2021 COMBAT Funding: $75,000.00

In The Oak Grove Police Department's Own Words

Features of the DARE curriculum include: 

• 10 lessons delivered over a 10 week period 
• Lessons all run 40-45 minutes 
• Lessons promote interaction between students and teachers 
• Lessons feature fun activities that involve students in their own learning 
• Lessons offer students the opportunity act out the REAL Strategies of Refuse, Explain, Avoid, and Leave 
• Curriculum uses a series of videos produced by youth and based on students’ real stories as a key learning tool. 

Lessons: The DARE curriculum consists of 10 lessons designed to be taught in 40-45 minute segments. The lessons include a variety of teaching modalities aimed at encouraging student participation such as group work, role-plays, pair discussion and games. The lessons are designed to promote interaction among the students as well as between the students and the teacher, so that the students are involved in their own learning. 

Each lesson includes a lesson outline, an activity sheet with instructions, student worksheets for use in class and as homework, and notes to the teacher. Enjoyable activities are included to illustrate the skills and allow students to practice the REAL (Refuse, Explain, Avoid, and Leave) resistance strategies. 

Each lesson comprises a homework assignment and starting with Lesson 2, a review of the previous lesson's concepts. The students' performance on the homework worksheets helps them assess how well they are grasping the skills and knowledge taught in the class. Overhead slides, in-class worksheets, and materials written in Spanish are provided to supplement the learning.

The DARE Officer also extends the program's substance abuse resistance outreach by teaching the 7th grade DARE principles to reinforce the information that was provided in elementary school and supplements the 8th grade Health class by teaching a component called Truth About Drugs.

We address violence in the DARE curriculum. It is introduced in lesson 5, "Dealing with stressful situations". We talk about how violence is not the answer to stressful situations when you are feeling angry. We discuss positive ways to deal with stress.

We touch on it in lesson 6, "Basics of communication". We talk about how to not be demanding in your communication and not act in a hostile way towards others. It only provokes hostility and stops effective communication.

We talk about violence in lesson 8, "Bullying". We talk about how to recognize bullying, what to do if you are a victim of it, what to do if you witness it and how to help the person being bullied. We also talk about how to report bullying, and we stress that violence is not the answer.

Program elements in addition to the basic DARE curriculum: The Truth About Drugs.