Spartan Strong: Enhancing School Engagement and Reducing Substance Misuse Risk - The geographic area for the proposed project, Spartan Strong: Enhancing School Engagement and Reducing Substance Misuse Risk, is the Wyoming Valley West School District, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. The intended audience is youth-serving adults, including school administrators, teachers, counselors, student support personnel, prevention professionals, community partners, parents, and members of the local PROSPER Team, as well as middle school students in grades 6–8. The objective is to strengthen school connectedness, reduce chronic absenteeism, improve behavioral health outcomes, and reduce substance misuse risk by increasing the capacity of schools and community partners to implement and sustain evidence-based prevention strategies. Over the five-year project period, prevention training and technical assistance will reach at least 1,000 adults. Universal implementation of the evidence-based Too Good For Drugs curriculum will serve approximately 1,300 seventh-grade students, while approximately 80 students experiencing chronic absenteeism or school disengagement will receive individualized mentoring through the evidence-based Check & Connect program. Measurable Objectives and Project Goals. This project's strategies and preventive interventions include three components: (1) revitalization of the PROSPER community partnership to guide prevention planning, implementation, and sustainability; (2) technical assistance and professional development for youth-serving adults through the Social Development Strategy and Prevention Learning Portal to strengthen implementation of evidence-based prevention and positive youth development practices; and (3) implementation of the evidence-based Too Good For Drugs and Check & Connect programs with high fidelity. Through process and outcome evaluation strategies, implementation progress will be tracked toward measurable objectives across five project goals. The first goal is to strengthen prevention capacity by providing training, technical assistance, and leadership support to the PROSPER Team and youth-serving professionals to sustain evidence-based prevention efforts. The second goal is to increase the capacity of youth-serving adults in the Wyoming Valley West School District to promote positive youth development, school engagement, and effective prevention implementation; at least 80% of participants will report increased prevention knowledge and implementation capacity following training. The third goal is to implement high-quality, evidence-based prevention programming by delivering Too Good For Drugs to approximately 1,300 students and Check & Connect mentoring services to approximately 80 students over the five-year project period. The fourth goal is to increase protective factors and reduce risk factors associated with substance misuse and chronic absenteeism by improving school connectedness, attendance, and perceptions of substance use risk among participating youth. The fifth goal is to address community priorities related to substance misuse prevention and mental health promotion by reducing vaping, alcohol use, school-related substance use, depressive symptoms, and chronic absenteeism while strengthening school connectedness among participating youth
