“…but it’s not vaping, it’s JUULing.”  It’s challenging to keep up with all the latest trends in drug paraphernalia, not to mention the resulting creative teen-speak aimed at keeping parents and teachers in the dark. One of the newer offenders in vaposphere is the JUUL.  With an appearance like a flash drive, a JUUL is about as compact an illicit device as one can get.  Students are using them in the classroom, discreetly hiding them in the process (though we can’t figure out how they’re hiding the vapor cloud). Read more about this trend in an article from NPR.

 

Following on...does vaping do more overall harm than good? Do e-cigarettes aid smoking cessation or are they simply creating more addicts? New findings from PLOS One are out.

 

The Journal of Adolescent Health has also published new study results on adolescent use of traditional and electronic cigarettes and whether use of one affects intentions to use and eventual use of the other.

 

RAND researchers are also featured in another study published in the Journal of Addiction Medicine comparing high-school aged adolescents who used e-cigarettes alone to those who used e-cigarettes and combustible cigarettes to see which users are most at risk. The same RAND team also recently published a study in the Journal of Adolescent Health on racial/ethnic differences in use of combustible cigarettes over multiple adolescent years from age 11 to 17.

 

Welcome, Newbies!

New Project ALERT partners have recently become certified in Charlotte, NC, Lakeside, AZ, Houma, LA, and Cranston, RI.  And we send a big 'howdy' to the Lone Star state and the rather large cohort of newly-trained students from Texas A&M University in College Station, TX.

 

As always, we are available to answer your questions about the curriculum and to help with any web site issues.  Email us at projectalert@rand.org or call us at 1-800-ALERT-10. We always aim to respond within 24 hours.

What does Dr. Pam Luna have to say about the Golden State turning green?  In early March, our senior workshop trainer (and one of Project ALERT’s original contributors) was interviewed by Alex Cohen of southern California radio station KPCC on the topic of the state’s recently-approved recreational marijuana legislation and its potential impact on youth. 

Dr. Luna has been keeping a close eye on pot’s bullet train since trendsetting Colorado passed Amendment 64 in 2012, and in these last 15 months since Californians voted to pass Proposition 64 (the Adult Use of Marijuana Act) she has been listening attentively to students, teachers and administrators as the impact of legalization has unfolded on California’s youth culture. Teens in California, like those in Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia, are being faced with unprecedented challenges, decisions, and a blitzkrieg of advertising campaigns regarding marijuana. How can educators and parents help them navigate such a significant culture shift?  See the Trending section of the Project ALERT home page for the link to this brief and informative interview.

Dr. Luna offers in-person training workshops for your school or community organization. Feel free to contact her directly at DrPamLuna@gmail.com and let her know your interests and parameters and she can provide an estimate of training costs (all training materials and curriculum are free-of-charge).

The updated Proyecto ALERTA Spanish manual has been published and is available for download.  The revised curriculum contains the most current prevalence of use data from Monitoring the Future, based on their 2017 survey of thousands of 8^th graders across the U.S. Additional updates on smoking and vaping trends and other health statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids also have been incorporated into all relevant sections of the 11 core and 3 booster sessions.

 

By keeping current and using our latest project manuals, educators and other program partners implementing the Proyecto ALERTA curriculum to Spanish-speaking students in their communities can stay well-equipped and be assured that they are presenting the most up-to-date facts and figures on substance use trends.

 

The updated manual, available as individual lessons or one complete 6 MB download, is located at https://www.projectalert.com/teacher_tools/proyecto-alerta-en-espanol. 

Just a reminder about the newest graphic additions to our program materials.  Our Danger! Cocaine! Meth! poster for booster lesson #1 has been updated to include…Heroin! Though use by 8^th graders is relatively low at 0.2% of those surveyed, the numbers, as with most other substances, creep up by 12^th grade.  Informing youth early on about the risks and consequences of using heroin and opiates is part of Project ALERT’s best practices!

“Green Vaping Guy,” a reboot of our original blue cigarette guy found in core lessons 2 and 11, targets today’s e-juicers and JUULers in the new poster called Vaping Leads To....  These are great tools to use to supplement the lessons on the dangers of both traditional and electronic cigarettes.

 

You can download all of our posters in various sizes at https://www.projectalert.com/resources/posters.

What Do We Mean By Fidelity?

The Project ALERT curriculum is like a recipe: to get the best results, you need to follow it. Teaching with fidelity means teaching Project ALERT as it is written - including all the activities, and teaching them in the prescribed sequence.

The following Project ALERT teaching strategies, drawn from research on effective learning and behavior change, are described in detail in the introduction to the curriculum:

• Resistance self-efficacy

• Active student involvement and practice

• Modeling

• Reinforcement

• Validation

• Proximal goals

• Respect

• Enthusiasm

• Parent/Guardian Involvement

 

Using these nine strategies is critical to maintaining fidelity and ensuring successful program delivery.

