Substance Use Prevention SEL & Bullying Prevention

TGFV - Social Perspectives - Grade 8

Social Perspectives for Grade 8 supports students’ commitment to being positive role models in their schools and communities. Eighth graders demonstrate their self-efficacy and interpersonal skills in fun, interactive activities, games, and role-play so they can continue making healthy choices and building positive, healthy friendships with others.

Social Perspectives’ interactive learning design immerses the students in the learning to build their capacity to resolve conflict peacefully, avoid participating in unhealthy activities that have negative consequences, and build positive, healthy relationships with pro-social peers.

In “Cover Story,” students learn healthy approaches to resolving a conflict in order to negotiate which story makes the cover for their school newspaper. Once they share their story idea and offer supporting arguments to the editorial team, they work together to come up with a resolution. Students offer constructive “kicking tips” to Dave, a soccer star, that he can share with his friend, Kara, without offending her. The constructive criticism Dave offers Kara helps her improve her soccer game before she tries out for the team. In “Warning Message,” students distinguish healthy qualities from unhealthy ones and determine how to spot signs of abuse in the context of dating relationships.

Home Workouts and cross-curricular activities follow each lesson so students can practice and apply the concepts developed in each lesson at home and with their peers.

The Social Perspectives Grade 8 Curriculum Kit is available in two sizes.

  • Standard Curriculum Kit - for classrooms of up to 24 students. 
  • Large Curriculum Kit - for classrooms of up to 30 students. 

Additional Student Workbooks are sold separately. Scroll down the page to view replenishment products.


Implementation with Web-based Resources

Some of the curriculum resources in this Too Good program are hosted and disseminated through the Too Good Lesson Resource Center. Once you have purchased your curriculum kit, we will contact you to assist you in establishing your account in the Lesson Resource Center.

Schedule an Implementation Consultation

2019 Edition

$315.95

The Too Good toolkit includes everything you need to teach the lessons:

  • Teacher Manual
  • 30 Student Workbooks
  • Goal Setting Model Poster
  • Decision Making Poster and Accessories
  • Healthy Relationship Poster 
  • Grade 8 Role Play Script Set
  • Goal Setting Scramble
  • Spend or Save? Activity Cards and Boards
  • The Buddy System Activity Cards
  • What's the Deal? Activity Cards
  • Listen Up! Activity Cards
  • Game Pawns and One Die
  • Glue Dots

Curriculum Features include:

  • Ten 50-minute fully scripted, research-based lessons conveniently presented in a  spiral-bound book, making them easy to use and enjoyable to teach.
  • Comprehensive planner for each lesson with clearly-stated, measurable objectives, topic rationale, and allotted activity times.
  • Web-based Lesson Resource Pack with Activity Visual Displays, Activity Instructions, Home Workouts, and Evaluation Instruments in a downloadable for display or print format.
  • Parent component, “Home Workout: Exercises for Adults and Kids,” to extend prevention skills and messages into the home.
  • Looking for More? Each lesson includes cross-curricular lesson extenders with suggestions for infusion, recommended reading, and additional activities for reinforcing important concepts and skills.
  • Assessment materials to measure student outcomes and process outcomes including implementation effectiveness and fidelity of implementation as well as student knowledge, attitudes, and behavior.
  • Pre-delivery subject matter content review and lesson delivery guides to prepare instructors for more complex lesson topics
  • Logic Model including the program’s theory of change and the proven strategies incorporated into the lessons.
  • Strategies and methods to build family and school connections to reinforce the healthy social and emotional development of the students.

                                Lessons Brochure

Lessons Overview                      RTI / PBIS Alignment               Lessons Sample

Comprehensive Prevention Education

Social Perspectives is a universal violence prevention and character education program that promotes the development of the skills, attitudes, and behaviors consistent with positive, pro-social living to encourage healthy emotions management and actions, respect between peers, and self-awareness and social awareness to foster supportive and respectful learning environments.

Too Good offers developmentally appropriate curricula for Kindergarten through High School. Each grade level builds on previous levels developing the skills sequentially with engaging, age-appropriate lessons and activities.

