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EDUCATORS
Whatever your role as educator — teacher, principal, health educator, school nurse, coach, or guidance counselor — you can play an important role in preventing underage drinking. In the school setting, children draw conclusions about alcohol use from what they see and hear from their friends and classmates. Those who believe that alcohol use is the norm accepted by their peers are at greatest risk for experimenting with alcohol and becoming regular drinkers at an early age. Prevention is most effective when it changes students' beliefs about the prevalence and acceptability of alcohol use among their peers. When schools establish alcohol policies that clearly state expectations and penalties regarding alcohol use by students, they help reinforce the fact that underage drinking is not an acceptable form of behavior.
In this section you will find warning signs of a drinking problem, questions to ask yourself about your school or community, the elements of a sample school alcohol policy, and resources for educators, including useful publications and helpful organizations and programs. For additional information, see also Statistics, The School and What You Can Do, In the School.
As an educator, ask yourself these questions:
- Has your school or community assessed student drinking to determine the extent of the problem?
- Do you know what factors may be contributing to underage drinking in your school or community (e.g., easy access to alcohol, peer pressure, adults’ failure to address the issue)?
- Do you know what prevention steps, if any, are being taken within your school system to help kids resist the pressure to drink?
- Does your school have an active partnership with the families of its students?
Sample School Alcohol Policy
The strategies below appear in the Leadership prevention guide: Keep Kids Alcohol Free: Strategies for Action.
A good school alcohol policy:
- States that alcohol and alcohol use are not allowed on school grounds, at school-sponsored activities, and while students are representing the school
- Describes the consequences for violating the policy
- Explains how to assess and refer students who use alcohol, and guarantees that self-referral will be treated confidentially and will not be punished
- Pays attention to due process issues in dealing with violators
- Is cautious about imposing suspension and expulsion for violators because students who are away from school, especially if unsupervised, have even more opportunity to drink alcohol
- Offers students accurate information about the addiction and other detrimental effects of alcohol use
Publications and Resources
Establishing effective prevention programs in schools requires an understanding of the effects of early alcohol use in students, as well as developing policies and strategies. The following are sources of information for both components.
Leadership related publications:
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How Does Alcohol Affect the World of a Child? is a statistical brochure for lay audiences that summarizes the most current research findings about early alcohol use and its effects. Available in English and Spanish. (The Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free initiative)
- Make A Difference: Talk to Your Child About Alcohol, is a guide for parents and guardians of young people ages 10 to14. It describes the problems associated with underage alcohol use, as well as the way parents can talk with children about these issues. (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, (NIAAA))
Additional Publications and Resources
NIAAA's Initiative on Underage Drinking page lists free materials to use in preventing underage alcohol use. These include fact sheets and public service announcements.
The Making the Link fact sheets contain current statistics on a variety of topics relating to underage drinking, including health issues, access to alcohol and public opinion. They were prepared by the SAMHSA Center for Substance Abuse Prevention to support the Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free initiative (PDF files):
Underage Drinking and Academic Performance
Underage Drinking and Access to Alcohol
Underage Drinking and the Developing Brain
Underage Drinking and the Future of Children
Underage Drinking and Girls' Health
Underage Drinking and Mental Health
Underage Drinking and Public Opinion
Underage Drinking and Risky Behavior
Underage Drinking and Violence
College Drinking: Changing the Culture is an online resource center developed by NIAAA, in response to the increasingly complex issue of alcohol use among college students. The site's content is based on a series of reports published by the Task Force of the National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. In addition to the Task Force reports, the site includes frequently asked questions on alcohol abuse and addiction, college and university alcohol policies, and a special section for students.
The 1997 CASA National Survey of Teens, Their Parents, Teachers and Principals: Key Findings was the first national survey to include middle and high school teachers and school principals, as well as teens and parents, in an assessment of their attitudes toward alcohol and other substances. Visit CASA's Web site for additional reports and surveys. (National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University)
Academic Performance and Youth Substance Abuse is an NHSDA Short Report, focusing on youths ages 12-17. It is based on the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse.
The Adolescent Directory Online, Center for Adolescent Studies, Indiana University is an electronic guide to information on adolescent issues, providing resources for parents, educators, researchers, health practitioners, and teens.
Indiana University - Center for Adolescent Studies Building an Effective Alcohol Prevention Program. 1996. Teacher Talk, 3 (3) outlines elements that make an alcohol or drug prevention program effective.
Schools and the Community Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Environment: Opportunities for Prevention (PDF) discusses the roles communities, schools, parents and students can play in developing and implementing environmental strategies for substance abuse prevention. (Center for Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws)
Substance Use and the Risk of Suicide Among Youths is an NHSDA Short Report, focusing on youths ages 12-17. It is based on the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse.
