As liaison to the School Improvement Committee, Alex volunteered to present the Prevention Planning Team's current thinking on sustainability at today's school improvement meeting. The School Improvement Committee was involved in conceptualizing the school's prevention plan; now Alex looked forward to including them in the sustainability discussion. Looking at the amount of material he had to cover, Alex realized that today's talk would, unfortunately, be more of a presentation than a discussion -- but he hoped that it would be the start of an ongoing dialogue on this topic.

After the Principal reviewed the meeting's agenda, Alex began: "As many of you know, federal funding for Taft's drug prevention and school safety coordinator position will end at the end of this fiscal year. This is not a surprise -- we knew from the start that our grant was limited to three years. But we need to be sure that our programs will continue.

"The Prevention Planning Team is currently investigating options for sustaining our initiatives. Some of our ideas relate directly to the work of the School Improvement Committee." Alex projected his first PowerPoint slide onto the meeting room screen:

"When we think of sustainability," he continued, "most of us automatically think about writing grants. And you're right -- funding is an important piece to consider when looking for ways to sustain programs. But, for today's meeting, I'd like to focus on some other options that can help us strengthen and sustain our prevention efforts."

The Role of Policy in Sustainability

"Taft's prevention plan is comprised of several mutually reinforcing components," Alex said. "Most of the staff are aware of our classroom-based social skills program, our Walk Safely program, and our information and referral system. Yet, few are aware that the school's harassment and smoking policies are also critical components of our prevention initiative.

"Policy represents our public commitment to prevention. In our policies, we lay out our collective expectations for how students should behave and what the consequences will be if a policy is violated. Our prevention activities are designed to foster positive social norms among students, parents, and staff. These norms should be reflected in our policies.

"Clear school policies can be an effective -- and cost-effective -- way to change student behavior. Well-established policies are key to institutionalizing our prevention message."

At this point, Marjorie, a special education teacher, interrupted: "I agree with everything you're saying, Alex, but the only way a policy can be effective is if it is enforced. And I don't believe that many of our policies are being enforced as they should. Just the other day I caught two students smoking in the bathroom, surrounded by cigarette butts. I can't imagine that I was the first teacher to smell the smoke in that hallway!"

"You're right," agreed Alex, "which is why the Prevention Planning Team's first sustainability strategy is to focus on policy enforcement. We can do this by making sure that staff are aware of the policies currently in place and how they connect to the school's overall prevention plan. We spent a lot of time working with staff to get their support for our classroom-based program, but we overlooked the importance of having staff support for our policies as well. Similarly, we've spent a lot of time providing staff with the skills they need to implement our classroom-based program, but we ignored the fact that many probably don't know what steps to take when one student harasses another. Policies are only effective when they are enforced consistently." Posting his next slide, Alex continued: "Here are some suggestions for how we might move forward."

Linking Prevention to Education Requirements

Glancing down at his notes, Alex began to describe the next strategy the Prevention Planning Team had developed: "Moving away from policy, I'd like talk about one of our favorite topics -- educational standards. Research tells us that programs most likely to endure over time are those that are linked to their school's or district's stated goals and mission. In fact, when we first started looking at possible prevention programs to bring into our school, one of our selection criteria was the degree to which a program's learning objectives coincided with our district and state educational standards.

"However, the more explicit we can be in connecting our prevention efforts to existing standards, the stronger our case will be for obtaining continued funding." Alex laughed, catching himself. "I guess there really is no way to keep funding out of this discussion, is there?"

"You're right, though," interjected William, the principal. "If the Prevention Planning Team can show that the prevention programs support district standards, you may be able to become a line item in the district budget. At a minimum, you'll have a great shot at being included in the school budget and incorporated into the curriculum."

"Will you put that in writing?" Alex joked, then continued. "To strengthen these connections, the Prevention Planning Team has been looking into the district's new character education requirement. Our thinking is that several elements of our social skills program meet this requirement. Once we've done a little more research, we'll develop a one-page summary that highlights these connections." As he spoke, he showed this slide:

"I think I have something you could use as a template for your summary," volunteered Don, a fourth grade teacher, pulling a sheet of paper from his briefcase. "A friend working in Florida sent it to me. It describes a violence prevention curriculum used across their state: what it is, who it's for, objectives, anticipated outcomes, and how it supports current standards. Here," he said, handing the document to Alex, "take a look."

"Thanks!" Alex said. "This is great. I'm sure the team will find it helpful."

Linking Prevention to School Reform

"For the last part of my presentation," said Alex, "I'd like to talk about the relationship between prevention and school reform. Linking prevention and reform efforts will strengthen both initiatives and improve the likelihood that they will last.

"This isn't a new topic for anyone: The Prevention Planning Team and the School Improvement Committee have worked together for several years now to identify ways to connect our projects. Our goals are the same: to facilitate positive, healthy development so that young people can reach their full potential. We know that healthy behavior and academic achievement are intrinsically connected -- any effort to support one automatically supports the other.

"I think that what is key is that both teams are looking through a comprehensive lens: We've taken a systematic approach to schoolwide improvement that is based on data, incorporates every aspect of the school, and includes all students. We also know that our success depends on long-term collaboration among school staff, parents, and others invested in the well-being of youth.

"I'd like to focus on the parent involvement piece. As I understand it, one of the goals of Taft's current whole school reform efforts is to promote greater parent and community involvement in school activities. In fact, our new cultural literacy curriculum includes a parent involvement component.

"Our comprehensive prevention plan also includes several components directed at parents. The classroom-based social skills program has a parent component, and the success of our Walk Safely program hinges on parental involvement. Both programs have been well-received, but data from our process evaluation show that both would be enhanced by greater participation. This information led us to our final sustainability strategy…" Alex showed his last slide.

"Our goal," said Alex, "is for these parent programs to ultimately become incorporated into the school's whole-school reform plan. This will allow them to be sustained over time, with or without the continued funding of our prevention initiative.

"Before ending this presentation, I'd just like to thank our principal for his ongoing commitment to prevention and his active support of our comprehensive prevention initiative." Turning to the principal, Alex said, "You've helped us obtain the resources -- including access to funding, time, space, and personnel -- to launch and implement a successful initiative. Without this continued support, program sustainability will be impossible."

After a nice round of applause for the principal, Alex asked the group if they had any questions.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Please think about the questions below, and post your answers, comments, or questions to the Discussion Area.

1. How have you used policy to build support for your prevention initiative?

2. What other strategies have you used to institutionalize your prevention programs?