Prevention That Works!

Despite the growing availability of information on effective drug and violence prevention programmes, schools continue to use programmes that have not been proven effective. Some are using model programmes, but have changed the content or design enough so that the features that made them effective are gone. Or worse, they continue to use programmes that have been proven ineffective simply because that is what is easiest, or most familiar.The school shootings over the last few years are solid reminders that schools can no longer do just anything and call it adequate prevention. It is more critical than ever to learn from the examination of previous prevention efforts and not make the same mistakes a second time in this new arena of violence prevention.