Too Good for Drugs and Violence Social Perspectives High School is part of the comprehensive K-12 prevention education program. This dynamic course immerses students in the core social skill development they need to navigate the world they will enter after high school. The experiential learning design applies interactive games and activities to let the students try on and apply the skills and strategies that are best learned through first hand application.
Fifteen developmentally appropriate lessons feature topics of great interest to high school students including managing complex social situations, understanding the characteristics and norms related to dating relationships including the indicators of unhealthy and unsafe relationships, and safe use and appreciation of social media. A comprehensive set of lessons introduce and explore the negative health effects of the misuse and abuse of alcohol, nicotine, marijuana, opioids, stimulants, and prescription and OTC drugs.
Students also explore these skills to help them face the challenges they can foresee and the obstacles they can't as they work to reaching their goals.
Too Good prepares students with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes they need to make responsible decisions and resolve conflicts peacefully and build healthy relationships now and in the future.
Topics include:
Too Good for Violence - Social Perspectives High School focuses on and mitigates the risk factors that can be positively affected in the classroom: favorable attitudes toward aggression and other problem behaviors and friends who engage in problem behavior.
Too Good builds protection within the student by:
These social and emotional learning skills enhance success in the classroom and at home. These SEL skills promote self-awareness and social awareness and have been linked with school success and positive development:
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.
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.
| Organization/Agency | TGFD K-8 | TGFV K-8 | TGFD&V High School |
|---|---|---|---|
| What Works Clearinghouse: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Science | Positive effects on behavior View Report | Positive effect on behavior & knowledge, attitudes & values View Report | Positive effect on behavior & knowledge, attitudes & values View Report |
| CASEL: Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning | Not Yet Rated | Elementary SELect Program View Report | Not Yet Rated |
| NREPP: National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs & Practices | Reviewed evaluation View Report | Reviewed evaluation View Report | Reviewed evaluation View Report |
| CEBC: California Evidence Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare | TGFD Grade 6 Scientific Rating 2 - Supported by Evidence View Report | Not Yet Rated | Not Yet Rated |
| OJJDP: Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention | Promising program View Report | Exemplary program View Report | Exemplary program View Report |
| Promising Practices Network: Programs that Work | Screened program View Report | Screened program View Report | Screened program View Report |
| SAMHSA: Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration | Model program | Model program | Model program |
Too Good programs have earned recognition and acclaim for their impact in promoting safer and healthy youth and communities.
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."