We are pleased to release the 2024-25 version of Project ALERT!
Last year we made significant updates to the teacher manual, student handouts, videos, and posters. We made a few important updates this year based on feedback from educators delivering Project ALERT and surveys from students. A brief overview of the updates for this school year follow:
- Integrating and reinforcing prevalence of substance use throughout lessons. We made this change because students know most people their age do not substances. But, on surveys, students were estimating use rates higher than actual use. For example, estimating 20% of students use instead of 5%. The game in Lesson 11 will test students’ knowledge of the actual use rates. Reinforcing very low use rates throughout the curriculum should help students’ norms align with actual rates. They are in the majority by resisting pressure to use substances.
- Clarifying internal and external pressures throughout the lessons. We spend more time explaining the two types of pressures in Lesson 4. There is also discussion about the techniques used in marketing, advertising, and social media that try to normalize substance use and ignore negative consequences of substance use. We use consistent language throughout the lessons to help students identify pressure when they experience it.
- Streamlining the lesson on safe, legal use of prescription medications and risks of misuse. We heard Lesson 8 required more than one class period to complete or adaptations were necessary to complete the lesson in one period. We revised activities to effectively and efficiently cover the content related to prescription medications, and risks of fentanyl.
- Streamlining Booster Lesson 1. Teachers also reported Booster Lesson 1 required more than one class period. We revised two activities to support delivery in one class period. All of the same content is delivered in the lesson, just a slightly different structure for a few activities.
- Suggesting activities for participation points or Exit Tickets. Some teachers asked for guidance on activities in lessons that could be used for participation points or Exit Tickets, or to encourage all students to participate. In each lesson we suggest an independent or small group activity that can be used for this purpose. No need to create something additional!
The English and Spanish teacher manuals are updated, as are the instructional slides. This year, we are pleased to offer the instructional slides in Spanish. Slides are optional and can be modified for your delivery.
We added a “Tips and Tricks” for viewing the videos. This should help with downloading the videos, using the closed captions in English or Spanish, and testing the sound. Each system is different, but we tried to offer some additional support for these key components of the curriculum.
Project ALERT is a free, easy to use substance use prevention program that can be delivered during any course during school hours or in programs outside of school time, and can be delivered by any adult. The curriculum is series of lessons that uses the power of practice and repetition to give students the self-efficacy, skills, and resources to resist peer pressure and misleading messaging to use substances.
The goals of Project ALERT are explicit:
- To prevent adolescents from beginning to use substances
- To prevent those who have already experimented from becoming regular users
- To prevent or curb risk factors for substance use
Project ALERT is an evidence-based curriculum, meaning statistics and long-term survey research define Project ALERT’s success. Unlike most other programs, Project ALERT has been and continues to be thoroughly tested in multi-year, multi-community studies. This scientific validation means that administrators and teachers know what the program can deliver, who it can impact, and the effort involved in making its results last. Project ALERT is proven to motivate students against drug use, provide skills and strategies to resist drugs, and establish new non-use attitudes and beliefs.
Project ALERT is designed to be delivered over two years. In the first year, typically 7th grade, students receive the initial 11 Lessons, or Core Curriculum. In the second year students receive three Booster Lessons that are critical for maintaining early prevention gains. Each lesson takes about a class period but can be adapted to fit into shorter instructional blocks like Advisory and Homeroom. Both the Core Curriculum and Booster Lessons offer a variety of activities and instructional materials (e.g., Project ALERT videos and posters).
