Author: Bret Orton

ParentCorps is an evidence-based intervention that enhances Pre-K programs in schools and early education centers serving primarily children of color from low-income communities. It helps the important adults in children’s lives — parents and teachers — to create safe, nurturing and predictable environments at home and in the classroom and improves relationships and communication between parents and teachers. ParentCorps includes three main components: professional learning for leaders, teachers, mental health professionals and parent support staff, parenting program for families of pre-k students, and social-emotional learning classroom curriculum for pre-k students.

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HIPTeens is a sexual-risk reduction program that targets nonpregnant, sexually active teenage girls. The program includes four weekly, 120-minute sessions. At 3 and 6 months after the initial intervention, two 90-minute booster sessions are offered. The intervention is delivered in small groups (6-10 girls) by trained program facilitators. The intervention (a) provides HIV and sexual health information, (b) strives to increase motivation to reduce sexual risk behaviors and (c) allows time to practice interpersonal and self-management skills that facilitate sexual risk reduction. The intervention uses developmentally appropriate strategies such as games, group activities and role plays to deliver program content.

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Open Court Reading (OCR) is a phonic-based K-3 curriculum. It includes age-appropriate materials for students, training in pedagogy for teachers, and workshops for professional development of teachers. The OCR curriculum includes three components: Foundational Skills, Reading and Responding, and Language Arts.

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The Strong African American Families-Teen (SAAF-T) intervention is a preventive intervention for African-American students living in rural communities entering high school that integrates individual youth skills building, parenting skills training, and family interaction training. SAAF-T involves five group sessions using DVDs where narrators address specific content and actors present family scenarios depicting program-targeted interactions and behaviors. Each meeting includes separate one-hour concurrent training for caregivers and youth, followed by a one-hour conjoint session during which families practice the skills they learned in their separate sessions. The program provides parents and youth with skills that nurture adolescent self-regulation, achievement orientation, and negative attitudes toward substance use and other risk behaviors. One of the units involves a focus on sexual health. The program is interactive involving role-playing activities, guided discussions, and question answering.

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Nuffield Early Language Intervention is a 30-week language intervention program delivered in the final term in Nursery school (ages 3-4) and the first two terms in Reception class (age 5). The program comprises activities targeting spoken language skills for the first 20 weeks, supplemented for the final 10 weeks with training in two critical components of the alphabetic principle, letter-sound knowledge and phoneme awareness. A second 20-week version begins upon entry into primary school, rather than beginning in preschool.

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The use of ignition interlock license restrictions requires those with previous alcohol-related driving offenses to pass a breath analyzer test of blood alcohol levels before starting a vehicle. The program further requires that drivers who are applying for reinstatement of their driving licenses install the ignition interlock system in their vehicle and continue to use it for two years before they are eligible for reinstatement.

Note: The State of Maryland evaluated the effects of interlock installation in two studies. Both were RCTs and carefully conducted. One involved one year of installation and one study two years. Both found large reductions during installation. The one-year study did not show sustained effects, while the two-year study did. Thus, Blueprints is certifying only the two-year study.

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The Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act (EAAA) Sexual Assault Resistance Education Program is a program for first year enrolled university women that focuses on and prepares them for the statistical reality that a man they know may attempt to sexually assault them in a familiar social setting. 

The program is designed to help women overcome the unique emotional and cognitive barriers associated with acquaintance sexual assault so that they have the ability to acknowledge risk early and are equipped with the skills to protect themselves. 

The program consists of four 3-hour units delivered to small groups that involve mini-lectures, facilitated discussion, games and practice activities. The four units (Assess, Acknowledge, Act and Sexuality & Relationships) focus on improving women’s assessment of the risk of acquaintance sexual assault, developing problem-solving strategies, increasing resistance skills and encouraging sexual communication. 

The program is designed to be delivered by two female facilitators that are seen as expert peers to the program participants. Facilitators must undergo an eight day training and dress rehearsal led by a qualified Campus/Community Trainer before delivering the program to participants. 

The qualifying study was a randomized controlled trial conducted from September 2011 to February 2013. The study recruited 916 first-year female students from three Canadian colleges and randomly assigned them to an intervention or control group. 

The intervention group received all four units of the EAAA program while the control subjects were invited by a research assistant to take, read and discuss brochures on sexual assault. All participants completed surveys at baseline, one week after program completion, six months after baseline, and twelve months after baseline in which they reported on completed rape, attempted rape, attempted coercion, coercion, and non-consensual sexual contact. 

The benefits of the program occurred early and its efficacy was sustained throughout the one-year follow-up period. Relative to the control group, the intervention group showed significantly fewer completed rapes, attempted rapes, attempted coercion and non-consensual sexual contact. 

Though an eighteen and twenty-four month follow-up is forthcoming, initial one-year results are important as the risk of sexual assault is highest during the first few years of college enrollment. The Blueprints committee has determined that the EAAA program is suitable for all racial, ethnic and sexual identity categories.

Read the Program Fact Sheet

Return to Blueprints Bulletin Issue 1. February 2017.

YVLifeSet, formerly known as Transitional Living, which is operated by the social services organization Youth Villages, is an independent living program for youth in need (e.g., transitioning from foster care or juvenile justice custody). The program lasts 9 months for most youth who successfully complete the program and involves intensive, individualized, and clinically focused case management, support, and counseling. At the entrance, each person receives an assessment and individualized treatment plan. The bulk of the services are then provided during hour-long, weekly sessions with a case manager, who typically serves only eight youth at a time.

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A Stop Smoking in Schools Trial (ASSIST) is a smoking prevention intervention based on an informal, educational, peer-led approach. Influential students nominated by their peers are trained by health promotion trainers for two days on the risks of smoking, the benefits of remaining smoke-free, and skills for promoting non-smoking among their peers. The trained students then use informal contacts with peers over a 10-week period to promote non-smoking and keep a diary record of these conversations.

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Eisenhower Quantum is a youth development program, based on the Quantum Opportunities Program (QOP), which is designed to serve disadvantaged adolescents by providing education, service and development activities, and financial incentives over a four-year period, from ninth grade to high school graduation. Each year students are provided with 180 hours of academic support (adult tutoring, peer-assisted tutoring, homework assistance, etc.), 50 hours of service activities (participating in community service projects, civic activities, volunteering, etc.), and 180 hours of development activities (acquiring life/family skills, planning for college and jobs). Services are provided by trained case managers after school and at other community locations as needed. An important component of the program is “deep mentoring”, in which mentors develop long-term relationships (over the four years of high school) with students and advocate for them in multiple settings including school, family, peer, and justice system.

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