Are you eager to begin prevention programming, but concerned by the multiple needs of young people in your community and the multiple programs available to address those needs?
Do you hear different opinions from youth, family members, school personnel, and community leaders about where to target your prevention efforts?
Are you concerned about the time and resources that may be required to obtain a complete picture of what's going on in your community?
Would you like some concrete suggestions for how to identify the needs of local youth so that you can select appropriate prevention strategies and programs?
If you answered YES to these questions, then this online workshop is for you!
Using Existing Data to Inform Prevention Program Selection provides tools and resources to help you locate and use available local, state, and national data to determine drug and violence prevention priorities and select prevention programs for your schools and communities. It targets middle school coordinators (MSCs) in the early stages of the strategic planning process, as well as those who would like to further refine their understanding of local needs. As a participant in this workshop, you will have the opportunity to review materials, participate in a structured activity, discuss course content with others, and link to additional resources.
You are ready to begin this workshop if you have (1) received confirmation of your status as an active participant or an auditor; (2) visited the Orientation to Online Events website to ensure that you and your computer are prepared for this event, and (3) completed the following steps:
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Go to the Introduction for an overview of the Training Center's Online Continuing Education Plan. |
| Next | |
Visit What to Expect for an event summary, description of site layout, and instructions for where to go if you need help. |
| Finally | |
Review the Event Schedule to find out what you will be doing each day. |
Once you have completed these steps, you are ready to start this event. Please plan on spending approximately one hour each day reading and reflecting on the materials. Have fun!
Proceed to Part 1: Needs Assessment and the
Value of Existing Data |
The purpose of the Center's online continuing education training program is to provide a menu of skills-based, interactive learning activities that supplement the core training. It is designed to facilitate the transfer of knowledge into practice, enhance the exchange of effective practices among middle school coordinators (MSCs), and strengthen their capacity to implement effective prevention efforts.The Center's online continuing education events differ from the five-day core training. They are meant to supplement the training by providing you with an opportunity to deepen skills and expand your resources as change agents. The events are intended to (1) provide support for the implementation of best practices that enable organizational change, (2) build on the foundation established by the five-day core training, and (3) foster the exchange of information and ideas that can transfer knowledge into practice.
Each online event addresses challenges faced by MSCs and highlights opportunities you have as organizational change agents within your schools and communities. Sessions focus on the planning and implementation process surrounding school-community collaboration in order to address the developmental needs of students.
While instructional programs have been important, necessary, and effective at imparting knowledge, improving existing skills, and developing new skills, alone they are insufficient to produce far-reaching and long-lasting organizational change. Solutions to substance abuse and violence lie in more comprehensive approaches that promote change at individual and organizational levels with schools and communities working together. The Center's online continuing education program provides a means of strengthening these approaches and applying effective strategies to create comprehensive prevention plans.
The scope and sequence of the Center's online continuing education program are driven by MSC interests, needs, and professional responsibilities. Each online event is designed to provide MSCs with skills and knowledge around strategic areas, such as:
changing individual behavior among youth
initiating organizational change in schools
mobilizing community support for prevention efforts
Implementing effective prevention programs is challenging and requires careful attention to the following:
assessing local needs and assets
designing programs to meet desired results, using measurable goals
selecting and implementing programs that are based on research
evaluating and refining program efforts
Each of the Center's online events is designed and sequenced to assist MSCs in addressing these critical factors. Materials and activities take participants through a series of steps in a logical fashion. Each facilitated event includes explanations of how to apply the methods, use strategic planning tools, and locate additional resources, as well as opportunities to strategize and engage in dialogue with the event leaders and other MSCs.
Each event includes:
an introduction
clearly defined skills and strategies to be addressed
clearly defined methods, materials, and timelines
activities
discussion time
an event summary
client assessment and evaluation surveys
In order to prepare MSCs to effectively participate in these online events, the Center has also developed an orientation website. It is designed to help MSCs obtain the tools and skills that are necessary for full participation in online events, as well as an understanding of what to expect from these events. The Center's online events are open to all MSCs throughout the country who have completed the five-day core training.
The image below represents the overall process that these events are designed to facilitate.
You have completed this section.
Proceed to What to Expect. |
| For many of you, participating in an online event is a new experience. This section is designed to answer some basic questions about online learning -- including where to go to learn more! |
Using Existing Data in Your Needs Assessment is a five-part workshop designed to be completed over the course of five days. It is divided into these sections:
Day 1: Needs Assessment and the Value of Existing Data
MSCs will receive a brief introduction to needs assessment, with an emphasis on the importance of using available data as a foundation for their information-gathering efforts.
Day 2: Finding Local Data
MSCs will learn about different types and sources of community data, as well as issues to consider when obtaining this information.
Day 3: Using State and National Data
MSCs will explore reasons for looking beyond their communities for needs assessment information and learn about various sources of state, regional, and national data that can shed light on local issues.
Day 4: Setting Priorities to Guide Program Selection
MSCs will find out how to transform their needs assessment information into prevention priorities as they continue through the strategic planning process.
Day 5: Event Summary and Wrap-up
MSCs will receive a synthesis of the week's discussion, reflect on the event, and complete an online assessment questionnaire.
Participants should log in at least once a day, although it may be helpful to log in more often. Some find that they can better monitor and contribute to the online discussion if they log in toward the beginning and end of each day. Please make sure that you allow enough time each day to read through the daily materials, complete associated activities, and visit the discussion area. However, more time is required if you want to take full advantage of the many tools, resources, and links that are provided to enhance this event. On average, past participants have spent approximately one hour per day reviewing materials, completing activities, and contributing to the discussion.
Each online event website includes eight sections:
Event Schedule
This section describes what participants will be doing each day of the event.
Materials
This is where participants can acquire a basic understanding of the event topic. Materials will appear in a variety of formats and can be printed for future reference.
Activities
This section contains one or two structured tasks that participants will be asked to complete during the course of the event. The activities are designed to help participants apply the knowledge they acquired through the event materials and discussion.
Discussion
After completing each activity, active participants will be asked to share their experiences and lessons learned in this section of the website.
Auditors can post their questions to the designated Q&A Board in this section.
Event Staff
This section displays brief biographies of the event facilitators, content developers, and technical support staff.
Resources & Links
The information contained in this section is designed to complement the event materials, facilitate ease of participation in the event, and enhance overall learning.
Event Support
Participants with technical questions can go to this section and submit an online request for assistance.
Glossary
This section provides definitions of many content-specific terms used throughout the event.
Take some time to tour the site and familiarize yourself with its layout and content.
Many of the materials and tools on this site have been developed for you to print out and use for future reference. However, before printing, we strongly suggest that your review the materials online so that you can see how the different sections fit together.
To print out a specific page, simply go to the page of interest, place your cursor on File (at the top of the page), go to Print, then press OK. This will print everything on the screen in front of you. To print only the text (minus the navigation bars at the top and side of the screen), begin by opening the site using the web browser Explorer. Then place your cursor on the page you want to print, "right click" with your mouse, select Print, then choose OK.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to print the entire site with a single click of the mouse.
Participants with technical questions or problems can submit a request for assistance to Event Support. Your questions may also be answered by consulting Tips for Navigating this Site, Tips for Participating in Online Events, and Tips for Using the Discussion Area. Also, the Glossary may help clarify the meaning of various terms used throughout the event.
You have completed this section.
Proceed to Event Schedule. |
DAY 1Needs Assessment and the Value of Existing Data
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DAY 2Finding Local Data
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DAY 3Setting Priorities to Guide Program Selection
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DAY 4Setting Priorities to Guide Program Selection
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DAY 5Event Summary and Wrap-up
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You have completed this section,
though you may want to return to this schedule at the start of each day. Proceed to Part 1: Needs Assessment and the Value of Existing Data. |
| These materials are intended to help you complete the event activity and inform the accompanying discussions. You can print these materials for use during this event and for future reference. |
DAY 1 Materials: Needs Assessment and the
Value of Existing Data
DAY 2 Materials: Finding Local Data
DAY 3 Materials: Using State and National Data
DAY 4 Materials: Setting Priorities to
Guide Program Selection
DAY 5 Materials: Event Summary and Wrap-Up
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Most middle school coordinators have multiple responsibilities and seemingly endless possibilities for action and reform. Sometimes it is hard to know where to start. A good way to get your bearings, as well as ensure that your prevention planning is on track and truly responsive to student needs, is to learn as much as you can about your students and your community.
As you learned during the five-day core training, this exploration is called a needs assessment. The success of your prevention efforts depends on the ability of your schools and districts to identify and prioritize local needs and select research-based programs to meet those needs.
As you may recall, a needs assessment is a multistep process of identifying issues, collecting information, and drawing conclusions about the primary drug- and violence-related problems facing young people in your schools and communities so that you can effectively tailor prevention activities to your local circumstances. A formal needs assessment will allow you to uncover important issues and trends in your youth populations that would be difficult to detect as a casual observer.
Many of you may have worked in your schools and communities for some time and have a good sense of what is going on. Concerned about limited time and resources, and eager to move on to program selection and implementation, you may be tempted to skip over the assessment process and rely on your personal experiences to inform program selection. Resist those impulses! Needs assessment is a critical step in prevention planning, and failing to complete a thorough assessment could ultimately undermine the effectiveness of your prevention initiative. Several important reasons to conduct a needs assessment are described below.
Some Questions Needs Assessment Can Answer
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To highlight key issues that are particular problems in your community or district, and target prevention efforts to those at risk. You may find out that underage drinking rates are higher in your community than in similar locales or in the state as a whole, or that more students in your community than in other locales begin using alcohol in the sixth grade.
To identify potential barriers to implementing research-based programs. You may discover, for example, that your superintendent is committed to continued implementation of a particular prevention program that is not based on research, but which has been part of the school system's curriculum for many years
To determine if your community is ready to address a given problem. For example, you may learn that parents in the community are unwilling to acknowledge that substance abuse or violence is a problem among their children. If this is the case, you will need to spend time educating parents, as well as their children, if your program is to succeed.
