DARE CALLED SHORT ON RESULTS.

Byline: Staff and Wire Services

WASHINGTON - The top three programs used by schools to keep students away from drugs are either ineffective or haven't been sufficiently tested, new research suggests.

In a study being published today in Health Education Research, a journal for educators, researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill say many schools are using popular programs such as DARE, Here's Looking at You 2000 and McGruff's Drug Prevention and Child Protection, which haven't shown the kind of results that schools should expect, despite years of use.

``It's not a very good use of taxpayer money,'' said Denise Hallfors, now a substance abuse prevention researcher at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, a nonprofit group. She was at the University of North Carolina when she conducted the research.

The study found that, in spite of a decade of efforts from the federal government to promote proven programs, many schools still use ``heavily marketed curricula that have not been evaluated, have been evaluated inadequately or have been shown to be ineffective in reducing substance abuse.''

The most popular, DARE, Drug Abuse Resistance Education, was created by police officers in Los Angeles in 1983 to teach children about the dangers of drugs. More than 50,000 officers have been trained nationwide and the program is being implemented in 80 percent of school districts. In response to criticism that its program is ineffective, DARE America is conducting a five-year study to evaluate a new curriculum.

Rona Bole, coordinator of health education programs for the Los Angeles Unified School District, disputed that DARE is ineffective in preventing substance abuse among children.

``Police officers see the results of what happens to people when they do drugs,'' she said. ``Kids tend to believe them more so than others.

``We have found that, especially at elementary school levels, even at our middle-school programs, students love to have DARE officers come in. They love the interaction. They learn a great deal.''

Bole said DARE is much more than persuading youngsters to avoid drugs; it is about helping them devise life skills.

``It helps build confidence in kids. It helps give them the skills they need to be able to face a situation when they are asked to do drugs,'' she said. ``It teaches them how to deal with violence and anger.''

Ruby-Ann Rudnick, principal of Normandie Elementary School in South Central, said the positive impacts DARE has had on her students cannot be measured by numbers.

``When the police affect the life of one child, they have done a great thing,'' she said. ``If they can keep one child off drugs and out of jail, it's worth the expense of the city of L.A. It's much cheaper than incarcerating a child as they become adults.''

Before the Los Angeles Police Commission cut the budget of the DARE program, Normandie used to have one DARE police officer spend a full day with students once a week.

Now only middle schools in the district have DARE programs.

``It's a tremendous loss,'' Rudnick lamented.

Hallfors' study, which polled 104 school districts in 11 states and the District of Columbia, showed that many schools are using research-based programs, but that they often don't train teachers adequately or don't use all the materials available. Only one in three school districts used the programs effectively, the study showed.

She also said federal funding for such programs - about $5 per child annually - isn't enough, because school districts should hire a full-time coordinator.

``If you're getting $4,000 a year, you're not able to hire that person,'' Hallfors said.

The survey included school districts from Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Jersey, South Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin.

Other researchers have found that illegal drug use among teenagers has remained level or decreased over the past several years.

A July survey showed that drug, alcohol and cigarette use among sixth- to 12th-graders dropped to the lowest level since 1994, partly because adults are warning students about drug use and encouraging kids to nurture other interests.