Citation

Felix ED, Furlong MJ, Sharkey J, Osher D. J. School Violence 2007; 6(2): 3-22.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1300/J202v06n02_02

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) Initiative is an ambitious and comprehensive prevention initiative to promote evidence-based practice to address school safety and the reduction of substance abuse. This article describes the history of the SS/HS initiative and the national evaluation efforts to monitor the success of the initiative. To gather an overview of program evaluation and dissemination strategies across sites, we conducted a survey of SS/HS sites. Results revealed that most sites used an external evaluator, usually from a private firm, and quasi-experimental designs, although there was variation. We also summarize the strategies, some key findings, and common themes across the evaluation articles in this special issue. Implications for future comprehensive evaluations are discussed.