As the national debate over the effectiveness of DARE continues, police officers and teachers say the program works well in Greater Cincinnati.

        National leaders announced fundamental changes in the program this week — utilizing more realistic role-playing and focused strategies to encourage students to say no to peer pressure.

Norwood police Officer Earl Warman encourages fifth-graders Friday at Holy Trinity School in Norwood to resist peer pressure. (Glenn Hartong photo) | ZOOM |

        Revisions to DARE — Drug Abuse Resistance Education — which will be funded by a $13.7 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, will focus on seventh and eighth grades. DARE education begins as early as kindergarten and continues to 10th grade.

        The new program, devised by the University of Akron and tested in three Northeast Ohio districts, will expand to six districts nationwide within a month.

        A five-year evaluation of the program will start this fall.

        Christy Taylor, a science teacher at Holy Trinity School in Norwood, has been involved with DARE for five years. She has the perspective of a teacher as well as a parent with a teen-age son who went through the program.

        Mrs. Taylor's fifth-graders welcomed Norwood DARE Officer Earl Warman this week to their classroom. The lesson was on self-esteem. Students' hands shot into the air to answer questions about drug use, consequences and how to feel good about themselves.

ABOUT DARE

In the 17-week DARE program, lessons build on themselves as the weeks progress. When students leave the program they should have a good understanding of:     • Consequences of drug and alcohol use.     • What drugs and alcohol do to the body.     • Peer pressure and strategies to make good decisions.     • Self-esteem.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Is the D.A.R.E. program effective? SELECT ONE Yes, highly effective Yes, somewhat Not at all effective View current results.

        “I feel it enhances their knowledge about what is to come,” she said. “We have a health book in which we talk about alcohol and tobacco use ... (but) there's nothing like an officer who's out on the streets dealing with it.”

        The DARE approach has been an amalgam of different messages about drug abuse and violence, but at its core involves police officers visiting elementary school classrooms to tell students about the dangers of drugs and the importance of self-esteem, and offering them different ways to say “no.”

        But a series of studies, including a six-year study at the University of Illinois and a 10-year study at the University of Kentucky, found that the DARE program had no effect on students by the time they were 20 years old.

        The new program will work to change the perception of social norms among students. The idea is based on the belief that traditional prevention programs may lead students to overestimate how many of their peers are using drugs. Because teen-agers are so open to peer influence, they may begin using drugs to aspire to that “norm.”

        The new strategy shifts the program's focus from fifth grade to seventh grade, and will add a booster program in ninth grade, because students in the higher grades are more likely to experiment with drugs. Students will do more role playing, with an empha sis on how to make decisions, and will talk about the effect of media and advertising.

        Officer Warman said the announcement of changes has caused some to think the program is failing. But, he said, the DARE program is like any other that needs updating as times change.

        DARE Officer Stephanie Bellamah of the Cincinnati Police Division said seven officers visit up to 75 public and private schools in the city.

        The changes to the seventh- and eighth-grade program might not have much of an effect on Cincinnati's program, however, because its focus is on fifth grade.

        But if the pilot program is implemented in Cincinnati, it could mean additional training for the officers.

        Either way, Officer Bellamah said, the message will be the same.

        “Realize there are consequences to your actions,” she said.
       The New York Times contributed to this report.
       
       

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