D.A.R.E trains police officers to go into classrooms and teach kids about the dangers of drug abuse. Operating in 80 percent of all school districts in the U.S., it reaches 36 million children. The program has been widely criticized of late for being ineffective, didactic, and preachy. Based on negative evaluations of D.A.R.E. by outside groups, the Department of Education considered eliminating it entirely.

Merrill agrees that some of the criticism is justified, but says that overall, the program is well worth saving. "D.A.R.E. is the only centralized drug education program we have," he says. "It’s a great delivery system, reaching an enormous audience of kids. No one else is doing that. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is saying that rather than scrapping the system, let’s try to improve on what we already have."

Ilana Pinsky, PhD, research coordinator in the department of psychiatry at RWJMS, will oversee the structural evaluation."We’re studying how D.A.R.E is organized on a federal, state and local level and how well the new curriculum is disseminated throughout the U.S.," she says. "We plan to develop a description and organizational flow chart of the entire structure with respect to decision-making, training, funding and fidelity of program implementation."

Pinsky and Merrill will also prepare a profile of D.A.R.E. officers. "Most of them are college-educated and committed to education," says Merrill. "Many volunteer for D.A.R.E. and take their role in drug prevention very seriously."

The original D.A.R.E. curriculum targeted 5th and 6th graders, who are generally too young to abuse drugs, rather than middle school students, an age group that is making choices about drinking, experimenting with drugs, and other high-risk behaviors. It also lacked spontaneity, relying on lectures and scripted lessons. The new curriculum will include lessons for 7th, 8th, and 9th graders, and will be more interactive.

The new curriculum will be tested nationwide. "Generally, drug prevention programs are evaluated by the same people who created them," says Merrill. "D.A.R.E. is the only one to be studied by outsiders." The scrutiny will be extensive, involving 80 schools in six cities. Forty of the schools will use the new curriculum, while the other 40 will continue with the original one. Researchers from the University of Akron, recipient of the original $13.7 million grant, will then compare outcomes at the schools, including changes in students’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors.