Downloadable Forms
Common forms for the SAP inititiative available for download.
Bibliography of SAP and Resiliency-Related Resources
BOOKS
Benson, Peter L.. All Kids are Our Kids: What Communities Must Do to Raise Caringand Responsible Children and Adolescents. San Francisco : Jossey-Bass Inc., 1997.
Decker, Robert H.. When a Crisis Hits: Will Your School Be Ready? Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press, 1997.
Desetta, Al (ed.), The Heart Knows Something Different: Teenage Voices from the Foster Care System., New York : Persea Books, 1996.
Galbraith, Judy. What Kids Need to Succeed. Minneapolis: Free Spirit Publishing Inc., 1998
Glenn, Stephen and Jane Nelson. Raising Self-Reliant Children In a Self-Indulgent World: Seven Building Blocks for Developing Capable Young People. Rocklinh, California: Prima Publishing, 1989.
Henderson, Nan and Mike M. Milstein. Resiliency in Schools: Making It Happen for Students and Educators. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press, Inc., 1996.
Houston, Paul D.. Articles of Faith & Hope for Public Education. Arlington, Virginia: American Association of School Administrators, 1997.
Kohn, Alfie. Punished by Rewards. New York : Houghton Mifflin Company, 1993.
Love, Noel. The Intervention Guidebook. Round Rock, Texas: Rising Tide Publications, 1995.
The Student Assistance Program Core Team Guidebook. Round Rock, Texas: Rising Tide Publications, 1989. Revised 1994.
The Student Mediator Booklet. Round Rock, Texas: Rising Tide Publications, 1994.
The Support Group Facilitator’s Guidebook. Round Rock, Texas: Rising Tide Publications, 1994.
Madigan, Carol Orsag and Ann Elwood. When They Were Kids: Over 400 Sketches of Famous Childhoods. New York: Random House, 1998.
O’Connel Higgins, Gina. Resilient Adults: Overcoming a Cruel Past. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc,1994.
Schaeffer, Dick. Choices and Consequences: What to do When a Teenager Uses Alcohol/Drugs. Minneapolis: Johnson Institute Books, 1987.
Schwahn, Charles J. and William G. Spady. Total Leaders: Applying the Best Future-Focused Change Strategies to Education. Arlington, Virginia: American Association of School Administrators, 1998.
Seligman, Martin E.P.. Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990.
The Optimistic Child. New York: Harper Perennial, 1995.
Siebert, Al, PH.D.. The Survivor Personality: Why Some People Are Stronger, Smarter, and More Skillful at Handling Life’s Difficulties . . .and How You Can Be, Too. New York: The Berkley Publishing Group, 1993.?
Snyder, C.R.. The Psychology of Hope. New York: The Free Press, 1994.
Sprague Newsam, Barbara. Complete Student Assistance Handbook: Techniques and Materials for Alcohol/Drug Prevention and Intervention in Grades 7-12. West Nyack, New Jersey: The Center for Applied Research in Education, 1992.
Swafford, Max A.. A Structured School Guide for Nine Crisis Interventions with Students. Ingram, Texas: Westwind Publications, 1997.
Wang, Margaret C. and Edmund W. Gordon (eds.). Educational Resilience in Inner- City America: Challenges and Prospects. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1994.
Werner, Emmy E. and Ruth S. Smith. Overcoming the Odds: High Risk Children from Birth to Adulthood. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1992.
Vulnerable but Invincible: A Longitudinal Study of Resilient Children and Youth. New York: Adams-Bannister-Cox, 1992.
Wolin, Steven J. and Sybil Wolin. The Resilient Self: How Survivors of Troubled Families Rise Above Adversity. New York: Villard Books, 1993.
PERIODICALS
Resiliency In Action: Bouncing Back From Risk and Adversity: Ideas for Youth, Families, and Communities
P.O. Box 684
Gorham, ME 04038
1-800-440-5171
Student Assistance Journal
Performance Resource Press, Inc.
1270 Rankin Drive, Suite F
Troy, MI 48083
1-800-453-7733
Helping Hand: The Texas SAP Initiative
Workers Assistance Program
3410 Far West Blvd., Suite #250
Austin, Texas 78731
1-800-522-0550
Evaluation Summaries
"Evidence of Success"
One way to develop a successful program is to base it on principles that have already been proven effective. Those who originally developed Student Assistance Programs did just that. They modeled the early SAPs after Employee Assistance Programs that had been used for years by companies seeking to address substance abuse and improve productivity in their employees . The early SAPs generally focused on reducing alcohol and drug use in students and there is a great deal of evidence to show that when properly supported by school staff and service providers outside the school these programs were indeed effective in their efforts.
