An Effectiveness Trial of Project ALERT

Promising Programs for Substance Abuse Prevention: Replication and Evaluation Initiative

The purpose of this study is to replicate a longitudinal evaluation of Project ALERT, a substance abuse prevention program that targets middle school students.

Project ALERT is a substance abuse prevention program that targets middle school students. The purposes of this evaluation are to test its immediate and one-year effectiveness in a randomized experimental design that will span a total of 2.5 years for each of two cohorts. The cohorts are spaced one year apart to reduce our implementation and data collection burdens at any one time. The design for the two cohorts is identical. In schools randomly assigned to the treatment group, instructors receive Project ALERT training and materials prior to beginning the program and have access to technical assistance on request. In schools randomly assigned to the control group, teachers implement whatever substance abuse prevention curricula they normally would (if any).

Inclusion Criteria:

• schools with 6th-8th grades housed together on a common campus
• schools with 6th grade student population of at least 100 students
• schools with no current 6th, 7th, or 8th grade implementation of any drug prevention curriculum recognized as a model program by a federally-sponsored registry
• all regular education students in the targeted grade must participate

Exclusion Criteria:

• students in self-contained classrooms (i.e., special education classes)