To promote community buy-in to your prevention initiative. The school and community members you meet and connect with throughout the assessment process are your future partners in prevention. Engaging people in the process of collecting information about your community's needs will motivate and better prepare them to make decisions about which prevention strategies or programs should be selected to meet those needs.
As a baseline for evaluation. Assessment data lets you track behavior change over time and monitor the impact of your prevention efforts.
To mobilize the community. Carefully presented assessment data can be used to heighten awareness among community members of the extent and types of drug- and violence-related problems facing local youth. Local data, in particular, can be a powerful tool for mobilizing your community to address problems (perhaps even more effective than similar data about state or national populations.) Community members with a clear understanding of your findings are more likely to actively support and participate in prevention activities.
| Keep in mind that it is essential to complement your assessment of local needs with an assessment of the resources that your schools and communities bring to bear on identified problems. |
Several tools are at your disposal for assessing local needs, including surveys, focus groups, and key informant interviews. Yet, the first step in conducting a needs assessment is not to collect new data, but to carefully review existing data that have already been collected by others. All schools, for example, collect data on truancy, drop-out rates, drug suspensions, and incidents of violence. Many local agencies collect data and maintain records to better understand their clientele and to document and evaluate the services they provide. State and federal departments also routinely conduct assessments of the well-being of their residents and the general population.
Benefits of Using Existing Data
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Once you have collected information from multiple sources at the local, state, and national levels, you may find that you have all the information you need to shape your prevention initiative. If you discover any gaps in your understanding of local needs, then your review of existing information can guide any additional data collection efforts that may be required to identify appropriate research-based prevention programs and strategies. (For a detailed discussion of the relative advantages and disadvantages of data collection methods, visit Section 4 of the MSC Training Manual Assessing Local Needs and Assets in Your School and Community.)
This completes today's work. Please visit the Discussion Area to share your thoughts about today's presentation! |
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Many local agencies and institutions, including schools, the police department, the public health department, hospitals, and a variety of social service agencies, collect community-related data. With so many records and reports available to you, planning is key to conducting an efficient search that produces information you can use to guide program selection.
A well-conceptualized plan can help you minimize potential roadblocks, and improves the likelihood that you will collect the information that you need to make informed decisions. The following section outlines a 10-step model that can help you identify the type of information you might look for and where to find it, along with some general guidelines to consider as you begin to collect information.
| Make sure you have an advisory team comprised of school personnel and community members who can guide and participate in your search for local data. | Step 1: Find out what has already been done. A good place to start is the proposal written to the U.S. Department of Education to fund your position as a middle school coordinator, which should include an overview of local needs. Members of your advisory team may also know about any major assessment efforts in your community, or of other grants written by schools or youth-serving agencies that might include sections on community needs. |
Step 2: Clarify your purpose. Determine exactly what you need to find and where to begin your search. For example, if you want to find out about drug use patterns, you may want to begin your search by reviewing school records, police reports, and hospital discharge data, rather than census or economic data. Having said that, you should also be flexible about your ultimate focus; you may start by looking at youth substance abuse, but it may also be helpful to consider assessing substance abuse and violence among parents and other adults -- particularly if you see that the behavior of the two groups is closely related.
| Step 3: Define the scope of your search. After identifying your issues of interest, consider how deeply you will examine them. For example, will you limit your search for information about drug use to substances typically used by middle school students (e.g., alcohol and tobacco),or will you collect information on a wider variety of substances? | Some Sources of Local Data Education Statistics Crime Statistics Court Statistics Health Statistics Political Data Economic Data Demographic Data |
Golden Rule Don't spend more time researching a particular item of information than it's worth. If a particular piece of data eludes you, put it aside and move on! You can always return to it later. |
Step 4: Decide how much information you will collect. Too much information can be just as much of a problem as not enough. Obtaining more information than you can handle (much of which may be irrelevant) can waste valuable time and resources that could otherwise be devoted to different prevention activities. |
Step 5: Choose appropriate indicators. Most of the agencies and institutions identified in this section (see Sources of Local Data) supply indicator data. Indicator data reveal characteristics of a population (e.g., attendance rates for middle school students), a community (e.g., number of alcohol outlets within city limits), or a program (e.g., number of drug-related hospital admissions). Indicators can provide useful measures of risk for and rates of violence and substance use among youth in your community.
Factors to Consider When Selecting
Click here for more about issues to be aware of as you select indicators and search for information from local data sources. |
| Step 6: Find reliable contacts. Identify people who are familiar with agency data and ask for their help. With their assistance, you may be able to avoid potential problems, such as failing to discover changes in the definitions of indicators that may occur over time. These folks can also put you in contact with people you may want to have on your advisory team. | Questions to Ask Agency Staff It is helpful to develop a set of key questions that all of your researchers will use to request information from agency staff.Click here for some suggestions. |
Step 7: Determine your timeframe. Looking at information collected over an extended time period allows you to identify possible trends (i.e., whether the problem has remained unchanged, worsened, or improved over time). If you look at information from only one year, your picture of the overall problem will be incomplete and possibly inaccurate.
Step 8. Set a realistic timeline. Establish an endpoint for your information-gathering efforts, but keep in mind that collecting, compiling, and synthesizing data needs to be done annually to keep on top of trends.
| Consider how you will share the information you collect so that it mobilizes support for future efforts and leads to productive discussions about what should be done, rather than hysterical demands for immediate action. Click here for some tips on how to proceed. | Step 9. Think about how you will share your findings. Although you are collecting information for planning purposes, you may also want to make a public presentation of your findings in order to keep the school and community informed and promote buy-in for future prevention activities. Remember, once word gets out that you are collecting information (and it will) people will want to know what you found out and what it means. Make sure that you share your research findings with your school administrators before going public to the community. |
| Step 10. Write everything down!Your information-gathering strategies and experiences, when documented on paper, will facilitate ongoing communication with data sources and form a cohesive plan for conducting future searches. This record can be shared with collaborators and partners to ensure a streamlined, consistent approach to the collection of needs assessment information. | Keeping Track Once you begin collecting information, it is easy to lose track of what you have, what you still need, and what it all means. Make sure to create a system for storing and organizing your information. |
Most of the information you collect will be in the form of summary reports rather than the raw data collected by an agency or institution. These reports may not always break down the data as you might like (e.g., presenting information for all middle school students rather than males vs. females). However, you will typically find that reports are easier to work with than actual data. Dealing with raw data is complicated and time-consuming, and requires special equipment (e.g., statistical software packages) and skills.
Once you obtain the data summary reports, it may be tempting to accept them at face value without taking the time to critically examine their quality. However, the utility of your information depends on its relevance and accuracy, as well as your ultimate ability to compare different groups or the same group over time. Keep the following in mind in order to maximize the quality of your information:
Collect information from multiple sources. One source cannot tell the whole story. By using multiple data sources, you can confidently recognize complementary or confirming data, as well as inaccurate information, and are more likely to identify real problems facing your community.
Revise your research plan as needed. Carefully review the information you collect. Did you get the information you need, or are there gaps in your understanding of the needs among youth in your community?
Be critical. Check for information that seems illogical or inconsistent. When necessary, go back to the data source and ask for clarification.
| Click here for additional issues to keep in mind as you examine your information. |
This completes today's work. Please visit the Discussion Area to share your thoughts about today's presentation! |
Assessing Community Needs and Resources. (2000). University of Kansas Work Group on Health Promotion and Community Development and AHEC/Community Partners in Amherst, Massachusetts. Available online at http://ctb.ukans.edu/tools/EN/chapter_1003.htm.
Getting to Outcomes: Assess Needs (Spring, 2000). Rockville, MD: U.S. SAMHSA/CSAP's National Center for the Advancement of Prevention and Centers for the Application of Prevention Technologies. Available online at http://www.preventiondss.org/.
Gruenewald, P. J., Treno, A. J., Taff, G., and Klitzner, P.J. (1997). Measuring Community Indicators: A Systems Approach to Drug and Alcohol Problems. Applied Social Research Methods (45). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Harding, W. (2000). Assessment: A Vital Preplanning Activity. Newton, MA: Northeast Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies, Education Development Center, Inc.
Hatry, H. P. (1994). Collecting Data from Agency Records. In Handbook of Practical Program Evaluation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Witkind, B. R. and Altschuld, J. W. (1995). Planning and Conducting Needs assessments: A Practical Guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
| • | Supporting Materials: Sources of Local Data | |||||||
This section describes different types of indicator data that may be useful in shaping your prevention initiative and suggests where to find these data in your communities. As you review these lists, think about why you are conducting the assessment, what you hope to find out, and where you are most likely to find the information you are looking for. Remember, too much information can be overwhelming, but too little may provide an incomplete picture of what is going on in your community! The categories of indicator data discussed in this section include the following: Education StatisticsCrime Statistics Court Statistics Health Statistics Political Data Demographic Data Economic Data Education Statistics
Schools or school districts collect annual data and report findings on suspensions, expulsions, and disciplinary actions related to violence and substance use such as physical fights and possession, use, or sale of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs on school property. These data can provide insight into the extent of these problems at your schools as well as the efficacy of existing enforcement measures. Expect to find information on the reason for the disciplinary action(s), any injuries sustained, the type of substance(s) involved, and the grade of the student(s)involved.
Remember that school records only capture incidents which take place on school property. They do not capture what is going on during the many hours that school is not in session. Also keep in mind that districts may have different ways of determining how to address violations of school rules (e.g., warning, detention, suspension, expulsion), which could make comparisons across schools difficult.
In addition, many schools collect other relevant information, including truancy, absenteeism, faculty attendance rates, and numbers of students enrolled or promoted. Other useful sources of information include school "report cards" (as opposed to individual student report cards) and aggregated standardized test results, which can reveal how well a school is performing as a whole. Keep in mind that privacy and confidentiality issues will preclude access to school records that identify individual students. Crime StatisticsCrime statistics are available from local police departments. Reports often appear in two sections -- offenses (reported crimes) and arrests. Offenses are the best indicator of the volume of crime occurring in the community. Arrests are a better measure of a police department's response to crime. Information on some types of criminal activities may only be available as arrest data or as reported crimes -- not as both. Information available from police departments can include the following:
Court StatisticsThe Administrative Office of the Courts (in most states) and other state agencies annually publish court statistics (e.g., convictions for various crimes) by county or district. Such reports may contain information on cases that involved drug-related, alcohol-related, or violent crimes. Health StatisticsState and county health departments, especially maternal and child health divisions, medical examiners' offices, state offices of vital statistics, and state police departments, can help you with health indicators on a variety of issues, such as causes of disability and disease, deaths related to substance use and violence, and alcohol- or drug-related traffic accidents. Many state health departments also have a division devoted to alcohol and other drug services and maintain data relating to substance abuse at the local levels.
