Can schools help curb the teen drinking epidemic? (Notebook: usable education information from schools, business, research and professional organizations).

Nearly one-third of high school students binge drink--or, in plain language, drink to get drunk--at least once per month. Teen Tipplers: America's Underage Drinking Epidemic, released by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, states that teen drinking is at epidemic levels and that adults often compound the problem.

The report, which took two years to complete, notes the erosion of any gender gap: ninth grade girls were just as likely to drink as boys were. Teens also are drinking at younger ages: 36 percent of 1999's high school graduates reported that they began drinking in the eighth grade. This compares to 27 percent in 1977.

While the report claims that underage drinkers account for 25 percent of the alcohol consumed in America, critics say that statistic should really be 11 percent. The report's authors base this on findings from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

The report urges adults to see teen drinking as a problem that can lead to further substance dependence, unprotected sexual activity and other health problems, instead of an innocent rite of passage.

Along with including guidelines for students and parents, the report includes a checklist for educators:

* Professionals should be called in to train administrators, teachers, coaches, counselors, nurses and other staff to spot the signs of alcohol use.

* Administrators must enforce a no-use policy that is applicable from the early grades through 12th grade. "Intensify these messages at the transitions from elementary to middle school and from middle to high school, when students are at increased risk for alcohol and other substance abuse," the report advises. These messages should not only be part of specific alcohol abuse problems, but part of general health and academic curricula.

* Promote common sense policies: prohibit the sale of alcohol at school sponsored events; set consequences for students who break the rules; arrange for students suspected of alcohol use to be tested and counseled accordingly.

The researchers also note that few school-based alcohol and substance abuse prevention programs have been very effective to date. "These programs fail to target the full range of risks for alcohol and other substance abuse faced by students today," they say. The few that are effective, target all aspects of a teen's life: family, peers, the larger community. Most school programs, as well, have focused on illegal drug-use instead of alcohol.

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