A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Objective 1.3. Schools are strong, safe, disciplined, and drug free

Key strategies for FY 1999

• Principles of Effectiveness. Promote the Department's Safe and Drug Free Schools Program Principles of Effectiveness through evaluations and technical assistance to ensure state and district use of effective prevention strategies.

• Program restructuring. Restructure the Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program by increasing the emphasis on discretionary grants to support implementation of the Principles of Effectiveness. The Department is requesting $526 million for Safe and Drug-Free Schools State Grants to support comprehensive, integrated prevention approaches. The Department is proposing to earmark $125 million of that state grant total to test whether better results can be obtained through a competitive grant approach than through the traditional formula grants.

• Coordinators. Implement a new $50 million Safe and Drug-Free Schools initiative to support the hiring of about 1,300 program--enough to serve nearly one-half of all middle schools--to assess drug and violence problems, identify effective, research-based strategies, assist staff with program implementation, and build links with community-based prevention programs.

• President's Report Card. Implement the President's Report Card on School Violence in cooperation with the Department of Justice to encourage public awareness of school safety issues and to encourage schools and communities to monitor safety and improve prevention strategies.

• After-school programs. Expand the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program by $200 million to support about 4,000 before- and after-school programs--serving up to half a million students--to keep schools open as safe havens while providing extended learning activities to improve achievement and prevent youth violence and substance use. The Department will coordinate with supporting activities to be funded through a five-year, $55 million private donation by the C.S. Mott Foundation to enhance the quality of before- and after-school programs.

• School modernization. Provide federal tax credits to pay the interest on nearly $22 billion in school modernization bonds to construct or renovate public school facilities. This proposal calls for $11.1 billion in interest-free bonds in 1999 and an identical amount in 2000. The proposed National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities would disseminate information on cost-effective ways to construct, renovate, and maintain educational facilities.

Coordination

• Data. Implement the President's Report Card on School Violence, with the Department of Justice (DOJ); make maximum use of other agencies' data, e.g., Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) [Monitoring the Future, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA); Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, Centers for Disease Control] and DOJ [National Crime Victimization Survey].
• Evaluation. Continue to cooperate on evaluation projects with DOJ [e.g., National Study on School Violence, being conducted in cooperation with the National Institute for Justice-sponsored National Study of Delinquency Prevention in Schools] and HHS [e.g., School Health Policies and Program's Study, for which ED is providing consultation].
• Prevention activities. Continue to pursue joint projects, such as the truancy and hate crimes initiatives [with DOJ's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)]; efforts to provide training and technical assistance to educators, communities, and states [with OJJDP, DOJ's Office for Victims of Crime, HHS's Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, HHS's Maternal and Child Health Bureau, NIDA, and the National Endowment for the Arts]; and support for the HHS Secretary's Initiative on Youth Substance Abuse Prevention [with HHS's Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, HHS's National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse, NIDA, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and other agencies].

Programs supporting this objective

Selected performance indicators and charts

By 2000, reduce the prevalence of past month use of illicit drugs and alcohol among youth by 20% as measured against the 1996 base year. (Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) target)

Indicator background and context. While rates of student drug use have shown increases in recent years, 1997 data indicate that--although marijuana continues its longer-term rise among older teens--use of a number of other illicit drugs has begun to level off.

Data source. Monitoring the Future, 1991-1997

The number of criminal and violent incidents in schools by students will continually decrease between now and 2002. (Goal 1, indicator 20)

Indicator background and context. Student-reported rates of victimization provide one measure of school safety; these rates may differ from incident reports provided by administrators. Although long- term trend data are not available, data for recent years suggest that student victimization rates are currently relatively stable.

Data source. Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, 1993-1995.

By 1999, all LEAs will use prevention programs that are based on the Principles of Effectiveness. (Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program plan, indicator 5)

U.S. Department of Education's Principles of Effectiveness for Drug Prevention Programs

Effective July 1998: Grant recipients will base their programs on a thorough assessment of objective data about the drug and violence problems in the schools and communities served. Grant recipients will, with the assistance of community representatives, establish a set of measurable goals and objectives, and design their activities to meet those goals and objectives. Grant recipients will design and implement their activities based on research or evaluation that provides evidence that the strategies used prevent or reduce drug use, violence, or disruptive behavior. Grant recipients will evaluate their programs periodically to assess their progress toward achieving their goals and objectives and use their evaluation results to refine, improve, and strengthen their program and to refine their goals and objectives as appropriate.

Indicator background and context. The Department is developing Principles of Effectiveness for the SDFSCA program to ensure that states and districts implement effective prevention approaches.

Data source. No data are currently available on the number of local education agencies implementing the Principles of Effectiveness. This information is being collected starting in FY 1998 through district surveys and state performance reports. A new evaluation will examine the quality of implementation of the Principles during the first years they are in effect.

Verification/validation of performance measures: Data on performance measures will be obtained from multiple data sources--rigorously designed and nationally representative independent data collections including: Monitoring the Future (University of Michigan/HHS), the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (CDC), and the National Crime Victimization Survey (Bureau of Justice Statistics). Evaluation studies sponsored by ED include technical working groups to provide independent consultation.

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[Objective 1.2]

[Objective 1.4]