TEN TIPS to Successful Implementation of a Middle School Social Norms Campaign

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TEN TIPS to Successful Implementation of a Middle
School Social Norms Campaign

• Presented by
• Kris Bennett, Tompkins County Youth Services
  Dept.
• Judy Epstein, DeWitt Middle School
• Wes Perkins, Hobart William Smith Colleges

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Background
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Tompkins County, NY

• Located in Finger Lakes area of central NY
• Rural/urban/suburban mix
• Population 101,055 83 white, 17 minority
• Cornell Univ., Ithaca College, Community College
• 6 public school districts Ithaca is the largest
  serving 5,266 students, gr. K-12

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DeWitt Middle School
Note banner

• One of 3 middle schools in Ithaca District
• District enrollment gr. 6-8 - 1,236 9-12 -
  1,705
• Current DeWitt enrollment 483 (2004 581)
• Social norms campaign began in 2004

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Community Coalition for Healthy Youth (CCHY)

• 1997 Grassroots effort to improve welfare of
  children community by reducing substance use in
  Ithaca District
• 2004 Received 5-year federal Drug-Free
  Communities (DFC) grant
• Tompkins County Youth Services Dept. is fiscal
  agent provides staffing to CCHY

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TIP 1Assemble a team
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1 Assemble a team

• Community-school partnership
• Principal Ron Acerra
• CCHY board member, key to bringing SN to school
• Identified initial team members health
  teachers, student assistance services, principal,
  CCHY staff
• Team expanded over time to include math, family
  consumer studies, art, music

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1 Assemble a team

• Structure
• Short (lt1 hr.) monthly meetings either before or
  after school
• Liaison in school (Judy)
• CCHY staff (Kris)
• Meeting notes shared to keep all on task
• Email

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1 Assemble a team

• Pulling teachers on board

• Its one thing for your principal to identify
  them
• Its one more thing

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1 Assemble a team

• Lessons learned from earlier unsuccessful attempt
  at social norms in Ithaca District
• Ithaca High School 2000
• Sample (not full census) survey
• Posters displayed without sufficient
  explanation or follow up with either teachers
  or students

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TIP 2
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2

• CCHY supported DeWitt Social Norms project with
  its 5-year federal SAMHSA DFC grant

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration Drug-Free Communities Support
Program
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2

• As part of overall DFC grant, CCHY funded
• CCHY staff time
• Student survey costs
• Subscription to secure on-line database for easy
  access to survey data

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2
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2

• School staff (teachers, administrators) time was
  donated except for summer work days
• Photocopying, misc. expenses donated by school or
  CCHY

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TIP 3Train your team on social norms
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3 Train your team

• CCHY arranged initial 2-day summer 2004 training
  for DeWitt staff faculty by Alan Berkowitz
  ongoing support as needed
• Annual summer work days
• National Social Norms conference (2007)
• Allow it to evolve

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TIP 4Data, data, data
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4 Data, data, data

• Student Life and Culture Survey
• Locally designed to meet DFC requirements added
  social norms questions
• Given in spring in 4 secondary Ithaca schools
• Paper/pencil (2003)
• Web-based (2005)
• Combination (2007)
• Survey administration tailored to fit needs of
  participating schools

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4 Data, data, data

• Full census, grades 6-12 yields better buy-in
  for social norms
• Multiple questions on same topic more options
  for messages
• Survey instrument adjusted each time (s -s)

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4 Data, data, data

• Fall, 2006 pared-down DeWitt survey
• Provided data representing all students present
  that school year
• Assessed impact of social norms campaign
• Fun Facts Surveys

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TIP 5Choose your messages
Possible 2006-07 Alcohol poster messages 90
of DeWitt students have not used alcohol in the
past month. 91 of DeWitt students think it's
wrong for people their age to drink
alcohol regularly. 72 of DeWitt students
have never used alcohol. 85 of DeWitt
students have not used alcohol in the last
year. ?97 of DeWitt students dont drink alcohol
regularly (monthly or more) 94 of DeWitt
students have never been drunk.
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5 Choose your messages

• Identify areas of concern for your school using
  survey data school feedback
• Alcohol, Marijuana, Cigarettes
• School connectedness, Bullying, Academics
• Decide how many messages poster releases you
  can manage during the school year
• 4 was about our maximum!

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5 Choose your messages

• Identify possible messages
• SN consultant Alan Berkowitz in our early years
• SN team on our own in recent years
• Decide who gets to choose messages
• In years 1 2, students were involved in
  choosing messages
• But eliminated option for teaser contests
• SN team decided by consensus in years 3-5

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5 Choose your messages

• Can have multiple messages on a theme

2007-08 alcohol-themed posters
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TIP 6Engage students in multiple ways
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6 Engage students

• Get their attention early
• Teasers
• Home Room/ Morning announcements
• Dont forget the teachers!

