Missouri

D.A.R.E.

Officer's

Association

D.A.R.E.’s curricula are effective, impactful, and developmentally age-specific for all grades, preK-2, 3rd and 4th grade, Elementary, Middle, and High School, and include supplemental enhancement lessons (prescription and over-the-counter drug abuse, internet safety, bullying and role models).

The key to effective delivery of school-based, curriculum-driven prevention programming is a comprehensive “system” dedicated to training those who will deliver the curricula.

Only officers who are carefully vetted by leadership in their community law enforcement agencies are sent to DOTs. They are further vetted by the mentors responsible for training new D.A.R.E. officers. Then, D.A.R.E. officers undergo a rigorous 80-hour training course conducted by mentors with a significant number of years of classroom experience as well as university-level educators in Colleges of Education.

When classroom teachers deliver a prevention curriculum, parents and others in the community think of them as “teachers” of a certain grade, or “teachers” of a certain topic, not as teachers of “prevention.” However, parents, school administrators, teachers, and members of the general community think of law enforcement officers as THE D.A.R.E. Officer who teaches drug prevention. The most common comment from parents received by researchers is: “The D.A.R.E. officer was always at our family dinner table on the days he/she was in our child’s classroom/school.”