officers, who work onsite in 

the classroom, as positive role models for the students. In 

addition, in every component except the parent program, a 

certified teacher is required to be present at all times as an 

active participant in the D.A.R.E. program.

 

D.A.R.E. Curriculum

 

The D.A.R.E. curriculum is continuously enhanced and expanded to 

more effectively meet the needs of children. Following are the 

current D.A.R.E. components.

 

Core Curriculum. Delivered by a D.A.R.E. officer to fifth and 

sixth grade students, the core curriculum includes one lesson 

each week for 17 consecutive weeks. A number of teaching 

techniques are used, including question-and-answer sessions, 

group discussions, role-playing, and workbook exercises.

 

Kindergarten Through Fourth Grade Visitation Lessons. As time 

permits, officers teaching the core curriculum can visit students 

in each of the lower grades to introduce younger students to the 

D.A.R.E. concept. The 15- to 20-minute lessons cover such topics 

as obeying laws, personal safety, and the helpful and harmful 

uses of medicines and drugs.

 

Junior High Curriculum. The D.A.R.E. junior high curriculum 

emphasizes information and skills that enable students to resist 

peer pressure and negative influences in making personal choices. 

The 10 lessons concentrate on helping students manage their 

feelings of anger and aggression and on showing them how to 

resolve conflicts without resorting to violence or to the use of 

alcohol or drugs.

 

Senior High Curriculum. The D.A.R.E. senior high curriculum 

focuses on the everyday situations that high school students 

encounter. For the first five lessons, a D.A.R.E. officer and a 

high school teacher use the technique of team teaching. They 

emphasize information and skills that enable students to act in 

their own best interests when facing high-risk, low-gain choices 

and to handle feelings of anger properly without causing harm to 

themselves or others. Five followup lessons, presented by the 

teacher, serve to reinforce the initial lessons.

 

Special Education Curriculum. The D.A.R.E. Midwestern Regional 

Training Center, administered by the Illinois State Police, has 

adapted the D.A.R.E. curriculum for special populations. D.A.R.E. 

officers receive specialized training that prepares them to teach 

the 17-week core curriculum in special classrooms to children 

with learning disabilities and behavioral disorders.

 

Parent Component. The D.A.R.E. parent component was developed to 

address the growing need for comprehensive family support and 

involvement in school programs. It is intended for any adult 

interested in ensuring health, safety, and development of life 

skills for children. The program provides information on 

communication and self-esteem building, risk factors associated 

with young children, basic facts on drug usage and the stages of 

adolescent chemical dependency, protective factors and sources of 

pressure, violence and conflict resolution, and agency networking 

in the community. The sessions offer participants the opportunity 

to become more involved in D.A.R.E. and give them access to 

community resources. The program consists of six 2-hour sessions, 

usually held in the evening, that are conducted by a certified 

D.A.R.E. officer.

 

D.A.R.E.+ P.L.U.S. Component. This component was initiated in 

1993 on a pilot basis at Marina del Rio School in Los Angeles, 

California. It was created as an extension of the successful 

D.A.R.E. program and is designed to help sixth, seventh, and 

eighth graders stay involved in school and away from gangs, 

drugs, and violence. D.A.R.E.+ P.L.U.S. provides students with a 

wide range of educational, vocational, and recreational 

afterschool activities in a safe and well-supervised campus 

setting.

 

Critical Program Elements

 

The following 12 elements are considered essential for the 

creation of a successful D.A.R.E. program.

 

Joint planning. Involvement and collaboration of law enforcement 

and education agencies should begin early in the planning 

process.

 

Written agreement. Law enforcement and education agencies should 

establish a contract that spells out mutual commitment, 

respective police and school roles, and partnership 

responsibility.

 

Officer selection. The officer selection process should involve 

screening and police-school panel interviews of officer 

candidates.

 

Officer training. Intensive seminars should be jointly conducted 

at accredited training centers by specially trained law 

enforcement and education personnel.

 

Curriculum. The tested and validated D.A.R.E. curriculum should 

be faithfully replicated.

 

Classroom instruction. Classroom instruction should follow the 

format described earlier in this fact sheet and should be taught 

by trained law enforcement officers, with assistance from 

certified teachers.

 

Officer appraisal. Procedures that monitor and assess an 

officer's classroom performance should be established.

 

Informal officer-student interaction. The program should include 

time for the officer to interact informally with the students on 

the playground, in the cafeteria, and at student assemblies.

 

Teacher orientation. At the beginning of the school year, an 

orientation should be conducted in which the D.A.R.E. officer 

familiarizes teachers with the D.A.R.E. curriculum and explains 

officer and teacher roles.

 

Inservice training. Continued officer training should be provided 

to ensure effectiveness, accuracy, and currency in teaching 

strategies.

 

Parent education. Each semester, a parent education evening 

should be held in which the D.A.R.E. officer explains the program 

and gives parents the opportunity to review the curriculum. In 

addition, a parent component, as outlined earlier in this fact 

sheet, should be developed.

 

Community presentations. Police, educators, and others committed 

to the success of the D.A.R.E. effort should meet with groups 

from all segments of the community to promote understanding and 

support.

 

Regional Training Centers

 

The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), U.S. Department of 

Justice, provides Federal discretionary funding to the five 

D.A.R.E. Regional Training Centers (RTC's) to support technical 

assistance, training, and accreditation of State training 

facilities. Working in conjunction with D.A.R.E. America, the 

nonprofit organization that legally owns and is responsible for 

overseeing the D.A.R.E. program and for maintaining up-to-date 

curriculum, the RTC's provide:

 

o  D.A.R.E. officer training seminars for new D.A.R.E. officers 

who will teach the core curriculum.