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6 Engage students

• Cash in with contests

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6 Engage students

• Keep them engaged with giveaways

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6 Engage students

• and interviews

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6 Engage students

• and Fun Facts from math class (a natural fit)

Selected questions from the 2008 Fun Facts
Survey 1. Do you have braces? .
. Yes or No 2. Do you have chores to do at
home? Yes or No 3. How many
times do you brush your teeth each day?......1,
2, Not every day 4. Do you have an iPod?
. Yes or No 5. Do your
parents pay you for good grades? ... Yes
or No 6. How ticklish are you?.... Not
at all, A little bit, VERY 7. Do you eat
meat?.............................................
.......................... Yes or No 8. Do you
have friends from other countries?................
........ Yes or No 9. Do you know how to swim?
... Yes or No
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6 Engage students

• Fun Facts Survey (2005, 2006, 2008)
• Student designed (with some adult input)
• 7th grade math students collated data
• Fun Facts posted in rotation with data from
  student drug survey
• Generated great buzz and more interest in drug
  survey data

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6 Engage students

• Health class (the golden opportunity)
• Matching curriculum
• Keeping the conversation going
• Snowball surveys

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6 Engage students

• Middle school is a 3-year cycle.
• You might get bored but they might not.

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TIP 7Engage the rest of the school community
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7 Engage the rest of the school

• Connect with other school initiatives

Student awards assembly Circle of Courage

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7 Engage the rest of the school

• Faculty meeting presentations and handouts
• Writing it up for your staff newsletter
• Parent/ caregiver Open House, PTA, newsletters
  list serve
• Making the connection with after-school programs

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TIP 8Presenting data The Medium and the
Message
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8 Presenting data

• Fun Facts bulletin board

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8 Presenting data

• Poster donts

2004-05 posters (4) Art students chose from
preselected messages to create posters. Didnt
follow SN guidelines Positive Inclusive
Empowering Didnt work on white school walls
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8 Presenting data

• Poster donts

2005-06 posters (4) Graphic designer stock art
Student feedback Thats not our
school. Drove changes for following year

• Poster dos
• Unifying elements

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8 Presenting data

• Poster dos

2006-07 posters (6) School-wide student art
contest with prizes SN team matched messages with
art, 2 per message Graphic artist put elements
together Data source more prominent
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8 Presenting data

• Poster dos

2007-08 (4) 2008-09 (3) posters Art contest,
more unifying elements One also used for student
folder (above)
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8 Presenting data

• The surprisingly effective impact of the Teaser

DeWitt Social Norms Team Home Room Contest
April, 2007 The home room that has the right
percentage (or if no one gets it exactly, the
home room that comes closest) will win DeWitt
Dollars for each student in the home room to use
for snacks at the DeWitt cafeteria. If more than
one home room guesses correctly, we will use the
bonus question to choose a winner. The teacher
of the winning home room will win a 5 gift card
to Ithaca Bakery. Fill in the blank
of DeWitt students respect other students
who try to stop bullying. Bonus question
of DeWitt students are bothered when
they see students participating in hurtful or
bullying behaviors. The home room teacher
should fill in the collective guess for both
questions and return this form to the box in the
Main Office by 930 AM Friday, April 27. Home
room teacher__________________
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8 Presenting data
Teaser answer
BONUS Question results 84 are bothered when
they witness bullying
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8 Presenting data

• Teaser Activity
• _____ of Americans report they use alcohol
  occasionally or more often
• Bonus question (tie breaker)
• _____ of Americans report they consume 8
  alcoholic drinks per week
• Source Gallup Poll, June 14-17, 2009

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8 Presenting data

• Answers

• 64 of Americans consume alcohol
• 14 of Americans consume 8 alcoholic drinks per
  week

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TIP 9Evaluate refine
Intercept Interview 1) Have you seen the posters
about having fun with friends without using
alcohol? ? Yes ? No 2) If yes, where have you
seen the posters? ? Classroom ? Cafeteria
? Gym (Check all that apply) ? Hall
? Front window/lobby
? Office
? ______________ 3) How often did you see
the posters? ? Every day ? A few times
? Rarely 4) In your own words, what do you think
the main message was?_____________________ 5) Do
you believe the message is true for our school?
? Yes ? Partly ? No Why or why not?
__________________________________________________
_____ 6) What do you like best about the posters?
___________________________________ 7) What do
you like least? __________________________________
______________ Whats your favorite fun, healthy
activity to do with friends? _____________________
_ Any other comments? ___________________________
________________________
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9 Evaluate refine

• Intercept interviews on posters to evaluate
• Visibility, location, quantity
• Comprehension of messages
• Believability
• Likeability
• Length of time posters were displayed
• Other

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9 Evaluate refine

• Use evaluation data to make needed changes

2005-06 posters Student feedback drove changes
for the following year
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9 Evaluate refine

• Social Norms team
• Honest, open meetings
• Campaign logistics
• Contributions of team members
• Summer work days allowed adequate time to reflect
  evaluate

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9 Evaluate refine

• Connect with a researcher for evaluation on
  campaign impact
• More here from Wes Perkins (multiple slides)

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TIP 10Jump in! Just do it!
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10 Jump In! Just do it!

• OK to start small grow
• Build interest
• Respond to feedback to make improvements
• Celebrate achievements

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Contact info

• Kris Bennett, [phone], kmbennett_at_tompkins-c
  o.org
• Judy Epstein, [phone], jepstein_at_icsd.k12.ny
  .us
• H. Wesley Perkins, [phone],
  perkins_at_hws.edu
• CCHY, www.healthyyouth.org

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Questions, discussion