What Schools Can Do provides strategies schools can use to reduce underage access alcohol. (Alcohol Epidemiology Program, University of Minnesota)
Curricula
NIAAA has created the Science Education Programs page, that contains a summary of it's middle school curricula, including biology and information on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (see the next two curricula):
Better Safe Than Sorry: Preventing a Tragedy is a curriculum kit comprised of three modules of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) for 7th-to-9th grade classroom instruction. Funded by NIAAA, the inquiry-based curriculum consists of one lesson divided into modules that may be taught over 1 to 5 days and includes a CD-ROM, videotape, PowerPoint presentation, color transparencies, teacher and student hardcopy text, and a brine-shrimp kit.
Understanding Alcohol: Investigations into Biology and Behavior is a middle school curriculum supplement, funded by NIAAA and Office of Science Education. The curriculum consists of six hands-on inquiry-based lessons that were developed on the basis of the 5E's instructional model for science education. In field-testing, the curriculum has taken 1½ to 4 weeks to teach.
The following are curricula ranging from elementary school to high school:
Protecting You/Protecting Me is a 5-year, science based alcohol use prevention curriculum for grades 1 through 5 developed by Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
NIDA Goes Back to School is a source of free information about drug abuse materials for teachers that includes curricula and other teaching aids specific for elementary and middle-school-age children.
Reach Out Now is a curriculum prepared by SAMHSA and Scholastic, Inc. for teachers and parents of fifth and sixth-graders to teach them about underage drinking. These materials include lessons and in-class activities for teachers to use as part of classroom instruction and take home packets for parents and students. Information on the Reach Out Now materials can be found on the SAMHSA National Teach-In site.
Courage to Live Program was developed by the National Judicial College (with support from NHTSA and OJJDP), to provide tools and resources for interested judges to get involved in prevention education in their local middle schools.
Keepin' It REAL (refuse, explain, avoid, leave) is a culturally grounded, prevention intervention targeting substance use among urban middle-school children. The curriculum consists of 10 lessons and four videos, developed by and for children, promoting anti-drug norms and teaching resistance and other social skills, reinforced by booster activity and a media campaign. There are three versions based on population targeted: a Mexican-American-centered version; a Non-Latino version; and a Multicultural version (developed by incorporating five lessons each from the first two versions).
AlcoholEdu for High School is an online prevention program for high school students and youth alcohol offenders, targeting ninth graders. The program provides an interactive, science-based alcohol education, covering a range of topics, including alcohol's effects on the body and brain, the factors that influence decisions about drinking, the impact of alcohol on academic and athletic performance, and the strategies a person can use when facing decisions where drinking is involved. Outside The Classroom launched AlcoholEdu for High School in January 2004, in cooperation with Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
Organizations
Alcohol Epidemiology Program (AEP), School of Public Health, The University of Minnesota, Minneapolis conducts policy-relevant research on specific prevention initiatives to address alcohol-related problems. The research is based on a report published in the Journal of School Health, which outlines elements that make an alcohol or drug prevention program effective.
Harlem Educational Activities Fund (HEAF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping disadvantaged children become successful college students through college preparatory programs.
Media Literacy for Prevention, Critical Thinking, Self Esteem contains research, information, and materials about media literacy. It expresses the vision of Dr. Peter DeBenedittis (Peter D) and acts as a contact point for engaging Peter D.
The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA) is a think/action tank that conducts research and provides information on substance use and its effects on society.
National Coordinator Training and Technical Assistance Center for Drug Prevention and School Safety Program Coordinators provides technical assistance and training resources to individuals who serve as drug prevention and school safety coordinators in elementary, middle, and high schools with significant drug and school safety problems.
The Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (OSDFS) administers, coordinates, and recommends policy for improving quality and excellence of programs and activities that are designed to prevent substance use and violence in our Nation’s schools.
Save the Night Program, sponsored by the Amica Mutual Insurance Company offers guidelines for planning safe, alcohol-free, post prom and post graduation parties.
Smart and Sober, an initiative sponsored by former Ohio First Lady Hope Taft, focuses upon giving children in grades 5-9 positive tools to help them stay alcohol free. The Smart and Sober Web site includes general, community, and State prevention resources, and links for parents and students.
Smith Initiatives for Prevention and Education (SIPES), Drug Prevention & Youth Safety Sources provides principles to guide the selection of prevention programs that can be adapted for alcohol use prevention curricula in schools. (College of Education, University of Arizona)
Too Smart to Start, sponsored by SAMHSA, is an underage alcohol use prevention initiative for parents and caregivers of 9-to-13 year-olds, as they teach their children about the harms of alcohol, and participate in their activities.
US Department of Education's Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention assists college and community leaders in developing, implementing, and evaluating prevention programs and policies that reduce student problems related to alcohol and other drug use and interpersonal violence.
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