Abstract
Little is known about the trajectories over time of classroom teachers’ fidelity to drug prevention curricula. Using the “Concerns-Based Adoption Model” (C-BAM) as a theoretical framework, we hypothesized that teachers’ fidelity would improve with repetition. Participants comprised 23 middle school teachers who videotaped their administration of three entire iterations of the All Stars curriculum. Investigators coded two key curriculum lessons, specifically assessing the proportion of activities of each lesson teachers attempted and whether they omitted, added, or changed prescribed content, or delivered it using new methods. Study findings provided only partial support for the C-BAM model. Considerable variability in teachers’ performance over time was noted, suggesting that their progression over time may be nonlinear and dynamic, and quite possibly a function of their classroom and school contexts. There was also evidence that, by their third iteration of All Stars, teachers tended to regress toward the baseline mean. That is, the implementation quality of those that started out with high levels of fidelity tended to degrade, while those that started out with very low fidelity to the curriculum tended to improve. Study findings suggest the need for ongoing training and technical assistance, as well as “just in time” messages delivered electronically; but it is also possible that some prevention curricula may impose unrealistic expectations or burdens on teachers’ abilities and classroom time.
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Acknowledgement for Research Support
This study was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Grant # 5 R01 DA016098, “Promoting Fidelity Using Remote and Onsite Support.” We thank our coders, Dana Bishop, Bianca Briola, Sara Massie, and Kia Thacker for their painstaking and detailed observations of teachers’ curriculum delivery and dedication to the project. We are also indebted to Dr. Inez Drummond of Chicago Public Schools for her support, and to all the teachers who collaborated with us on this study.
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Ringwalt, C.L., Pankratz, M.M., Jackson-Newsom, J. et al. Three-Year Trajectory of Teachers’ Fidelity to a Drug Prevention Curriculum. Prev Sci 11, 67–76 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-009-0150-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-009-0150-0