The Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act (SDFSCA) Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Education, is the largest school-based federal program directed at preventing student drug use and promoting school safety. Across the country a majority of school districts receive SDFSCA funding to implement drug and violence prevention programs. To address concerns of policy makers regarding the effectiveness of these programs, this evaluation will focus on the following research questions which have not been adequately addressed by past research:
- Is the existing evidence on promising models of prevention programs conclusive?
- How can the impacts of promising drug and violence prevention programs be increased?
- Which strategies should be pursued in the widespread adoption of research-based prevention programs?

The BPA/Urban Institute team will draw on combined expertise to review existing studies, identify those programs that the more rigorous evaluations have found to be promising, and develop designs for larger, multi-year studies that compare several of the most promising program strategies.