Hospital records, including hospital admission and discharge records, emergency room and emergency medical services records, and trauma registries, can reveal patterns of alcohol- and drug-related illnesses and injuries, as well as other injury and violence patterns, in your community. For example, hospital records can provide information on:
In addition, SAMHSA's Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) collects data on drug abuse related visits to hospital emergency departments and on drug abuse related deaths from medical examiners. This data collection system provides information on some of the most extreme drug abuse cases; it may be useful as a supplement to information that you gather from more global assessments of risk behaviors among youth at the local, state, and national levels (see Part 3: Using State and National Data). Political DataInformation on voter participation by congressional district or state is available from the local chapter of the League of Women Voters or from the Congressional Quarterly. High voter participation is often considered a marker for community cohesion and attachment. Demographic Data
Economic DataEconomic data can provide information about how difficult or easy it is to obtain tobacco, alcohol, or firearms in your region. For example, you can obtain information on retail alcohol, cigarette, and firearm prices from the American Chamber of Commerce Research Association and information on alcohol outlet locations through state departments of alcohol beverage control. Similar information on firearms and tobacco outlet locations can be found at local police departments and at state and local departments of public health, respectively. Other Sources of Data
ReferencesGruenewald, P. J., Treno, A. J., Taff, G., and Klitzner, P.J. (1997). Measuring Community Indicators: A Systems Approach to Drug and Alcohol Problems. Applied Social Research Methods (45). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Harding, W. (2000). Assessment: A Vital Preplanning Activity. Newton, MA: Northeast Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies, Education Development Center, Inc. |
| • | Supporting Materials: Questions to Ask Agency Staff | |
The following are sample questions that you may want to ask staff at local education, health, social service, or law enforcement agencies as you search for information to inform your prevention initiative. Keep in mind that this is not a scripted interview. Please tailor these questions to your own needs and circumstances. Before you begin, make sure to explain why you are collecting this information and how it will be used.
*For information about confidentiality issues, visit the U.S. Department of Education Protection of Human Subjects, Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, and Family Education, Rights, and Privacy Amendment.
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| • | Supporting Materials: Sharing Assessment Results | |
These are just a few suggestions to consider as you prepare to share your needs assessment findings with school and community members.
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| • | Supporting Materials: Potential Challenges to Obtaining Local Data | ||
Indicator data can provide a wealth of information about the substance use and violence problems in your community, but this information is not always easy to obtain, of high quality, or available in an accessible form. Keep the following potential challenges in mind as you search for and obtain information.
ReferencesGruenewald, P. J., Treno, A. J., Taff, G., and Klitzner, P. J. (1997). Measuring Community Indicators: A Systems Approach to Drug and Alcohol Problems. Applied Social Research Methods (45). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Harding, W. (2000). Assessment: A Vital Preplanning Activity. Newton, MA: Northeast Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies, Education Development Center, Inc. Hatry, H. P. (1994). Collecting Data from Agency Records. In Handbook of Practical Program Evaluation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Witkind, B. R. and Altschuld, J. W. (1995). Planning and Conducting Needs Assessments: A Practical Guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. |
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By looking beyond your community, you can gain a more complete understanding of the education, health, and safety issues facing local youth. Numerous agencies and data collection systems at the state and national levels routinely gather and publicize a wealth of information. As you begin reviewing these reports, keep in mind that some of the data may be a year or more old since it takes time to complete data collection, analysis, and compilation.
National or regional data can give you a broad idea of the scope of a problem beyond your community. For example, if national survey data reveal a marked increase in smoking among eighth graders, and state data show this trend as well, then smoking among middle school students in your community has most likely increased.
Comparing local data to state or national data can offer a different perspective on the rates of substance use and violence in your community. It can help you ascertain whether the problem in your community is worse, about the same, or less than it is elsewhere.
Comparing your local data to larger populations can provide you with information that can help you evaluate your efforts. For example, when a city teen tobacco prevention project evaluated its multi-year efforts, no change appeared in tobacco use. However, a comparison of city rates to statewide rates revealed that while rates of statewide tobacco use had increased, city rates had remained unchanged. This suggests that the tobacco prevention project might have had a positive effect after all.
National and state-level data collection instruments can serve as models for your own data collection. You can use these surveys for ideas about how to frame your own survey questions and, if you use the same questions, you can make comparisons between your community and other localities.
Many state and regional agencies collect data on various indicators of the education, health, and safety of their residents. Some state assessments originate within the states themselves, while others are affiliated with a national data collection system. Here are some examples.
Numerous state/regional departments , including departments of education, public health, and law enforcement, are responsible for addressing one or more aspects of drug and violence prevention. You can contact these agencies directly to request information about the type, quality, and potential utility of the data they gather.
Many drug prevention and school safety resource centers have been established across the country to support regional prevention activities. Some centers focus on drug prevention and/or school safety, while others address a broader spectrum of prevention issues. These centers engage in various activities, including research, program implementation, and technical assistance.
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For example:
The Indiana Prevention Resource Center is a statewide clearinghouse for prevention technical assistance and information about alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs for the state of Indiana. As Indiana's designated RADAR Network (Regional Alcohol and Drug Awareness Resource Network) State Center, it provides information on alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, government publications, and referral services to all Indiana residents. |
| For example:
The Center for Substance Abuse Prevention's Decision Support System, funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, provides step-by-step procedures for needs assessment, capacity building, program selection, evaluation, and reporting, as well as extensive online resources and overviews of available data resources by state. |
| For more information on some of the largest national surveys, including their timeframes, target populations, and the availability of regional or state-level data, click on the National Education, Health, and Safety Data chart. |
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For example:
The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS), developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in collaboration with federal, state, and private sector partners, provides information about the prevalence of risk behaviors among young people at the national, state, and local levels in order to more effectively target and improve health programs. Findings from the 1999 survey are summarized in Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance - United States, 1999. You can also obtain Youth99, a free CD-ROM that provides access to six years of YRBSS summary data. |
This completes today's work. Please visit the Discussion Area to share your thoughts about today's presentation! |
Harding, W. (2000). Assessment: A Vital Preplanning Activity. Newton, MA: Northeast Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies, Education Development Center, Inc.
Witkind, B. R. and Altshculd, J. W. (1995). Planning and Conducting Needs Assessments: A Practical Guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
The table that appears on your screen is intended for online viewing. If you want to print this document, please choose either the RTF or PDF file below. A RTF file will open in Microsoft Word. A PDF file will open in Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Return to Day 3- Using State and National Data
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Congratulations! You have gathered all of the information you need to gain a complete understanding of the drug- and violence-related problems facing youth in your schools and districts. You have collected relevant data records from multiple local sources and placed this information in a state and national context. You may even have supplemented this information with new data from your own interviews, focus groups, and surveys.
Now the real fun begins! The final, and perhaps most important, step is to take all of the information that you have collected and make sense of it. What is it telling you? Where are the gaps? How can you use the information to establish prevention priorities and, ultimately, select prevention strategies and programs based on those priorities?
This section provides a framework for linking your information-gathering efforts to the next phase of the strategic planning process -- designing a comprehensive prevention plan. It includes these three steps:
Step 1: Create an Assessment Profile
There are many ways to compile the information you have obtained. The important thing is to organize it in a way that is meaningful not only to those of you who have been immersed in data collection, but also to those who might be new to the process. You may choose to organize your findings by type of indicator (e.g., substance use vs. violence), by population (e.g., general population vs. youth), or by data source (crime statistics in one section, health statistics in another). Work with members of your advisory team to create a tool that clearly and succinctly describes your findings.
| Click here for some tools that can help you compile the information you have collected. |
Step 2: Establish Criteria for Reviewing the Information You Have Collected
Once you have organized your findings, you will need to establish a system for assigning them "weight." For example, police reports may reveal that drunk driving is a problem in your community, while school records document widespread bullying. Which is more important? And how will you make that determination?
There are many equally valid ways to choose your priorities. However, by establishing a set of criteria that are clear and objective, you increase the likelihood that your choice of prevention activities will truly reflect the needs identified by your assessment -- rather than the "problem of the moment" or a group member's pet concern.
Possible Criteria
|
For example: The highly charged topic of drug use and violence among youth often leads schools and communities to focus on problems that feel monumental, but that may not be the most significant. Thus, a community that experiences the tragedy of losing a middle school student to a heroin overdose may perceive the use of illicit drugs as the primary concern for prevention efforts, though a careful review of community data indicates that only a small number of adolescents in the community report using such substances. In this case, the severity of a problem is assigned more weight than the frequency. |
Step 3: Set Prevention Priorities Based on Your Criteria
Once you and your advisory team have agreed on a set of criteria (note: this may take more than one discussion!), you can begin to carefully examine the information in front of you. Initially, you will see many areas of concern that need to be addressed.
| Click here for a tool that will help you identify and document the specific needs that your prevention initiative will address. |
Using the criteria you have developed, work with your advisory team to document those findings that seem particularly compelling. Keep in mind that different data sources may yield discrepant information. If this occurs, you may want to go back and review the records to determine which seem most reliable, or conduct targeted interviews with those most familiar with how the data were collected.
Some Questions to Ask When Setting Prevention Priorities
|
Now it is time to reach consensus on which drug- and violence-related problems your schools and districts will target through prevention programming. This involves transforming your most compelling findings into prevention priorities that will guide your selection of research-based programs and strategies. Think about how to frame and phrase the prominent issues so that they are clearly stated, fully justified, and likely to attract support throughout the community.
