CASASTART

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Category	Type	Target Age Group	Setting	Outcomes	Source of Rating
Promising Programs	Substance Abuse	Elementary School Middle School	Classroom Community	Less likely to report use of any drugs, gateway drugs, or stronger drugs Lower levels of violent crime Less likely to be involved in drug sales	Close Blueprints for Violence Prevention (Blueprints) The Blueprints for Violence Prevention list has been developed by a research team headed by Delbert Elliott, Ph.D. at the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado. For Blueprints to certify a brand name program as “model,” the program must demonstrate its effects on problem behaviors with a rigorous experimental design, show that its effects persist after youth leave the program and be successfully replicated at least once. In order for a brand name program to be certified as “promising,” the program must demonstrate effects using a rigorous experimental design. The Blueprints Web site (www.colorado.edu/cspv/blueprints/) lists 11 “model” programs and 19 “promising” programs. Selection Criteria: Lasting positive effects in well designed evaluations & emphasis on replication. Applicability:  Excellent for crime, violence, delinquency & substance abuse. Reliability:  Excellent Currency:  Up to Date Advantages:  Easy to use. Plentiful peer and tech support. Predictability of outcomes. Limitations:  Covers only a small number of brand name programs. Blueprints

Description:

The CASASTARTSM program offers children a safe place and support outside regular school hours to get the tools they need to succeed. All programs are composed of eight core services: social support, family services, education services (such as tutoring/homework assistance), out-of-school/summer activities, mentoring, morale-building incentives, community policing and juvenile justice intervention. Each child enrolled in CASASTARTSM receives an individual service plan featuring all eight core services. Each student has a case manager who meets with them several times a week. Case managers also meet with their families at least once a month and make regular home visits to address the family context and see what additional services may be needed.

Three CASASTARTSM meetings play an essential role to ensure effective communication among partners and to provide program and policy guidance. Meeting participants include lead agency and program management staff, school personnel, police officers, guidance or social work personnel, business leaders, clergy, elected officials, community residents and parents/care givers of students. Meetings consist of:

• Case conferences – to discuss new students and review students’ progress
• Administrative meetings – to identify and resolve problems among partner agencies or in the larger service system that limit effectiveness
• Advisory councils – to review overall progress and address replication and sustainability

CASASTART Goals:

• Help young people improve their grades, attendance and school behavior;
• Strengthen relationships between youth and their families;
• Cultivate family involvement with schools and social service agencies;
• Prevent substance abuse and violence;
• Develop partnerships among social and health service agencies, schools, and law enforcement to meet the needs of the youth and their families;
• Reduce drug sales and related crimes

Target Population

CASASTARTSM is a school-centered positive youth development program aimed at preventing substance abuse and violence among high-risk 8 to 13-year-olds and helping them to improve their school attendance, grades and behavior.

 

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References and/or Published Evaluations

Public School Practices for Violence Prevention and Reduction 2003-04
http://casastart.org/files/folders/journal_articles/entry39.aspx
This analysis is based on school-level data reported by principals participating in the school year 2003-04 School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS), administered by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The estimates presented here complement those in the NCES report Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2006 (Dinkes et al. 2006), which reported on the safety and security measures taken by schools in school year 2003-04. In addition to including updated estimates, this analysis reports on additional safety and security practices, such as the use of security officers at public schools, and a variety of other approaches intended to prevent and reduce school violence.

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Additional Information

Provided by CASASTART on September 2010

• Has this program been replicated at other sites? If so, how many and where are they?
  CASASTARTSM is now in 121 schools in 49 cities and counties and one Native American reservation. California sites include: Folsom Cordova Unified School District (Mather), Community Action Partnership of Kern / Youth Together Program (Bakersfield), and El Centro Del Pueblo (Los Angeles).
  

• Is there a formal curriculum or program guidelines in place? What is the approximate cost for these materials?
  Yes. Included in CASASTART-UP the self facilitated multi-media training kit are three program guides - a field guide that takes you through the steps necessary to create the program, a technical assistance guide with minimum program standards, and a facilitators guide that teaches local providers how to conduct this initial training and program orientation process. The kit costs $5,000. We can provide this training in person but highly recommend using the kit.
  

• What kind of training and technical assistance is available for this program?
  We offer on-site training and technical assistance. We have curricula on working collaboratively, creating and maintaining safe schools , mental health assessment in children and adolescents and youth development. We also offer technical assistance in a variety of areas such as building and maintaining partnerships, fund development and problem solving. Training and TA costs $4,000 per day inclusive of costs for travel and materials.
  
  Communities across the country can now gain access to the excellent quality of the evidence based CASASTART program work by purchasing CASASTART-UPSM. CASASTART-UP, a multi-media training program designed to educate professionals on how to implement the CASASTART evidence based model to improve educational outcomes, reduces substance abuse and delinquency among high-risk youth and creates safer schools. CASASTART-UP is the bedrock of CASASTART training curricula.
  
  The training program consists of several components including: videos, podcasts, and games to build an understanding of the program and the challenges communities might face when developing a CASASTART site. The training is divided into eight sessions that can be done over a period of weeks and up to a month. Most of the independent work can be found on the training pages of www.casastart.org.
  
  Benefits of CASASTART-UP
  
  • Offers training tools and resources that can increase the number of professionals trained: sites can train multiple people or train new staff as they are hired;
    
  • Strengthens CASASTART partnerships by fostering relationships through an experiential and flexible training process;
    
  • Assures philanthropic/government leaders and policy makers the program is being implemented with fidelity to the model;
    
  • Allows up to one month to complete the training rather than gathering all CASASTART partners for a consecutive, two-day training session;
    
  • Provides a 20% savings from a two-day training provided on-site by the CASA staff;
    
  • Trained sites obtain a certificate of completion from CASA at Columbia University which is the first step towards accreditation.
    
  
  With CASASTART-UP, you are taking the first step towards improving the lives of many children and families in your community. Each activity is carefully developed to contribute to your ability to implement CASASTART with fidelity to the model.
  
  The CASASTART-UP training kit sells for $5,000. As part of the training the CASA staff will provide phone and/or on-line consultation to answer any questions to support you along the process.
  
  The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) has initiated a CASASTART accreditation process for all organizations operating the program. Completing the CASASTART-UP training program is the first and most important step to being certified as an accredited program; one operating with fidelity to the model.
  

• Once the program has been implemented, can an organization obtain assistance with fidelity monitoring or quality assurance?
  Yes. The technical assistance we can provide accomplishes some of this and we are soon beginning an accreditation process for all sites. The cost for accreditation is $3,900 every three years. It's an on-line fidelity check and a one day site visit which is what the money pays for.
  

• Can an organization obtain assistance with data collection or measurement of outcomes?
  We have a brief pre/post child health survey that is offered at no cost. It's to be administered to each youth at their entry into the program and every 12 months the child is in the program. We can be of assistance in aggregating and interpreting the data.
  

• Which local stakeholders have to participate in order for this program to be successful?
  Meeting participants include lead agency and program management staff, school personnel, police officers, guidance or social work personnel, business leaders, clergy, elected officials, community residents and parents/care givers of students.

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