D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education)

A Vital Mission… to Fulfill a Vision

The D.A.R.E. Mission

“Teaching students good decision-making skills to help them lead safe and healthy lives”

The D.A.R.E. Vision

“A world in which students everywhere are empowered to respect others and choose to lead lives free from violence, substance abuse, and other dangerous behaviors.”

 

 

This year millions of school children around the world will benefit from D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), the highly acclaimed program that gives kids the skills they need to avoid involvement in drugs, gangs, and violence.

D.A.R.E. is a police officer-led series of classroom lessons that teaches children from kindergarten through 12th grade how to resist peer pressure and live productive drug and violence-free lives.

D.A.R.E.’s keepin’ it REAL Elementary School curriculum continues a more than thirty year commitment to providing cutting edge instruction that helps prevent drug use by developing basic, core skills needed for safe and responsible choices…skills that extend well beyond drugs to healthy and mature choices in life.

 

The curriculum, designed based on the Socio-Emotional Learning Theory (SEL), identifies fundamental, basic skills and developmental processes needed for healthy development including:

• Self-awareness and management
• Responsible decision making
• Understanding others
• Relationship and communication skills
• Handling responsibilities and challenges

SEL theory teaches youth to control their impulses and think about risks and consequences resulting in more responsible choices. D.A.R.E. believes that if you can teach youth to make safe and responsible decisions, it will guide them to healthy choices, not only about drugs, but across all parts of their lives. As they grow to be responsible citizens, they will lead healthier and more productive drug-free lives.