UCI Gets Drug Abuse Training Grant : Project to Seek Ways to Integrate Curriculum Into School Day

UC Irvine’s office of teacher education has received a $230,000 grant to train Orange County educators to integrate a drug and alcohol abuse curriculum into the entire school day, campus officials said.

“A biology class might focus on the adverse effects of drugs on brain cells, or of alcohol on the liver,” said Joan Bissell, assistant director of teacher education. “The language arts curriculum unit might feature narrative and expository writing” on how to resist peer pressure and avoid drug use.

The federal Department of Education grant will go to developing the model training program, known as the Peer Assistance, Curriculum and Training or PACT, which is being designed by researchers and school administrators to improve drug abuse education in local public schools, and eventually, in schools nationwide.

Once the project has been evaluated, findings will be disseminated through the state Department of Education and the federal Regional Drug Abuse Prevention Resource Center.

Bissell said she will be working with one high school and at least one feeder elementary and intermediate school in both the Irvine and Newport-Mesa Unified school districts. Both districts have parent and community groups that are active in drug abuse efforts, which, she said, are “essential to have sustained and long-term effects.”

The Irvine district already has its own substance abuse programs, which will be incorporated into the PACT project, according to Nancy Richards, district program administrator.

“We are looking forward to the opportunity to develop” materials for fighting substance abuse, Richards said, to be “integrated into language arts and science classes.”

Another goal of PACT is to teach parents and students about laws prohibiting drug and alcohol abuse, she said, adding that drug prevention requires a “comprehensive approach, involving individual at a school site, parents and law enforcement representatives all working together.”