 

o  D.A.R.E. inservice training for experienced D.A.R.E. officers.

 

o  Mentor officer training for experienced D.A.R.E. officers who 

will train new D.A.R.E. officers.

 

o  D.A.R.E. parent program training for instructors who work with 

and train parents.

 

o  D.A.R.E. junior high/middle school program training.

 

o  D.A.R.E. senior high program training.

 

o  Program development.

 

o  Accreditation of law enforcement agencies as D.A.R.E. Training 

Centers.

 

o  Assessments of State D.A.R.E. Training Centers.

 

o  Monitoring and technical assistance for law enforcement 

agencies that are developing the D.A.R.E. program in their 

communities across the country. 

 

Law enforcement agencies interested in obtaining D.A.R.E. 

training or answers to questions about local D.A.R.E. programs 

may contact the appropriate D.A.R.E. RTC, as follows:

 

D.A.R.E. Eastern Regional Training Center Virginia State Police 

7700 Midlothian Turnpike Richmond, VA 23235 804-674-2238

 

The D.A.R.E. Eastern RTC serves Connecticut, Delaware, the 

District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New 

Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode 

Island, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.

 

D.A.R.E. Southeastern Regional Training Center North Carolina 

Bureau of Investigation 3320 Old Garner Road Raleigh, NC 27610 

919-662-4500

 

The D.A.R.E. Southeastern RTC serves Alabama, Florida, Georgia, 

Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and 

Tennessee. 

 

D.A.R.E. Midwestern Regional Training Center Illinois State 

Police Academy D.A.R.E. Bureau 3700 East Lakeshore Drive 

Springfield, IL 62707 217-786-7026

 

The D.A.R.E. Midwestern RTC serves Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, 

Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Virgin 

Islands, and Wisconsin.

 

D.A.R.E. Southwest Regional Training Center Arizona Department of 

Public Safety Suite 290 3110 North 19th Avenue Phoenix, AZ 85015 

602-223-2544

 

The D.A.R.E. Southwestern RTC serves Alaska, Arizona, American 

Samoa, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South 

Dakota, Texas, and Utah.

 

D.A.R.E. Western Regional Training Center City of Los Angeles 

Police Department 3353 San Fernando Road Los Angeles, CA 90065 

213-485-4856

 

The D.A.R.E. Western RTC serves California, Hawaii, Idaho, 

Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming.

 

Program Assessment

 

D.A.R.E. is the largest and most widely implemented drug and 

violence prevention program in the world. It has become 

recognized as a key element of community-based policing efforts.

 

In July 1993, a Gallup Poll Survey of more than 2,000 D.A.R.E. 

graduates was conducted. The results showed that more than 90 

percent of the graduates felt that D.A.R.E. assisted them in 

avoiding drugs and alcohol. The program also was credited with 

increasing self-esteem and ability to deal with peer pressure. 

Graduates reported that they had used one or two of the avoidance 

techniques taught to them by their D.A.R.E. officers.

 

More recently, a research study sponsored by the National 

Institute of Justice and conducted by the Research Triangle 

Institute indicated that D.A.R.E. is "currently our Nation's 

predominant school-based prevention program, and both its 

prevalence and popularity continue to expand." The appeal of 

D.A.R.E. cuts across racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic lines, and 

student receptivity to D.A.R.E. was rated higher than for other 

prevention programs. D.A.R.E. is strongly supported by school 

staff, students, parents, and the community. Ratings of other 

substance abuse prevention programs were also high, but approval 

of D.A.R.E. was substantially stronger.

 

On the basis of continual assessments and feedback from the 

field, the D.A.R.E. program has been expanded to a full continuum 

of curricula offering training to children in kindergarten 

through 12th grade, so that the lessons learned in earlier grades 

are reinforced as students encounter peer pressure to become 

involved in drugs, alcohol, and high-risk behavior. The D.A.R.E. 

curriculum also has been revised to be more interactive through 

promoting active participation by students.

 

Funding

 

States can apply for Federal funds through the Edward Byrne 

Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Formula Grant 

Program. The States make subawards to State and local agencies 

for drug and crime prevention and control programs and for 

criminal justice system improvements. The funds may be used for 

any of 26 authorized purpose areas, one of which is "demand 

reduction education programs in which law enforcement officers 

participate," such as D.A.R.E. Any community interested in 

obtaining funding for a D.A.R.E. program should contact its State 

office responsible for administration of the Formula Grant 

Program. The addresses and telephone numbers of the State offices 

are available from the Bureau of Justice Assistance Clearinghouse 

or the U.S. Department of Justice Response Center, as provided at 

right.

 

For Further Information

 

For additional information about the D.A.R.E. program, contact: 

D.A.R.E. America Suite 401 9800 La Cienga Boulevard Inglewood, CA 

90301 310-215-0575

 

Bureau of Justice Assistance Clearinghouse P.O. Box 6000 

Rockville, MD 20849-6000 800-688-4252

 

U.S. Department of Justice Response Center 800-421-6770

 

For additional information about D.A.R.E. program assessment, 

contact:

 

Bureau of Justice Assistance Evaluation Unit 202-307-5974

 

National Institute of Justice Evaluation Division 202-307-2942