Wednesday, June 21, 2000 —

North Shore News - 13

Positive DARE survey results not reported

Dr. Charles K. Curtis, the
author of a report on the West
Vancouver Police DARE pro-
Sram responds to a recent News
Story:

T am concerned that a
recent article (June 9,
WV drug program
panned) and an editorial
criticizing the DARE
program in West
‘Vancouver schools may
seriously damage the
reputation of this pro-
gram, and, indeed, cast
reproach upon those
students in West
Vancouver who have
neither experimented
with, nor do they éver
intend to experiment
with, “some form of
drug.”

Since m rt on DARE

was referred toin the article

by Katharine Hamer, in which
the chairman of the Youth
Advisory Committee is quoted
as recommending that DARE
“should be abolithed com-
pletely,” I should like to com-
ment on several findings in my

“study that should be consid-

ered in any decision to remove

DARE trom West Vancouver
schools, and alo to suggest
thar although several recom-
mendations of the committee
should certainly be examined,
its report needs to be put in
the proper context.

To begin with, I acknow!-
edge that the comments vou
selected from my report were
accurate, and I have no argu-
ment with their use. However,
as a researcher who spent
almost a year conducting the
study, I am disturbed by the
obvious disregard of the many
very positive findings I report
ed. For example, while it is
true that some parents recom-
mended changes in DARE
content, teaching strategies,
and materials, 86% of the par-
ents “agreed” or “strongly
agreed” with the “way DARE
is taught,” and 85% “agreed”
or “strongly agreed” with the
DARE materials they had seen
or had heard about.

Furthermore, a decidedly
large majority of the teachers
agrecd that the content of
DARE was age-appropriate for
their students and a clear
majority of teachers agreed
with the teaching strategies
used in DARE. And, 72% of

‘the students believed that the

information learned in DARE
was “truthful and up-to-date.”
Other findings that should
be considered in any recom-
mendation to remove DARE
from the schools and that were
not mentioned in the News
article might be the following,
based on questionnaires com-
pleted by 1,089 students in
DARE classes, 672 graduates
of DARE programs (core
graduates Enrolled i in Grades 6
and 7 and middle school grad-
uates in Grades 8 and 9), 45

teachers in DARE classrooms,
and 422 parents of DARE stu-
dents (for a total of 2,228
responses):
@ &8% of the parents, 72% of
the DARE students, and 60%
of the DARE graduates
believed that DARE taught
students effective strategies for
avoiding drug use. Teachers
believed that DARE did this
for at least “many” of their
students.
@ 92% of the parents, 77% of
the DARE students, and 67%
of the DARE graduates sug-
gested that DARE taught stu-
dents to consider the conse-
quences of their actions before
they act. Teachers agreed with
this objective for at least
“many” of their students.
@ 80% of the reachers, rated
DARE at least a “good” drug
education program, 98% rated
it at feast “adequate.”
67% of the teachers rated
DARE ar least a “good” vio-
lence-avoidance program; 81%
rated it at least “adequate.”
@ 96% of the parents, 92% of
the teachers, 74% of the
DARE students, and 89% of
the DARE graduates recom-
mended that the program be
continued in their schools.
My task was to assess atti-
tudes of students, teachers,
and parents toward DARE,
and it seemed reasonable to
assume that whether students
actually used DARE strategies
might be a factor in their opin-
ion of DARE. Therefore, I
asked DARE graduates if they
had been involved in situations
where drugs or alcohol had
been available or where vio-
lence had been a possibility.
Two-hundred and sixty DARE
graduates (39%) acknowledged
that they had been in situa-

tions involving drugs or alco-
hol. Of these students, 117
(45%) stated that they had
used strategies learned in
DARE to avoid taking drugs
or drinking alcohol.

The most frequently given
response (76 times) for not
using DARE strategies in such
situations was that the student
had simply wanted to take the

drugs or the alcoholic drink.
Only eight students actually
stated that they had not used

DARE strategies because they

had thought such strategies
would not work Additionally,
321 DARE graduates (50%)
reported that they had
encountered situations where
they felt violence was likely to
occur. One hundred and fifty

(47%) of these students used
wha; they had been taught in
DARE to cither remove them-
selves from danger or elimi-
Nate it.

Thirty-six students had not
used DARE strategies because
they enjoved fighting, and 35
stated thar when the situation

Sec Drug page 26

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