Mitigates risk factors and builds protective factors

Too Good focuses on the risk factors and negative social norms that can be positively affected in the classroom: favorable attitudes toward substance use, violence, and other problem behaviors and friends who engage in problem behavior.

Too Good builds protection within the student by:

  • Providing opportunities for pro-social involvement
  • Establishing positive norms including healthy beliefs and clear standards
  • Promoting bonding to pro-social peers
  • Increasing self-efficacy and interpersonal skills

Strengths-Based Skills Development

Social Perspectives introduces and develops self-efficacy and interpersonal skills linked with healthy development and academic success to promote self-awareness and social awareness:

  • Setting Reachable Goals
  • Making Responsible Decisions
  • Identifying and Managing Emotions
  • Communicating Effectively
  • Bonding with Prosocial Peers

Additional skills development and application concepts built into the course to promote positive social development and pro-social peer bonding include:

  • Conflict Resolution
  • Anger Management
  • Respect for Self and Others
  • Identifying and Managing Bullying Situations
  • Problem Solving

Develops Core Character Traits

Social Perspectives promotes character development by strengthening nine character traits:

  • Caring
  • Cooperation
  • Courage
  • Fairness
  • Honesty
  • Respect
  • Responsibility
  • Self-discipline
  • Integrity

 

Understanding the Logic Model

The Mendez Foundation developed Logic Models for Too Good to map out the Theory of Change and demonstrate graphically the assumptions that drive Too Good. The logic model communicates an "if-then" message of what changes the program intends to produce. It helps to make the connections among the target group, goals, strategies, objectives and planned program results and lays out what the program is expected to achieve and how it is expected to work.

TGFV Logic Model

 

Research Design

Each of the Too Good evaluation studies were conducted by third-party researchers and used randomized treatment-control group designs (pre-test/post-test, 20-week post-test, or one-year follow-up). The Researchers examined pre-test equivalence between treatment and control groups; potential bias of loss of student data over time; quality of program implementation; and estimates of reliability and validity of assessment tools.

The award-winning Too Good programs have undergone rigorous, independent evaluation studies to measure their effects on students' skills, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors. Studies have been published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at national evaluation conferences. These studies demonstrate the effectiveness of Too Good.

2001 Research Report


2001 Summary     2001 Full Report 

2003 Research Report


2003 Summary     2003 Full Report 

2005 Research Report


2005 Summary     2005 Full Report 

Organization/AgencyTGFD K-8TGFV K-8TGFD&V High School
What Works Clearinghouse: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education SciencePositive effects on behavior
View Report
Positive effect on behavior & knowledge, attitudes & values
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Positive effect on behavior & knowledge, attitudes & values
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CASEL: Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional LearningNot Yet RatedElementary SELect Program
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Not Yet Rated
NREPP: National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs & PracticesReviewed evaluation
View Report
Reviewed evaluation
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Reviewed evaluation
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CEBC: California Evidence Based Clearinghouse for Child WelfareTGFD Grade 6 
Scientific Rating 2 - Supported by Evidence
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Not Yet RatedNot Yet Rated
OJJDP: Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency PreventionPromising program
View Report
Exemplary program
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Exemplary program
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Promising Practices Network: Programs that WorkScreened program
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Screened program
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Screened program
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SAMHSA: Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration Model programModel programModel program

Awards

Too Good programs have earned recognition and acclaim for their impact in promoting safer and healthy youth and communities. 

  • Florida Alcohol and Drug Abuse Association's (FADAA) Best Practices Award
  • The American Medical Association's National Congress on Adolescent Health
  • The President's Child Safety Partnership
  • Southeast Regional Center for Drug-Free Schools and Communities Shining Star Award
  • Our programs received a high rating in "Drug Strategies"

Other Recognition

Recognition for Too Good for Drugs™ in Drug Strategies "Making the Grade": "Some very strong elements in this very detailed, 10 session per year curriculum. Provides developmentally appropriate information about alcohol, tobacco and marijuana. Normative education activities creative and compelling, new ideas for games. Includes no-use pledge."

Recognition for Too Good for Violence in Drug Strategies "Safe Schools, Safe Students": "A delightful package of materials (that) complements this highly interactive 4-9 session program. Strongly focused on critical skill areas. Extremely detailed instructions for teachers. Very complete."

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