Too Good for Violence 6-8 is a universal violence prevention, bully prevention, and character education program using social and emotional learning to develop skills for conflict resolution, anger management, and respect for self and others. In Middle School, students learn the negative consequences of aggressive behavior. Engaging, age-appropriate lessons develop personal and interpersonal skills such as, learning to respect others and celebrating their differences. Students also learn how to avoid and resolve conflict through effective communication, anger management, emotional self-awareness, and self-control.
Too Good for Violence teaches the following social and emotional learning skills, which research has linked with healthy development and academic success:
Too Good for Violence promotes character development by strengthening eight key character traits:
Too Good offers separate, developmentally appropriate curricula for each grade level in grades six through eight. Each grade level builds on the previous by continually developing skills and addressing common issues faced in middle school life, teaching students how to manage situations in a positive and healthy way.
Too Good uses skill development to mitigate the risks associated with problem behaviors including:
Too Good builds protection within the student by:
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.
2001 Summary 2001 Full Report 2003 Summary 2003 Full Report 2005 Summary 2005 Full Report
| Organization/Agency | TGFD | TGFV | TGFD&V |
|---|---|---|---|
| NREPP: National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs & Practices | Reviewed evaluation View Report | Reviewed evaluation View Report | Reviewed evaluation View Report |
| 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 |
| 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 |
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."