How It’s Taught is Very Important

Curriculum implementation research has shown that student outcomes are dependent on the quality of the curriculum and the way in which it is taught.

When Project ALERT was first evaluated, teachers were asked to teach the curriculum exactly as it was written. They were monitored for their appropriate use of the Project ALERT teaching strategies, so that any effects could be attributed to the curriculum itself and not to individual teaching methods. The evaluation demonstrated that Project ALERT, as it was taught in 30 different classrooms, was effective in preventing drug use.

However, multiple studies have consistently shown that schools often face difficulty adopting and implementing evidence-based prevention programs with the fidelity needed to achieve outcomes demonstrated by researchers (Backer, 2001; Ennett et al., 2003; Halifors & Godette, 2002; Ringwalt et al., 2002; Ringwalt et al., 2009). As one example, the Department of Education’s survey of about 6,000 schools found that only 8% used evidence-based programs and less than half of those implemented them with adequate fidelity (Silva & Thorne, 1997). Yet, as noted from years of effectiveness research, better fidelity leads to better outcomes (Elliott & Mihalic, 2004; Wang et al., 2015) which makes clear the importance of sticking to the Project ALERT curriculum as designed as closely as possible.

Guidelines for Teaching with Fidelity

Make sure enough time is scheduled to complete the curriculum. This means blocking out eleven class periods during the first year of the program and three class periods in the booster year. A weekly interval - one lesson per week - is recommended. However, teachers have successfully taught Project ALERT on a more compressed schedule - twice per week.

A schedule of eleven consecutive days is not recommended because of time needed for students to understand, practice, and integrate resistance skills.

When time limitations require modifying the curriculum, make decisions that are consistent with Project ALERT teaching strategies. Student participation has been built into the curriculum whenever possible. Research indicates that people learn more, remember more, and feel more effective if they actually do something that involves them in the process.

A teacher who is short of time but also understands the principle of active involvement would have the students write down fewer reasons in an activity before switching to a lecture format or omitting the activity altogether.

Learning is enhanced through systematic repetition of material. Project ALERT presents information and concepts more than once and in different ways. For example, the six ways to say “no” are repeated in Lessons 5, 6, 7, and 9. In each lesson they are applied to different situations and should not be left out. The repeated material should not be left out. Teachers mind the repetition far more than the students, who need this repetition to learn.

Make the most of your training experience by reviewing the Guided Tour and Overview videos. We also recommend networking with other Project ALERT teachers in your area. If you need help finding local instructors, contact us at projectalert@rand.org.

Room for Creativity and Diversity

Keep the curriculum fresh by taking advantage of opportunities with the Project ALERT framework to exhibit your creativity. Expand the concept of resisting peer pressure to use drugs to other forms of antisocial behavior, such as shoplifting, cheating on tests, or cyber-bullying. Peer pressure is not always negative. Examine ways in which friends can put pressure on friends to stay drug-free, to get in shape, or to participate in school-sponsored events.

If you are artistic, use your talent in preparing the many visuals used in the curriculum.

Teachers may expand the curriculum to include current events, discussions about local drug issues, or projects that involve students in community-wide drug prevention initiatives. It may also be possible for students to work with the school on alcohol and other drug prevention policy development.

In the broad variety of environments in which Project ALERT was tested, the curriculum adapted easily to the diverse backgrounds and cultures of the students. Take advantage of the fact that the activities are participatory, and that they draw upon students’ experiences, concerns, and modes of expression.

The following is adapted from an article by Amy Vincus that originally appeared in the Spring 2004 issue of the Educator.

What other teaching strategies seem to encourage fidelity?

Through a rigorous classroom study, it was noted that fidelity of implementation was particularly high in districts where the curriculum was taught by a team of teachers or by a dedicated prevention specialist. Among those schools that did implement Project ALERT in its entirety, a very high fidelity was observed. However, it was determined that implementing the curriculum with fidelity was an ongoing struggle.

Some suggestions for Assessing Project ALERT’s Fidelity of implementation:

 

• Hold a staff development training to discuss key prevention principles and Project ALERT’s objectives, including fidelity of implementation

• Consider creating teams of school staff to teach Project ALERT, or dedicating prevention specialists for this purpose, who then might work in several schools within a school district; this way the work is dispersed among team members, allowing teachers more time to consider the essential teaching points

• Create teams among prevention teachers so that they can observe and coach each other; teams can discuss classroom management and other teaching techniques, especially for those lessons for which you would like guidance

• Ask the District Coordinator to observe your ALERT lessons and give you feedback concerning fidelity of implementation

• Invite your principal to observe and comment on your fidelity of implementation of ALERT as part of the teacher performance review process

• Establish incentives for consistent, positive fidelity observations

 

We know that most teachers decide what occurs in their classrooms. Teachers are the critical link in ensuring that Project ALERT lessons are delivered with fidelity. In the end, the positive benefits of implementing Project ALERT with fidelity will help youth avoid drug use.