Jackson County Program Evaluation Project Year 3, Report 1.pdf

INTRODUCTIONBackgroundIn May 2008, the Maquoketa School District, in partnership with the Andrew, Bellevue,and Preston School Districts, was awarded a three year Grant to Reduce Alcohol Abusefrom the Department of Education. The purpose of this grant is to reduce alcohol useand abuse among secondary school students. Other partners in the grant are: TheArea Substance Abuse Council (ASAC), to provide substance abuse prevention programimplementation, technical assistance and substance abuse counseling; and the IowaConsortium for Substance Abuse Research and Evaluation (Consortium), to conduct theproject evaluation.The Consortium conducts an outcome and process evaluation of the American GothicRevisited – Jackson County Grant to Reduce Alcohol Abuse project. The outcomeevaluation provides information regarding student alcohol use and attitudes aboutalcohol use, collected from pre- and post-tests. The process evaluation analyzes thedevelopment and implementation of the project as well as the degree of achievement ofproject goals and objectives. Tracking sheets, interviews with key informants, and areview of community meeting minutes supply data for the process evaluation.The purpose of this report is to provide feedback to project implementers andstakeholders on the progress of the American Gothic Revisited – Jackson Countyproject. This report presents outcome and process data in relation to the project actionplan and degree of achievement of project goals. This report is intended to documentand analyze project activities in order to provide data that will assist project stakeholdersas they make decisions related to project implementation. This report presents resultsfrom July 1, 2008 through December 31, 2010.Project GoalsThere are nine goals for this project as set forth in the grant proposal. Goals 1 through 6relate to substance abuse prevention program outcomes, Goals 7 and 8 are processgoals, and Goal 9 is a substance abuse counseling goal. Preliminary data for each goalare included in this report. These goals include:1. A 50% reduction in the anticipated year-to-year increase in the percentage ofparticipating students who report alcohol consumption in the past 30-day period;2. A 50% reduction in the anticipated year-to-year increase in the percentage ofparticipating students who report binge drinking in the past 30-day period;3. No change or an increase in the percentage of participating students whodisapprove of alcohol use;4. A 50% increase in the anticipated year-to-year reduction in the percentage ofparticipating students who believe alcohol is harmful to their health;5. No change or an increase in the percentage of students reporting parentaldisapproval of alcohol use;6. A 25% reduction in the anticipated year-to-year increase in the percentage ofparticipating students who report that obtaining alcohol is easy or very easy;7. Demonstrate comprehensive alcohol prevention systems change in JacksonCounty;Jackson County GRAA Evaluation Report 1