Once you have completed these steps, you can continue to develop your comprehensive prevention plan. The next online event, Identifying Prevention Priorities and Strategies for Success, will reinforce lessons learned in this event and describe next steps -- including how to establish measurable goals and objectives and identify effective strategies to achieve intended outcomes.
This completes today's work. Please visit the Discussion Area to share your thoughts about today's presentation! |
This section highlights:
|
This document summarizes the questions and comments posted by participants during the previous day's discussion. On Day 5 we will post of summary of the entire, weeklong discussion. Please read through these summaries, then visit the Discussion Area (active participants) to share your impressions of the summary. Auditors should feel free to post their questions and comments in the designated Q&A Board. We want these documents to accurately capture your conversation and conclusions, and will be happy to revise it based on your recommendations.
This brief set of questions is intended to self-assess knowledge gained by both active participants and auditors. It includes 10 questions about event content. Please do not complete this questionnaire until you have finished the event.
This form is intended to gather information about your experience throughout this online event. Your careful reflections will help us improve future events and create more networking opportunities. Please do not complete this evaluation until you have finished the event.
Thank you for participating in Using Existing Data in Your Needs Assessment! |
| • | Synthesis of Discussion |
Thank you all for participating in this event's discussion about using existing data in your assessment of local needs! We appreciate the time and energy that you devoted to this online event and are thrilled with the number and quality of your comments. You raised many important issues which we have briefly summarized in this document. Several MSCs asked about how much needs assessment data to collect and how to organize these data.As one coordinator wrote:
" …We are swimming in data. I fear the challenge will be selecting what is relevant and putting it all together. It is exciting, yet overwhelming as it "feels" like one could spend endless time on this, yet time is of the essence to pick out what's important to address. How do you go about narrowing the field to address the most important issues, while not losing sight of "other relevant data" also?"
Suggested strategies included:
Several MSCs asked about the acceptability and utility of collecting information about people other than middle school students.According to one MSC:
" The MSC grant specifically states MSCs can only serve middle school (5th-9th grade) students, but I've found that the majority of my middle school students are already immersed in problems behaviors before my program can intervene."
In response, Wayne Harding, Training Center evaluator and lead facilitator for this event, commented that while the first priority is to look at data about the MSC target population (middle school students), it can be useful to look at data on both younger and older students. Several MSCs discussed the pros and cons of relying on information collected from existing surveys.For example, one MSC who had relied on a student survey (conducted for the last 5 years by a previous CSAP Grant) wondered if she should supplement this information with a survey of community members. Another MSC expressed concern that information gleaned from a survey conducted in 1999 would be out-of-date. Regarding the first concern, Wayne wrote:
" It is always useful, but not always possible, to collect data from community members … such surveys are expensive to conduct. Another, less costly approach is to hold interviews with some key community leaders whose positions relate to substance abuse/violence and to perhaps run a focus group or two with parents. The information collected using these methods may not as accurately represent the views of the entire community as a survey, but it can still be useful in guiding your prevention plans by identifying some key problems and current efforts to address them."
Regarding the timeliness issue, he reminded coordinators that there is often a "lag time" in existing data sources, and that data from 1999 is actually not all that old. He also underscored the importance of looking at existing survey data for trends - to try and get a sense of whether things in your community are getting better, worse, or are staying about the same in your community. Several MSCs had great ideas for where to go to collect existing data.
There was a lively discussion about the importance of looking critically at the assessment information you collect.For example, one MSC posted this discovery:
"After reading today's lesson, I focused on the issue of the National 1999 YRBSS figure of 17% you gave for the amount of youth that have carried a weapon in the last 30 days. Statewide, in Alaska, the figure is at 23%. In the local 1999 YRBSS, I noticed that the only question asked of the middle school youth was "have you ever carried a weapon?" which resulted in a 59% resounding yes. I have to look at the attitudes in our community which are that hunting is a value of life here and that many of our youth have carried some kind of weapon while growing up."
Another MSC responded with this insight:
" When we got the results that weapon carrying at school seemed higher than what we had expected, I ran focus groups with the students at each school and asked them what they considered a "weapon" when they answered that question. Their answers were surprising! They considered the following to be weapons: rolled coins, safety pins, screwdrivers, and cigarette lighters. My suggestion is to see what your students consider to be weapons!"
Some MSCs voiced frustration with the lack of support they received of the needs assessment process. As one MSC wrote:
" At the District level, there is often a head in the sand approach. If we don't ask about problems, then they don't exist… How are we to convince the district that we indeed have a need if we cannot collect the data to demonstrate the need?"
Finally, many MSCs expressed an interest in having access to the information included in this event beyond the end of next week.While this information will not be available immediately, we will make it available to you in the future (once our evaluations are completed). In the meantime, feel free to download and/or print any or all of the information we have provided. Once again, thank you so much for your participation in this event. We look forward to hearing from you during the next one - Identifying Prevention Priorities and Strategies for Success, beginning on May 21! |
| This activity is designed to enhance your understanding of event content through hands-on learning. You will be asked to perform a series of tasks and then reflect on your experience. |
To (1) create an inventory of data sources to guide your collection of existing needs assessment information at the local level and (2) begin collecting information from one of these sources.
Conducting a needs assessment is among the first tasks you will be expected to complete as a middle school coordinator (MSC). While some MSCs have already completed this phase of prevention planning, many others have not yet started to assess local needs, and still others are in the midst of this assessment. This activity is designed to help MSCs at all stages of the assessment process discover and obtain information from the many sources of local data available within your communities.
Please review the materials from Part 2: Finding Local Data prior to beginning the activity. After completing this activity, active participants are asked to share their results and comments in the event's Discussion Area. Auditors can follow this discussion and post questions to the designated Q&A Board.
For the first part of this activity, you will compile a preliminary list of institutions in your community that collect data on substance use and violence among youth. Please keep in mind that this is just the beginning of an ongoing process -- plan to revise your inventory in the future.
Step 1
Print Worksheet 1: Inventory of Local Data Sources.
Step 2
Review Sources of Local Data. Determine which data sources have the greatest potential to provide information about the needs of local youth. Find out which of these are available in your community.
Step 3
Note any additional data sources available in your community that are not included in the event materials. Use Worksheet 1 to record contact information for up to eight local institutions. Make sure to include any personal contacts you or members of your advisory team have at these agencies.
Now that you have created an inventory, you can begin to collect information from the sources you have identified. For this part of the activity, you will select and contact one source to determine the availability and quality of its data.
Step 1
Review your inventory and select one data source.
Step 2
Review Questions to Ask Agency Staff for suggestions about how to approach your selected data source. Add any questions you believe are missing.
Step 3
Print Worksheet 2. Contact Recording Form.
Make the call! Keep in mind that it may take several attempts before you reach someone who will be able to answer your questions. Document everything you learn about the agency's data.
Once you have completed these steps, consider the questions below. If you are an active participant, please go to the Discussion Area to share your thoughts. If you are an auditor, please read the discussion and post any questions you may have to the designated Q&A Board.
What criteria did you use to select your first contact?
The table that appears on your screen is intended for online viewing. To print this document, please choose either the RTF or PDF file below. A RTF file will open in Microsoft Word. If you choose this option, you will be able to type information directly into the table. A PDF file will open in Adobe Acrobat Reader and can be printed, but not manipulated.
Worksheet 1: Inventory of Local Data Sources.rtf
Worksheet 1: Inventory of Local Data Sources.pdf
| Name of Agency/ Institution | Address | Phone Number | Possible Contacts | Indicators of Interest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
The form that appears on your screen is intended for online viewing. To print this document, please choose either the RTF or PDF file below. A RTF file will open in Microsoft Word. If you choose this option, you will be able to type information directly onto the form. A PDF file will open in Adobe Acrobat Reader and can be printed, but not manipulated.
Worksheet 2: Contact Recording Form.rtf
Worksheet 2: Contact Recording Form.pdf
Here is an example of how a completed form might look:
Agency Name and Address:
Newton Middle School
65 Southwick Road
Newton, MA 02465
Staff Contact(s):
| Name: | Rose Adler (secretary) | Phone number: | (617) 847-9106 |
| Name: | Dave Dietrich (vice principal) | Phone number: | (617) 847-9106 x04 |
Indicator(s) of interest:
attendance records
suspensions
reported incidents of bullying and violence
| Call 1 | To Rose | Date: | 10/16/01 |
Summary:
Introduced myself and project. Explained what we were doing, what kind of information we needed, and what we were going to do with it. Rose suggested that I put everything in writing and send it to the vice principal (ccing herself and principal).
Follow-up steps:
Call vice principal to introduce myself, etc. Let him know that memo is on its way.
| Call 2 | To Dave Dietrich (vice principal) | Date: | 10/23/01 |
Summary:
He got memo, but hadn't read it. We went through it on the phone. He said it sounds good, but wants to set up a meeting with principal (and me) before he ok's release of anything. I volunteered to set up meeting -- otherwise afraid it might get lost in the shuffle.
Follow-up steps:
Call Rose to schedule meeting.
| Call 3 | Rose | Date: | 10/23/01 |
Summary:
Scheduled meeting for Monday, 10/27 at 10:15. She thought I'd get about 15 minutes.
Follow-up steps:
Come up with 3-4 reasons why school will benefit from sharing this info. Be prepared to let them know where else we're going for data.
Wayne is the founder and director of projects for Social Science Research & Evaluation, Inc., in Burlington, Mass. and a member of the core training team for the National Training Center for Middle School Drug Prevention and School Safety Coordinators. He is also a faculty member of the Division on Addictions at Harvard Medical School and a Lecturer on Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School at the Department of Psychiatry, The Cambridge Hospital. Over the past 25 years, Wayne has been a principal and co-principal investigator on grants and/or contracts from local and state agencies, foundations, and such federal agencies as the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (NIAA), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and National Institute on Mental Health.
Wayne has worked intensively with school districts across New England on issues of assessment. His research interests include alcohol and drug abuse prevention, patterns of substance use, managed care and prevention, and highway safety. His recent research includes evaluations of five Centers for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP), Mass. Community Partnership Projects; a NIAAA-funded Designated Driver and Safe Ride Program in Maryland, and the CSAP-funded Northeast Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies.
Scott has extensive experience in designing, administering, and managing multiple survey research projects. Recent projects include evaluation of the Massachusetts Collaborative for Action, Leadership, and Learning, a CSAP state incentive grant for substance abuse prevention; the Providence Safe Communities Partnership, a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration partnership; CASPAR Residential Student Assistance Program, a CSAP Community-Initiated Prevention Intervention project; and the National Training and Technical Assistance Center for Middle School Drug Prevention and School Safety Coordinators.
During her five years at EDC, Melanie has created numerous print and online materials. She has written extensively on school health and training issues, and has developed several tools designed to help schools and other prevention practitioners translate research into practice. Before joining the MSC staff, Melanie contributed to the conceptualization and writing of a resource guide funded by the U.S. Department of Education to help school personnel apply the Principles of Effectiveness. She also co-directed the development of a website to support the adoption and implementation of science-based HIV and AIDS prevention interventions.
Dana brings to the position of materials developer extensive experience working in a variety of school and community settings. Trained in youth development and prevention science, she has directed weekly youth programs; provided health education to primary grade students; collaboratively developed and administered health screenings at a school-based health center; participated in the evaluation of a street outreach program; and researched factors that influence the adoption of HIV prevention technology among community-based organizations. Prior to her arrival at EDC, she worked with the Collaborative to Advance Social and Emotional Learning on a large-scale review of school-based health promotion and risk prevention programs.
Mat is responsible for attending to the many details that keep the Training Center running smoothly. In addition to supporting online activities and responding to coordinators' inquiries, Mat maintains the MSC website and database, assists with the design and preparation of informational and training materials, and coordinates travel logistics for project staff.
Compiling Your Needs Assessment Findings: Tools A and B
Tool C: Developing Criteria and Setting Prevention Priorities
Annotated Bibliography
Links
Compiling Your Needs Assessment Findings: Tools A and B
Tool C. Developing Criteria and Setting Prevention Priorities
To print this document, please choose either the RTF or PDF file below. A RTF file will open in Microsoft Word. If you choose this option, you will be able to type information directly into the tables as you revise or fill in the tools that are provided. A PDF file will open in Adobe Acrobat Reader and can be printed, but not manipulated.
Tools A&B: Compiling Your Needs Assessment Findings.rtf
Tools A&B: Compiling Your Needs Assessment Findings.pdf
The form that appears on your screen is intended for online viewing. To print this document, please choose either the RTF or PDF file below. A RTF file will open in Microsoft Word. If you choose this option, you will be able to type information directly onto the form. A PDF file will open in Adobe Acrobat Reader and can be printed, but not manipulated.
Tool C:Developing Criteria and Setting Prevention Priorities.rtf
Tool C:Developing Criteria and Setting Prevention Priorities.pdf
What are your top three criteria for prioritizing the problems identified by your needs assessment?
(Example) Frequency of the problem
What are the most compelling findings from your needs assessment?
(Example) Kids seem to think that fighting is an acceptable way to solve problems. Over half of 7th graders thought it was ok to fight in certain situations.
Look at your list of findings and select the issue that you want to work on first. Think about how you can state this issue so that you mobilize public support for prevention efforts. Then summarize that issue below.
(Example) Student attitudes favorable to interpersonal aggression are relatively high; last year more than 50 percent of seventh graders reported believing that fighting is warranted in some situations.
This bibliography includes selected documents MSCs can access to obtain additional information about needs assessment and a range of social research methods.
Assessing Community Needs and Resources (2000). University of Kansas Work Group on Health Promotion and Community Development and AHEC/Community Partners in Amherst, Massachusetts. Available online at http://ctb.ukans.edu/tools/EN/chapter_1003.htm.
The Community ToolBox website provides myriad "how-to tools" designed to help practitioners with the different tasks necessary for community health and development. There are sections on leadership, strategic planning, community assessment, advocacy, grant writing, and evaluation. This chapter, which is part of a larger overview (Community Assessment, Agenda Setting, and Choice of Broad Strategies), includes information on assessment planning; analyzing community problems; conducting focus groups, interviews, and surveys; and leading a community dialogue.
Carmona, M. C., Stewart, K., Gottfredson, D. C., and Gottfredson, G. D. (1998). A Guide for Evaluating Prevention Effectiveness, CSAP Technical Report. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. E-mail info@health.org to order (Publication No. PHD764).
This guide provides practitioners with basic evaluation concepts and tools. It describes commonly used research designs and their strengths and weaknesses, as well as qualitative and quantitative data collection methods used in process and outcome evaluations. Data analysis issues are also discussed.
Dahlberg, L. L., Toal, S. B., and Behrens, C. B. (1998). Measuring Violence-Related Attitudes, Beliefs, and Behaviors Among Youths: A Compendium of Assessment Tools. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Available online at http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/pub-res/measure.htm.
This compendium provides information about the importance of outcome evaluations, and guidance on how to conduct such evaluations, along with a set of more than 100 tools that can be used to evaluate programs designed to prevent youth violence. The measures included in this compendium, which are primarily intended for use with youth between the ages of 11 and 20, fall into four categories: attitude and belief assessments, psychosocial and cognitive assessments, behavior assessments, and environmental assessments. This is not an exhaustive list of available measures and should be used carefully since many assessments are not included, new measurement tools are being developed, and existing tools must be improved.
Dawkins, C., Larson, M. J., Buckley, J., and Gabriel, R. M. (1997). How Do We Know We Are Making a Difference? A Community Substance Abuse Indicators Handbook. Boston, MA: Join Together, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston University; and Institute for Health Policy, Heller School, Brandeis University. Available online at http://www.jointogether.org/sa/.
This handbook is designed to help community coalitions and other groups develop indicators that describe the scope and nature of local substance abuse problems. It provides basic information on twenty different substance abuse indicators, outlines some important use and interpretation issues, and contains state and local directories and data references.
Getting to Outcomes: Assess Needs (Spring, 2000). Rockville, MD: U.S. SAMHSA/CSAP's National Center for the Advancement of Prevention and Centers for the Application of Prevention Technologies. Available online at http://www.preventiondss.org/.
This training guide offers an eight-step process for conducting a needs assessment: (1) Determine the Problem, (2) Build Your Team, (3) Assess Risk and Protective Factors, (4) Select Indicators, (5) Collect the Data, (6) Go the Extra Mile, (7) Analyze and Report the Data, and (8) Do It All Over Again.
Gruenewald, P. J., Treno, A. J., Taff, G., and Klitzner, P. J. (1997). Measuring Community Indicators: A Systems Approach to Drug and Alcohol Problems. Applied Social Research Methods (45). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Available online at http://www.sagepub.com/.
This guide provides communities and researchers with analytic and practical tools for assessing their programs. The authors present a theoretical perspective -- developed from community systems theory -- as a basis for the practical strategies outlined in the book. They identify and evaluate a number of community indicators, present specific techniques for collecting community indicator data, and explore the advantages and disadvantages of doing so.
Hawkins, J. D. and Nederhood, B. (1987). Handbook for Evaluating Drug and Alcohol Prevention Programs: Staff/Team Evaluation of Prevention Programs (STEPP). Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, DHHS Publication No. (ADM) 87-1512.
Though written in 1987, this is still a powerful resource for parent groups needing to evaluate their programs. The handbook begins by answering such questions as, Why bother evaluating? Do we need experts? How do we begin? It goes on to explain various kinds of measurements and how to make use of what is learned from the evaluation process. Included are "Think Sheets," sample survey instruments, and an annotated bibliography.
Isaac, S. and Michael, W. B. (1983). Handbook in Research and Evaluation: A Collection of Principles, Methods, and Strategies Useful in Planning, Design, and Evaluation of Studies in Education and the Behavioral Sciences (Second Edition). San Diego, CA: EdLTS Publishers.
This book summarizes basic information on research and evaluation methods. It is intended to help practitioners choose the best technique for a particular study. The major topics discussed include planning evaluation and research studies, research design and methods, instrumentation and measurement, data analysis, and reporting a research study. In addition, many useful tables and worksheets are included.
Join Together, Boston University School of Public Health (1999). Beyond Anecdote: Using Local Indicators to Guide Your Community Strategy to Reduce Substance Abuse. 1999 Monthly Action Kit, Special 1999 Issue. Boston, MA: Join Together. Available online at http://www.jointogether.org/sa/files/pdf/surveykit.pdf.
This kit introduces readers to a variety of local substance abuse indicators and provides suggestions on how to measure them. Drawing on responses from Join Together's 1998 Survey of Communities, it presents examples of how communities across the nation are using indicators to assess their efforts to reduce substance abuse.
Kozel, N. J. and Sloboda, Z. (1998). Assessing Drug Abuse Within and Across Communities: Community Epidemiology Surveillance Networks on Drug Abuse. Rockville, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH Publication No. 98-3614. Available online at http://www.nida.nih.gov/DEPR/Assessing/Guideindex.html.
This guidebook is meant to help practitioners at the local, regional, and state levels assess drug use patterns and trends using indicator data. The types of data sources discussed include treatment data, medical examiner/coroner data, the Drug Abuse Warning Network, law enforcement data, national surveys, HIV/AIDS data, census data, and telephone hotline data. The guidebook includes references, a glossary, and appendices that identify or discuss data sources.
Maruyama, G. and Deno, S. (1992). Research in Educational Settings. Applied Social Research Methods (29). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Available online at http://www.sagepub.com/.
This book is intended to help prospective researchers think through important issues related to conducting research in schools. The discussion complements traditional research methods texts by focusing on the particulars of educational settings and providing strategies for overcoming practical problems researchers may encounter. This book addresses issues of design, sampling, and analysis; considerations for selecting measures; basic issues of implementation; and how to communicate findings.
McKillip, J. (1987). Need Analysis: Tools for the Human Services and Education. Applied Social Research Methods (10). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Available online at http://www.sagepub.com/.
This guide, designed for students and practicing professionals in the social sciences, offers a comprehensive overview of need analysis. The text describes how and why to identify needs, including the role of values in determining need; provides models and examples for evaluating needs; describes different types of social indicators; and explores different methods for collecting assessment information.
