1. "What is Right With You is
Greater Than What is Wrong With You"
We believe in focusing on what is right with a young
person rather than on what is wrong.
Resiliency research indicates
repeatedly that when adults interact positively
with young people, work on their strengths, build
on
what is going well, then not only are negative
behaviors decreased but positive behaviors
increase. Years of drug/alcohol, suicide, pregnancy,
and depression prevention have demonstrated that
the absence of the negative does not guarantee
the presence of the positive in young people. The
Developmental Asset Framework by Search
Institute 
itemizes
40 assets each young
person
needs to succeed. The work of Collaborative
for Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) provides
further evidence that focusing young people's social
and emotional learning, both their academics and behavior improve.
This
focus on the strengths
of young people is broadly termed "youth development."
2. Site-based Youth Development
The Anchorage School District has a long history of site based
decision making. Since its inception, Safe and Drug
Free Schools has mirrored this tradition. Each school
is eligible for a SDFS mini-grant, which ranges from
$2,500 to $7,000. During the 2002-2003 school year,
SDFS awarded over $240,000 in mini-grants.
A team of professional youth development specialists
are available to help each school develop an effective,
research- and outcome-based youth development
strategies. Schools apply for mini-grants on-line via
the ASD SDFS Data Port, a specifically designed web-program
that assists applicants
in identifying their grant's need assessment, goals,
objectives, activities, and evaluation outcomes.
The SDFS Data Port guarantees that each
school based effort adheres to The Principles
of Effectiveness.
Issued by the Department
of Education Safe and Drug Free Schools Program in
1998, the principles are designed to help all safe and drug free
schools become more
focused and accountable. All SDFS school-based
efforts comply with the principles of effectiveness.
Research and experience demonstrated that a single youth
development or prevention effort strategy does not
work for all young people. Students without serious
behavioral problems will respond to one kind of prevention
effort, while youth with chronic
problem behaviors will need more intense, specialized
assistance. ASD SDFS works with schools to assure
that youth development efforts
appropriately match the needs of the young people involved.
5. In Concert with Community Efforts
The ASD SDFS staff are actively involved in the efforts
of the Anchorage community to address youth development
and alcohol, drug and violence prevention. The ASD
Supervisor of Safe
and Drug Free Schools is a member of the Juvenile Justice
Working Group, a community coalition focused on juvenile
justice issues. The ASD Supervisor is also founding
member of the United
Way Anchorage
Youth Development Coalition and the Robert Wood Johnson Reclaiming
Futures Initiative. ASD
SDFS staff are regular members of several other community
task forces and boards. SDFS staff
annually participates in making
presentations at the Annual Prevention Symposium. ASD
SDFS helps sponsor the Prime
For Life intervention
program for first time alcohol/drug
abuse offenders in partnership with Akeela.
Inc., Volunteers
of America Alaska, MADD and
CBASS.
6. It’s The Relationship, Duh!
A maturing body of research (www.asbj.com/current/research.html,
www.wral.com/news/1393063/detail.html?use=print )
clearly indicates that a young person’s relationship
with adults at school is second only in importance
to adults at home in its inoculating power for
all high risk behavior. While a school cannot change
the home life of a young person, it can affect the
quality of the interactions between adult and young
people at school. The school climate and the young
person’s connections to adults directly influence whether
a young person develops pro-social behaviors or high
risk behaviors. The
ASD SDFS efforts seek to improve both the quality
and quantity of adult-student relationships, as well
as, to help create a more positive, caring school
climate for all.