As SAPs have evolved, differences in the way they have been implemented in schools have made evaluation of the SAP concept difficult to report. Several factors influence the success of a SAP. For example, the focus may be limited to intervention of substance abuse in students, or the SAP may serve as the hub of all school programs aimed at managing student academic, social and emotional problems. Because of these variables, it becomes necessary to examine not only whether SAPs are effective, but also to look at the specifics of each successful program and the philosophy under which it operates.
Evaluation results of one such program showed that "Among high school students who had substance abuse problems at intake, 57% were judged by the intervention specialists to be abstinent at the end of the school year. This includes 51% of those whose previous levels of use had been experimental, 55% who had formerly been abusers and 49% who had been chemically dependent…58% of the heaviest users - those judged to be chemically dependent - were no longer using".
The results for middle school students with the SAP were also quite encouraging. "At the middle school level, 51% of those who had substance abuse problems when they entered the program were now considered abstinent, with those judged as dependent at intake most likely to now have no substance abuse (73%)." Also significant where the number of students whose abstinence was sustained - 65% had no recent use alcohol and 79% no recent use of drugs at an end-of-year follow-up.
Along with student support of the SAP (87% felt the program had been helpful to them), program staff also reported their approval, with 65% believing that "students had evidenced overall improvement since program entry". In addition, "participants in school-based support groups also were nearly unanimously supportive of the group's positive effect on them".
Although a SAP can do much to reduce substance use among students, it has not been shown to significantly improve student academic performance when the focus is entirely on alcohol and drug abuse intervention and prevention. As evidenced in the students' more significant improvements when their recovery involved school or community services other than substance abuse programs, simply decreasing or removing the use of substances is normally not enough to decrease discipline problems or to improve student attendance and grades. To affect changes in these areas, schools must also incorporate academic support and violence reduction initiatives into their SAP. Programs such as mentoring, leadership development, crisis intervention and broad-based support groups are needed thelp students reverse a downward spin in performance.
Spring Branch Independent School District in Texas offers an excellent example of how SAPs can be designed tmeet a wide range of student needs. The Memorial High School SAP, for example, was cited as key t"a drastic decrease in violent behavior and a significant increase in parent and community involvement as well". Alsin SBISD, Stratford High School reported "decreases in violence and disruptive behavior, along with increases in student participation…and parent participation". In this district, SAPs are viewed as an integral part of every student's school experience. In the twschools evaluated, students attend an SAP "class" (curriculum-based support group) held one morning each week, with many groups led by community volunteers as well as school staff. Peer support programs are designed for all incoming freshmen and the schools utilize a wide range of mentoring, drug education and parent and community outreach programs.
Student Assistance Programs work best for overall student achievement when they are the hub of all the school's prevention efforts and when programs are available teach student, offering a variety of services. Drug education and intervention programs are indeed essential tstudent and school health. However, research has shown that they are not enough tsignificantly impact all behavioral or academic challenges. SAPs based on resiliency and protective factor research (rather than focusing exclusively on identified risk factors) use many of the same strategies which have proven tbe effective in improving academic success of students. Thus, when the school culture and the SAP incorporate strategies to build student resiliency, evaluation should show a dramatic increase in program success in impacting students' academic performance as well as other measures.
While there is still a need for more comprehensive evaluation of SAPs, there is clearly evidence tindicate that this type of program is a step in the right direction. As SAPs continue tevolve, we are sure tsee an even greater impact in our efforts thelp all children succeed.
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SAFE AND DRUG-FREE SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITIES PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVENESS
The Principles of Effectiveness adopted by the US Department of Education provide clear guidelines for program assessment that lead to strong, long-term prevention programs. The following four Principles of Effectiveness offer a framework within which SAPs can structure their program evaluation efforts:
- the SAP should be based on a needs assessment which includes objective data about youth drug use and violence;
- its program goals and objectives should be well-defined;
- the SAP is research-based and should utilize proven methodology in assessing and referring students, and;
- the SAP should regularly assess its progress toward meeting its goals.
If a SAP meets these criteria, the school is well on its way to becoming a successful program with continued Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities funding.
In the Nonregulatory Guidelines for Implementing the SDFSCA Principles of Effectiveness, May, 1998, the USDE Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program offers the following description of this process.
"The Principles can be thought of as a circular process, beginning with needs assessment. Each step should be based on the results from the prior step and use that information to develop plans for implementing the next step in this circular process. After assessing needs, deciding on goals and implementing a program, the fourth Principle requires recipients to determine how successful their activities have been in meeting established goals, and to use that evaluation as part of a continuing improvement process. The important point to remember in implementing the Principles is that they are intended to provide a planning framework that brings together the important elements that can help entities implement more effective prevention programs."
ASSESSING AN SAP's EFFECTIVENESS
There are several types of evaluation tools that a school may choose from to assess an SAPs effectiveness. Generally, anonymous student and teacher written surveys are used to measure the success of program awareness efforts and to gauge attitudes about the SAP and related drug-prevention efforts. Surveys may also be used task specific questions of students, parents and staff who used the SAP.
A comprehensive SAP evaluation should report:
- What progress has been made toward stated goals and objectives
- What needs the student population has identified
- How the program facilitated student participation
- The extent to which there was an increase in the resources available to youth served (including school-based and community-based resources)
- Changes in those student behaviors that prompted referral to the SAP (including changes in attendance/truancy, drug and alcohol use, discipline referrals and academic performance)
- Changes in student attitudes toward drug and alcohol use and other issues identified as problematic by students and staff (may be measured by anonymous surveys conducted before and after program implementation)
- Perceptions of the SAP by school staff members, administrators, parents and staff of supporting organizations/programs
- Cost effectiveness of the program
- Number of school personnel trained in the SAP model
Although it has been noted that many SAPs need five years to become fully integrated into the school, SDFSC does expect that within two years any prevention initiative must be able to demonstrate positive outcomes in terms of reducing or preventing drug use, violence or disruptive behavior among youth or other behaviors or attitudes demonstrated to be precursors or predictors of drug use". SDFSC expects that ongoing evaluation will be used to identify program areas in need of improvement or revision.
EVALUATING THE CORE TEAM
When considering the evaluation of a SAP, it is important to consider not only the success of the program for the school, but also to look at the effectiveness of the core team as a group. Assessment of the process as well as the outcomes will contribute to the development of a long-term, healthy team and program. This core team functioning evaluation is best planned for early on. In this way, many of the pitfalls (especially team member burnout) can potentially be avoided and free the team to focus on the development of their SAP.
Core team assessment is best when it occurs on a regular basis. For maximum effectiveness, teams are encouraged to conduct self-assessment at least once per year, including an annual off-campus core team retreat. Team assessment forms can be accessed by clicking here.
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Recommended Partners in Making SAP Work!
The following consultants have been recommended by Student Assistance Professionals across Texas, who have benefited from their services. Please note that a listing here does not necessarily reflect endorsement by WAP or by TCADA.
| Charles A. Dana Center (surveys of student drug use and resiliency factors) The University of Texas at Austin Dorothy Knight Program Coordinator Texas Prevention Impact Index 2901 North IH 35 Austin, Texas 78722-2348 512-475-9708 PeaceMakers Unlimited, Inc. Dr. Robert Landry |
Rising Tide Publications (Core Team Guidebook, Support Group Facilitator’s Guidebook, Classroom Intervention Guidebook, and Student Mediator Booklet) Noel Love P.O. Box 1193 Round Rock, TX 78680 (512) 453-4458 (781) 823-8083 e mail: noellove@texas.net URL: http://noellove.home.texas.net Rainbow Days, Inc. |
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National Association of Student Assistance Professionals
www.nasap.org
Detailed information about SAP components, guidelines, events, and state chapters. Also includes daily news articles of importance to student assistance professionals.
Project Resilience
www.projectresilience.com
A wealth of information about resiliency theory and practice based on the innovative work of Steven and Sybil Wolin. Includes a helpful discussion group.
Resiliency in Action
www.resiliency.com
Nan Henderson’s site features current information about resiliency, as well as upcoming events and trainings.
Texas Education Association
www.tea.state.tx.us
This site contains links to all education service centers, including e mail addresses and a list of all districts within a region. In addition, links to the Commissioner and State Board of Education.
National Mentoring Partnership
www.mentoring.org
This site offers information on starting or finding a mentoring program in your area, how to be a great mentor, and other helpful resources.
Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse
www.tcada.state.tx.us
This site contains information on available grants, links to other related sites, and a general description of the agency. In addition, numerous related articles are contained on the site.
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