Miller, D. C. (1991). Handbook of Research Design and Social Measurement (Fifth Edition). Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, Inc: Available online at http://www.sagepub.com/.
This handbook provides procedures and guidance for three major types of research: basic, applied, and evaluation. Discussion topics include research design, data collection (documentary resources, questionnaires, and interviews), statistical analysis, and scales and indexes. This handbook also includes a detailed guide to existing data sources. Extensive bibliographies follow each major section of the guide.
Muraskin, L. D. (1993). Understanding Evaluation: The Way to Better Prevention Programs. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Publication #ED/OESE92-41. Available by calling (877) 433-7827.
This handbook was written for school and community agency staff to carry out required evaluations under the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act. The premise of the book is that many evaluations that use simple designs can be conducted without formal training in program evaluation. The author outlines checkpoints in the evaluation process where practitioners may want to consult with evaluation specialists. Topics discussed include evaluation design, data collection methods and instruments, interpreting and reporting findings, and the evaluation of a hypothetical prevention program.
Posner, M. (1996). Youth Violence: Locating and Using the Data. Newton, MA: Children's Safety Network, Education Development Center, Inc. Available online at https://secure.edc.org/publications/prodview.asp?706.
This comprehensive guide to data sources relevant to violence prevention discusses data collection, analysis, and interpretation; profiles the most important sources of youth violence data; describes programs that have created compelling portraits of youth violence in their communities; and recommends resources.
Witkind, B. R. and Altschuld, J. W. (1995). Planning and Conducting Needs Assessments: A Practical Guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Available online at http://www.sagepub.com/.
This hands-on guide for educators and prevention specialists addresses practical issues related to program planning and needs assessment. The book covers the basics of planning needs assessment and describes various methods, such as focus groups, strategic planning, and futuring techniques. It also includes many useful tools and examples.
State Departments of Public Health
http://www.cdc.gov/other.htm
To access this list, scroll down to "State and Local Health Departments"
on the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention's website.
State Departments of Education
http://www.ed.gov/Programs/bastmp/SEA.htm
This site, maintained by the Education Resources Organization Directory, contains addresses
and contact information for state education agencies across the United States.
State Juvenile Justice Resources
http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/resources/asp/search_states.asp
This site, maintained by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention,
can be searched by category (e.g., delinquency prevention or law enforcement) or by state.
State Police Departments
http://www.statetroopersdirectory.com/#Menu
These sites contain a wealth of information, including accident
and arrest reports.
State Liquor Control Boards
http://www.atf.treas.gov/alcohol/info/faq/subpages/lcb.htm
Many of these websites contain useful information related to
alcohol licensing and control, such as licensing criteria, commonly cited violations,
and current initiatives to prevent underage drinking.
Regional Offices of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/nhtsa/whatis/regions/Index.cfm?Fitting=No
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has ten regional offices that work on the agency's mission to save lives, prevent injuries, and reduce traffic related healthcare and other economic costs. Each regional office provides numerous services to its states, including technical assistance, promoting legislation, administering grant fund programs, and assisting in coalition building.
U.S. State and Local Gateway
http://www.statelocal.gov/index.html
This website was developed to give state and local government officials and employees easy access to federal information. Information is organized by topic (e.g., administrative management, families/children) and type (e.g., funding, technical assistance) with separate sections focusing on current issues and hot links.
State and Local Government on the Net
http://www.piperinfo.com/state/index.cfm
This site contains a frequently updated directory of links to government-sponsored and controlled resources on the Internet.
Drug Prevention and School Safety Resource Centers
Arizona Prevention Resource Center
http://www.asu.edu/aprc/
This resource center, comprised of nearly 200 volunteer prevention specialists statewide, provides technical assistance on a variety of prevention and health promotion issues through training, information dissemination, and program evaluation.
California Safe Schools and Violence Prevention Office
http://www.cde.ca.gov/spbranch/safety/
This site contains grant information, conference and training schedules, and links to an extensive list of online resources.
Center for Prevention Research
http://www.uky.edu/RGS/PreventionResearch/
This site, developed by the University of Kentucky Center for Prevention Research, contains the 1999 and 2001 Youth Risk Behavior Survey reports, information on the forthcoming survey, and the 2000 School Health Education Profiles.
Center for Substance Abuse Research
http://www.cesar.umd.edu/
Developed by the University of Maryland, this site includes a wealth of useful information on topics ranging from federal drug control policy to prevention and treatment.
Connecticut Clearninghouse
http://www.ctclearinghouse.org/
This statewide resource center provides information about alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs and related health and wellness issues.
Colorado Safe Communitities -- Safe Schools
http://www.colorado.edu/
UCB/Research/cspv/safeschools/index.html
The Safe Communities-Safe Schools Initiative launched by The Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV) at the University of Colorado provides information and technical assistance designed to help school communities in Colorado develop individualized safe school plans.
Florida Alcohol and Drug Abuse Association
http://www.fadaa.org/
The Florida Alcohol and Drug Abuse Association is a non-profit, membership organization representing 89 community-based substance abuse treatment and prevention agencies throughout Florida. Its primary goals are advocacy, professional development, communications, and information dissemination.
Florida Safe, Disciplined, and Drug-Free Schools
http://www.unf.edu/dept/fie/sdfs
The Safe, Disciplined and Drug Free Schools (SDDFS) Project provides support to the Florida Department of Education, schools, and school districts in the form of training, publications, and technical assistance.
Indiana Prevention Resource Center
http://www.drugs.indiana.edu/
Located at Indiana University, this center serves as a statewide clearinghouse for prevention technical assistance and information about alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs for the State of Indiana. It is Indiana's officially designated RADAR Network (Regional Alcohol and Drug Awareness Resource Network) State Center.
Indiana School Safety Specialist Academy
http://ideanet.doe.state.in.us/isssa/welcome.html
The Indiana Department of Education provides to every public and accredited non-public school district a certified training program for school safety specialists.
Iowa Substance Abuse Information Center
http://isaic.cedar-rapids.lib.ia.us/
The mission of the Iowa Substance Abuse Information Center & Clearinghouse (ISAIC) is to support education, prevention, and treatment efforts in Iowa, through timely access to accurate information, appropriate technology, and a well-trained staff. Their website contains several online databases.
Kentucky Center for School Safety
http://www.kysafeschools.org/
The Center for School Safety (CSS), operated by a consortium of three state universities (Eastern Kentucky University, University of Kentucky, and Murray State University), provides a clearinghouse of information and materials concerning school violence prevention, as well as technical assistance and program development to schools, justice/law enforcement agencies, and communities.
Maine Office of Substance Abuse
http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/osa/
This site contains information about substance abuse prevention (including the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act Program) and treatment, selected statistics, reports, and directories, and a calendar of upcoming events.
Massachusetts Regional Prevention Centers
http://www.state.ma.us/dph/mpc/prevctr.htm
Comprised of ten regional centers, this network offers consultation services, training, and education in the areas of public health and community development.
Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program QuitNet
http://www.quitnet.com/qn_main.jtml
This site contains quitting guides and tools, a national directory of smoking cessation programs, a pharmaceutical guide, daily tobacco news updates, and links to additional information.
Minnesota Prevention Resource Center
http://www.wearemrc.org/
This site contains an effective prevention programs database created by the Central CAPT.
Mississippi Department of Education, Office of Safe and Orderly Schools
http://www.emprc.org/index.html
This site contains information about the Mississippi Institute for School Safety Training, the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) Crisis/Disaster Response Team, comprehensive school safety, and the Mississippi Institute For School Safety Threat Assessment Protocol.
Missouri Center for Safe Schools
http://education.umkc.edu/safe-school/who/index.asp
Located at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, this center promotes safe and orderly schools by providing assistance in the identification of resources and by facilitating networking of schools across Missouri as they develop effective ways of dealing with violence and other safety related problems.
Nebraska Council to Prevent Alcohol and Drug Abuse
http://www.prevlink.org/
The Alcohol and Drug Information Clearinghouse provides information on issues relating to alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, including: an up-to-date collection of prevention resources; information on programs, publications, and referrals; networking; presentations and resource exhibits; and hundreds of complimentary resources printed in the English and Spanish.
New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services
http://www.oasas.state.ny.us/
The office is dedicated to serving the general public and the service provider community with news and information about alcoholism, substance abuse, and addiction services in New York State.
New York State Center for School Safety
http://www.mhric.org/scss/
The primary activities of this center include collaborating with state agencies to assist schools in creating safe learning environments, providing school safety resources, and assisting in the collection, assessment, and dissemination of successful school safety programs and strategies.
North Carolina Center for the Prevention of School Violence
http://www.ncsu.edu/cpsv/
The mission of the Center is to raise awareness about the seriousness of school violence and act as a resource of information, program assistance, and research about school violence prevention.
North Carolina Governor's Instititute on Alcohol and Substance Abuse, Inc.
http://www.governorsinstitute.org
This agency is dedicated to promoting health and well-being by fostering improved education, research, and communication among health care professionals and their communities regarding the impact of, response to, and prevention of alcohol and other drug use.
Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services
http://www.state.oh.us/ada/main.html
This department is dedicated to promoting, assisting in developing, and coordinating educational programs and research to prevent alcohol and drug addiction.
Ohio Prevention and Education Resource Center (OPERC)
http://www.uc.edu/operc/ (put in new link)
OPERC's mission is to serve as the state center for information, training, and technical assistance about the best practices for creating safe and drug-free schools and communities.
Ohio Safe Schools Center
http://www.uc.edu/safeschools/
The Ohio Safe Schools Center works cooperatively with state departments and organizations to localize information about best practices in comprehensive school safety planning to the district and building levels.
Oregon Partnership
http://www.orpartnership.org/
The Oregon Partnership provides and supports a variety of drug and alcohol prevention education and treatment referral services, including a HelpLine, resource library, and community tools.
Pennsylvania Center for Safe Schools
http://www.center-school.org/viol_prev/css/
This center seeks creative and effective solutions to problems that disrupt the educational process and affect school safety. Training, technical assistance, and a clearinghouse of video and print materials are available through the Center to help schools identify and implement effective programs and practices. The Center also maintains a database of resources available to assist school districts.
