Press Releases
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 30, 2008
Media inquiries:
Sheri Simonsen
206.438.6413
ssimonsen@cfchildren.org
New Prevention Program Helps Educators Juggle Middle School Challenges
SEATTLE, WA – Perhaps it’s the rapid biological and social changes middle school students are undergoing, or the wish for more autonomy as they shift into a new environment. Whatever the reason, researchers have concluded that middle school students are vulnerable to problem behaviors, including substance abuse, bullying, and violence.
At the same time, middle school educators are trying to meet demands for greater school success for these adolescents. They have had to employ several separate programs to address these multiple issues. Now, a new program is available that teaches middle school students skills that promote school success and help prevent bullying, substance abuse, and violence.
SECOND STEP: Student Success Through Prevention, created by Committee for Children (CfC), is based on research that links lack of communication and social skills with many problem behaviors for middle-school-aged children, such as substance use and interpersonal violence. These problem behaviors are increasingly prevalent challenges for young people as they enter adolescence, researchers have found.
The program is a complete revision of the award-winning SECOND STEP: A Violence Prevention Curriculum for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. Taught in thousands of schools in 14 countries, the SECOND STEP curriculum has been helping children from preschool through eighth grade learn and practice such important skills as empathy, impulse control, anger management, and problem solving for nearly 20 years.
The new program is the result of collaboration between several nationally known experts who worked closely with CfC to identify critical issues middle school students face today and ensure that the new curriculum addresses the most up-to-date content in areas such as substance abuse, brain research, and cyber bullying.
Middle school educators’ feedback also helped CfC strengthen the program’s teaching strategies, multimodal approach, strong family involvement elements, and pacing. Focus groups and pilot tests were conducted during the two-and-a half-year development process.
"The students really responded favorably to the new program," says Monica Stein, a seventh-grade teacher at St. Francis of Assisi School in Burien, WA, who participated in the program pilot. "They looked forward to it. Like, 'Oh, good. Are we gonna do SECOND STEP today?'…I never had trouble keeping class order during the lessons."
Zoe Pilgrim, an eighth-grade special education teacher at Seattle’s Eckstein Middle School who also piloted the program, concurs: "My students’ behavior and their interactions with each other just became more positive as the year went on. And they were made aware of bullying…I heard students standing up for certain students in the hall."
Pilgrim also noticed a major "side benefit" from teaching the program: "You get to learn so much more about your students, and that helps in all academic areas…their likes and dislikes and personalities…I just think that makes me a better teacher because then I can tailor my curriculum to what they really need."
The program’s inclusion of bullying, substance abuse prevention, and school success responds to the developmental issues and challenges facing middle school students as identified by researchers. "Educators are concerned with the growing prevalence of aggression and bullying at the middle school level. There is also a clear need to address substance abuse at this age," says Bridgid Normand, who led the development team.
"At the same time, schools are being judged on the basis of student test results. The bad news has been that in today’s school climate it is hard for schools to find the time to address these problem behaviors when they are so focused on academic achievement. The good news is that research shows that schools don’t need to choose between preventing problem behaviors and promoting school success," she adds.
Normand explained that over recent decades, researchers have successfully identified factors in multiple areas of children’s lives that either increase the risk of problems or support healthy development. Researchers at the University of Washington have organized these factors into what is referred to as the "risk and protective factors framework."
"The big discovery was that many of the same risk and protective factors predict many problematic behaviors other than substance use," Normand says. "For example, social and emotional skills are a common protective factor that both help prevent these problem behaviors and help promote school success."
By teaching core social and emotional skills, the new middle school SECOND STEP program is able to address both a student’s ability to succeed in the classroom and to avoid substance abuse, violence, and bullying.
"The research is very clear that the factors affecting social, academic, and developmental success are intertwined," says Joan Duffell, Executive Director of CfC. "This new program addresses those factors and eliminates the need for multiple initiatives to accomplish the same things."
SECOND STEP: Student Success Through Prevention is presented in 45- to 50-minute lessons. Each lesson can be taught in two 25-minute segments. Interactive teaching strategies include individual, group, and class activities. A multimedia DVD accompanies each grade level and colorful posters illustrate core skills. As with other CfC programs, families are encouraged to become involved in the program through an overview DVD, teacher communication, and homework assignments.
"I wish that it was an actual required course," Pilgrim says. "I feel it would really benefit everyone, especially before they go on to high school."
Learn more about the program and watch video previews.
Committee for Children, a Seattle, WA-based nonprofit, is dedicated to fostering the social and emotional development, safety, and well-being of children through education and advocacy. The organization’s evidence-based programs reach 7 million children in 25,000 schools around the world.