Pennsylvania Associate RADAR Network Centers
http://www.padohric.org/RADAR.HTM
Every State and Territory in the United States has one designated Regional Alcohol and Drug Awareness Resource (RADAR) Network Center. Pennsylvania has 38 associate centers that provide information about both local and national initiatives to combat substance abuse.
Project ADAPT: Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Team
http://web.missouri.edu/~adaptwww/
This site, created and maintained by the University of Missouri-Columbia, describes a variety of innovative substance abuse prevention programs.
Rutgers Center for Alcohol Studies
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~cas2/
This site contains an extensive collection of both online and print resources.
Tennessee School Safety Center
http://www.state.tn.us/education/tssc.htm
This center is dedicated to supporting schools and communities in their efforts to provide a safe and disciplined learning environment for Tennessee students. It assists school systems in developing school safety and emergency preparedness plans through training and technical assistance, and is in the process of developing a statewide data collection system that will monitor public, student and school personnel perceptions of fear or actual threats of violence in schools.
Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse
http://www.tcada.state.tx.us/
This commission is dedicated to ensuring that Texans have access to effective and efficient substance abuse services. Primary activities include monitoring drug trends in Texas, analyzing drug-related data, and conducting surveys related to substance abuse and gambling.
Texas School Safety Center
http://www.txssc.swt.edu/
The product of a collaborative effort of the Governor's Office, Criminal Justice Division, and Southwest Texas State University, this center provides statewide training and technical assistance to reduce youth violence and promote safety.
Virginia Center for School Safety
http://www.virginiaschoolsafety.com/
The Center, located at the Department of Criminal Justice Services, provides training and information regarding current school safety concerns for Virginia public school personnel; maintains and disseminates information on effective school safety initiatives; and collects, analyzes, and disseminates various Virginia school safety data, including school safety audit information, collected by the Department.
Washington Safe and Drug-free Schools
http://www.k12.wa.us/safedrugfree/
This site contains an extensive list of online resources, including a section on data, reserarch, evaluation, and best practices.
Washington State Substance Abuse Coalition (WSSAC)
http://www.halcyon.com/wssac/
This online clearinghouse provides information on issues relating to alcohol and other drugs. As the State's designated Regional Alcohol and Drug Awareness Resource (RADAR) Network Center, WSSAC also links local communities with clearinghouses and information centers worldwide.
Wisconsin Clearinghouse for Prevention Resources
http://www.uhs.wisc.edu/wch/
Located within the University Health Services at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, this clearinghouse offers prevention-related information, training, publications, and program models to non-profit, private and public sector organizations and educators throughout Wisconsin
Prevention Organizations with State Data
Connect for Kids State Pages
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1576/index.html
This multimedia project of the Benton Foundation features links to state-by state analyses of children and youth statistics and to a variety of additional sources of information about relevant state data.
State Data Resources from CSAP's Decision Support System
http://www.preventiondss.org
To access these resources, click on the "Assess Needs" link, then scroll down to "Links to Online Resources."
State Profiles from the National Centers for the Application of Prevention Technologies (CAPTs)
The primary mission of the CAPT system is to bring research to practice by assisting states, jurisdictions, and community-based organizations in the application of the latest research-based knowledge to their substance abuse prevention programs, practices, and policies. The CAPTs are divided into six regions. Each regional website includes profiles for the states in its region.
Western CAPT State Profiles
http://www.unr.edu/westcapt/akinfo.html
Includes AK, AZ, CA, HI, ID, ND, NV, OR, UT, WA, WY, American Samoa, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Marshall Islands, and Palau
Border CAPT State Profiles
http://www.usmbha.org/border.htm
Includes border areas of the United States and Mexico
Central CAPT State Profiles
http://www.ccapt.org/captmap.html
Includes ND, SD, MN, IA, WI, IL, IN, MI, OH, WV, and Red Lake Nation
Southwest CAPT State Profiles
http://www.swcapt.org/about.html
Includes CO, NE, NM, OK, TX, KS, MO, AR, and LA
Northeast CAPT State Profiles
http://www.northeastcapt.org/states/
Includes CT, DE, MD, ME, NH, NY, NJ, PA, RI, and VT
Southeast CAPT State Profiles
http://www.swcapt.org/about.html
Includes AL, DC, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, VI, and PR
National Education, Health, and Safety Data
Monitoring the Future
http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/
Funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, this is an ongoing study of the behaviors, attitudes, and values of American secondary school students, college students, and young adults. Each year, a total of some 50,000 eighth, tenth and twelfth grade students are surveyed (twelfth graders since 1975, and eighth and tenth graders since 1991). Findings from the 1999 survey are summarized in Monitoring the Future: National Results on Adolescent Drug Use, Overview of Key Findings.
National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health)
http://www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth/
This school-based study of the health-related behaviors of adolescents in grades 7 -12 is funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and 17 other federal agencies. It has been designed to explore the causes of these behaviors, with an emphasis on the influence of social context. Finding from the study are included in the Capitol Hill briefing Protecting Adolescents from Risk.
Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS)
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dash/yrbs/index.htm
Developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in collaboration with federal, state, and private sector partners, this system provides information about the prevalence of risk behaviors among young people at the national, state, and local levels in order to more effectively target and improve health programs. Findings from the 1999 survey are summarized in Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance - United States, 1999. You can also obtain Youth99, a free CD-ROM that provides access to six years of YRBSS summary data.
Fast Response Survey System: Principal/School Disciplinarian Survey on School Violence
http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/frss/
This survey collects and reports data on key education issues at the elementary and secondary level. It was designed to meet the data needs of USED analysts, planners, and decision-makers when information could not be quickly collected through traditional surveys from the National Center for Education Statistics. Findings from the Principal/School Disciplinarian Survey on School Violence are summarized in Violence and Discipline Problems in U.S. Public Schools: 1996-97.
School-Associated Violence Death Study
This study, conducted by the CDC in conjunction with the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice, seeks to estimate the rate, describe the epidemiology, and identify potential risk factors and common features of school-associated violent deaths in the United States. For more information, contact Mark Anderson at the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (phone: [404] 488-4762; e-mail: mea6@cdc.gov).
School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey
This survey was co-designed by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and the Bureau of Justice Statistics to collect additional information about school-related victimization to inform decision-making by policy-makers, academic researchers, and practitioners. For information, contact Kathryn Chandler at NCES (phone: [202] 502-7326; e-mail:
Kathryn_Chandler@ed.gov).
National Crime Victimization Survey
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cvict.htm
Administered for the Bureau of Justice Statistics by the Bureau of the Census, this survey is the nation's primary source of information on the frequency, characteristics, and consequences of criminal victimization, including crimes both reported and not reported to the police.
National Household Education Survey
http://nces.ed.gov/nhes/
Developed by the National Center for Education Statistics, this survey addresses a wide range of education-related issues. It provides descriptive data on the educational activities of the U.S. population and offers policy-makers, researchers, and educators a variety of statistics on the condition of education in the United States. In 1993, the study focused on school safety and discipline.
National Household Survey on Drug Abuse
http://www.health.org/govstudy/bkd376/
Developed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, this is the nation's primary source of information on the prevalence, patterns, and consequences of drug and alcohol use and abuse in the United States. Findings from the 1999 survey are summarized in Full Report: 1999 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse.
U.S. Census
www.census.gov
The U.S. Census collects national, state, and local data that documents population, race/ethnicity, age, income, education, number of children, etc.
Additional Reports of National Education, Health, and Safety Data
America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2000
http://www.childstats.gov/ac2000/ac00.asp
This is the fourth annual report prepared by the Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics on the condition of children in the United States. Included are eight contextual measures that describe the changing population, family characteristics, and context in which children are living and 23 indicators of well-being in the areas of economic security, health, behavior and social environment, and education.
The DAWN Report of Club Drugs
http://www.samhsa.gov/oas/clubdrug.pdf
This report from the Drug Abuse Warning Network was prepared in response to request from the media, drug surveillance organizations, and the scientific community for information about and national estimates of drugs associated with dance clubs and "raves."
Encyclopedia of ED Stats
http://nces.ed.gov/edstats/
The Encyclopedia of ED Stats brings together data from several National Center for Education Statistics sources, including The Condition of Education, The Digest of Education Statistics, Projections of Education Statistics, and Youth Indicators.
Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2000
http://www.nces.ed.gov/pubs2001/crime2000/
This report, the third in a series of annual reports on school crime and safety from the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the National Center for Education Statistics, presents the latest available data on school crime and student safety. It synthesizes information from a variety of independent data sources from federal departments and agencies, including the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Center for Education Statistics, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Trends in the Well-Being of America's Children and Youth, 1999
http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/99trends/index.htm
This is the fourth edition of an annual report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on trends in the well-being of our nation's children and youth. The report presents recent and reliable estimates on more than 90 indicators of well-being. It is intended to provide the policy community, the media, and all interested citizens with an accessible overview of data describing the condition of children in the United States.
Federal Data Collection/Reporting Agencies
Bureau of Justice Statistics
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/
The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is a component of the Office of Justice Programs in the U.S. Department of Justice and the United States' primary source for criminal justice statistics. BJS collects, analyzes, publishes, and disseminates information on crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government.
Childstats.gov: The Official Website of the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics
http://www.childstats.gov/
This site offers easy access to federal and state statistics and reports on children and their families, including: population and family characteristics, economic security, health, behavior and social environment, and education.
The Healthy People 2010 Database
http://198.246.96.90/hp2010/INDEX.HTM
Developed by staff of the division of Health Promotion Statistics of the National Center for Health Statistics, this interactive database system contains the most recent monitoring data for tracking Healthy People 2010. National and some State data are included for all the objectives and subgroups identified in the Healthy People 2010: Objectives for Improving Health.
Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reports
http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm
This site contains U.S. crime statistics compiled annually, as well as guidelines for data collection and analyses of potential methodological and reporting difficulties.
FedStats
http://www.fedstats.gov/
This site, which offers access to statistics collected and published by more than seventy Federal agencies, can be searched by both program/subject area and agency, and allows for profiling by state, county, Federal judicial district, or congressional district.
National Center for Education Statistics
http://nces.ed.gov/
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary entity for collecting and analyzing data that are related to education in the United States and other nations. An electronic catalog offers numerous search options and a Quick Tables and Figures tool provides tables and figures based on your search criteria.
National Center for Health Statistics
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/
The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) is a part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NCHS data systems include data on vital events as well as information on health status, lifestyle and exposure to unhealthy influences, the onset and diagnosis of illness and disability, and the use of health care. These data are used by policymakers in Congress and the Administration, by medical researchers, and by others in the health community
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/research/
The research and evaluation section of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) website contains information on a variety of projects and initiatives dealing with behaviors and attitudes in highway safety. Program efforts are focused on alcohol-impaired driving, drug-impaired driving, occupant protection (including child safety seats), speed and aggressive driving, pedestrian and bicyclist safety, motorcyclist safety, older driver safety, improving emergency medical services, drowsy driving, and new driver safety.
U.S. Census Bureau's American FactFinder
http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en
This site contains population, housing, economic, and geographic data and the federal, state, and county levels, including demographic profiles, tables, and rankings, comparisons, and summaries.
WISQARS (Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System)
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars/
WISQARS™ (pronounced "whiskers") is an interactive system that provides injury-related mortality data necessary for making informed public health decisions. The site contains Injury Mortality Reports, useful for determining injury deaths and death rates for specific external causes of injuries, as well as Leading Causes of Death Reports, useful for determining the number of injury-related deaths relative to the number of other leading causes of death in the United States or in individual states.
General Websites of Interest
Building a Successful Prevention Program
http://www.open.org/~westcapt/
This site, developed and maintained by the Western Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies (Western CAPT), offers a seven-step model for prevention that begins with Community Readiness and Mobilization and proceeds to Needs Assessment, Prioritizing, Resource Assessment, Targeting Efforts, Best Practices, and Evaluation.
CSAP's Decision Support System for Substance Abuse Prevention
http://www.preventiondss.org
This site also presents a seven-step model for prevention, based on CSAP's logic model for strategic planning, implementation and evaluation of prevention programs. The logic model is presented as a circular (recursive) process beginning at Assess Needs and progressing through Develop Capacity, Select Programs, Implement Programs, Evaluate Programs, Report Programs, and Get Technical Assistance and Training.
DIADS Assessment Drug Information and Decision Support
http://education.indiana.edu/cas/diads/diads.html
Developed by the Center for Adolescent Studies at Indiana University, this brief assessment tool is designed to help prevention planners develop and implement comprehensive programs that will work in their schools. By assessing what a school is currently doing to prevent drug abuse and levels of support for these activities, DIADS can determine a given program's chance of success.
Appropriateness: A term used to describe a data collection method that is sensitive to the language, development, and culture of your target population.
Community: A group of individuals who share cultural and social experiences within a common geographic or political jurisdiction.
Data: Information collected using specific research methods and instruments.
Data analysis: The process of examining systematically collected information.
Generalizability: The extent to which program findings/principles/models can be applied to other settings and populations.
Human subject: A living individual about whom an investigator (whether professional or student) conducting research obtains (1) data through an intervention or interaction with the individual or (2) identifiable private information.
Instrument: A device researchers use to collect data in an organized fashion, such as a standardized survey or interview protocol.
Methodology: A procedure for collecting data.
Mortality: Death.
Needs assessment: A systematic set of procedures undertaken for the purpose of setting priorities, making decisions, and allocating resources. The priorities are based on identified needs -- gaps between "what is" (i.e., the present state of affairs in regard to the group or population of interest) and "what should be," (i.e., the desired state of affairs).
Protection of human subjects: Refers to data collection that adheres to ethical principles, regulations, and policies to protect the welfare of individuals participating in research activities.
Protective factor: An attitude, behavior, belief, situation, or action that is associated with reduced potential for substance use or violence. Examples: parental monitoring, school attachment, prosocial peer behavior, or neighborhood cohesion.
Relevance: The extent to which an assessment instrument asks questions that are central to the issues you seek to understand.
Reliability:The extent to which an assessment instrument produces the same or very similar results when it is administered to an individual two or more times (at relatively short intervals).
Research: A systematic investigation designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge.
Resource assessment: A systematic assessment of the available supports (e.g., people, programs, services, organizations) existing in a population or community that are relevant to reducing or preventing a problem.
Risk factor: An attitude, behavior, belief, situation, or action that may put an individual, group, organization, or community at risk for substance use or violence. Examples: low level of school attachment, delinquent peer culture, ineffective administrative leadership, or a family member with a substance abuse problem.
Target group/population: The group of people whom a specific program or intervention is designed to reach.
Utility: The extent to which research findings can be used to improve programming, explain program effects, or guide future studies.
Validity: The extent to which an instrument captures the concept or outcome that it was intended to measure. For example, to what extent does a measure designed by a researcher to capture self-esteem actually assess self-esteem? "Predictive validity" assesses the degree to which a particular measure can predict a future outcome. For example, does the aforementioned self-esteem measure predict drug use one year later?
Well-designed questionnaire: An instrument that asks direct and focused questions; avoids questions that are obvious, redundant, and leading (i.e., that imply the desired response); is valid and reliable; and has been pilot-tested.
Adapted from: Glossary of Prevention Terms (draft). Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, NASADAD/NPN Annual Meeting, June 2000.
Active participant: MSCs enrolled as active participants will be expected to log in at least once a day throughout the five-day duration of the event, review materials, participate in activities, contribute to the ongoing facilitated discussion with questions and comments, provide feedback on the event, and complete an online assessment.
Adobe Acrobat: A collection of programs developed by Adobe Systems, Inc., for creating and distributing electronic documents. These programs let you create and/or read a Portable Document Format (PDF) for your files, which preserves the document's layout. This is an advantage over other electronic formats, such as HTML, where the layout can vary depending on the software being used.
Asynchronous discussion: Two-way communication that occurs with a time delay, allowing participants to respond at their own convenience. An example of an asynchronous discussion is the Discussion Area used for these online events.
Auditor: MSCs enrolled as auditors will be expected to review materials, participate in activities, read through the facilitated discussion among Training Center staff and active participants, post questions to a designated Q&A Board, provide feedback on the event, and complete an online assessment.
Chat room: A "virtual" room where people have real-time (synchronous) communication with one another via computer. During a chat session, either user can enter text by typing on the keyboard; the entered text will then appear on the other user's monitor. Most networks and online services offer a chat feature.
Discussion Area: The section of this website where active participants can engage in asynchronous discussion.
Discussions: Online "conversations" that take place within central Discussion Areas of the WebBoard. Discussions appear on the left hand side of the screen. One or more discussion areas will be available to you during an event.
Internet access: One's ability to log on to the Internet. There are a variety of ways to do this. Most online services, such as America Online, offer access to some Internet services. It is also possible to gain access through a commercial Internet Service Provider.
Internet Service Provider (ISP): A company that provides direct Internet access via modem or high-speed connection. For a monthly fee, the ISP gives you a software package, user name, password, and access phone number. You can then log on to the Internet, browse the World Wide Web, and send and receive e-mail.
Link: In hypertext systems (i.e., the World Wide Web), a link provides a direct path from one document or Web page to another.
Logon: The steps you must take to gain access to a network. Most personal computers have no log-on procedure -- you just turn on the machine and begin working. For larger systems and networks, however, you usually need to enter a user name and password before the computer system will allow you to execute programs.
Modem: A device used to link computers via a phone line; "modem" is short for modulator-demodulator.
Online: An adjective meaning that you or your computer are connected to another computer via a modem. It can also mean that you have unspecified access to the Internet.
Online learning: The process of learning new skills and acquiring knowledge via the Internet, without needing to be physically present in the learning environment.
Online resource: Information that is located on the Internet.
Post: Sending a message to the Discussion Area of the WebBoard that begins or continues a thread of discussion. You must first select a Discussion before posting a new topic (or continuing an ongiong one).
Reply: A posting/message made in response to another posting/message, always threaded under an existing topic on the WebBoard. Replies appear indented beneath the messages to which they correspond.
Synchronous discussion: Interaction between two or more people that occurs at the same time, that is, with no appreciable delay between the end of one message and the beginning of another. Talking on the phone and participating in a chat session are examples of synchronous discussion.
Threaded discussion: In online discussions, threaded discussions include a series of messages that have been posted as replies to one another. A single forum or conference typically contains many threads covering different subjects. By reading each message in a thread, one after the other, you can see how the discussion evolved. You can also start a new thread by posting a message that is not a reply to an earlier message.
T1 communication: A high-speed network link that transmits data at 1.5 mbps (millions of bit per second). T1 lines transmit data almost 30 times faster than an ordinary phone line.
Topic: A specific thread of discussion within a Discussion Area of the WebBoard. Topics appear indented, under a Discussion.
URL: Short for "uniform resource locator," this is a website's specific Internet address.
Web: Short for the World Wide Web, this is a method of using the Internet to access information via a graphical user interface.
Web access: One's ability to log on to the Internet, an online service, or another network.
Web browser: A software application used to locate and display Web pages.
Web-based learning (workshop/training): The process of learning new skills and acquiring knowledge through the use of an educational site.
WebBoard: The brand of software we use for the MSC online events to help conduct both synchronous and asynchronous online discussions.
Web server: A computer that delivers (serves up) Web pages to your computer. Every Web server has an Internet Provider address and possibly a domain name. For example, if you enter the address (http://www.edc.org/msc) into your computer, this sends a request to the server whose domain name is (edc.org). The server then fetches the page named in directories as "msc" (the general MSC website) and sends the requested page to your browser.
Web service provider: See Internet Service Provider.
Website: Any collection of pages that is accessible on the Web, usually referring to a constellation of separate pages accessed through a main title/menu or home page. You can access a website by instructing the computer to find and connect to the site's specific Internet address, known as its "uniform resource locator" (URL).
Last Modified: 01/09/2009
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