An Outcome Evaluation of across Ages

Abstract

The goal of Across Ages is to demonstrate the effectiveness of a comprehensive, intergenerational mentoring approach to drug prevention for high-risk middle school students. The core of the project is the involvement of older adults (55+) as mentors to the students. Older mentors help children develop the awareness, self-confidence, and skills they need to resist drugs and overcome overwhelming obstacles. In addition to mentoring, the project engages students in community service activities that benefitfrail elders, provides a classroom-based life skills curriculum, and offers workshops to parents. The project targets sixth-grade students attending three public middle schools in Philadelphia's most stressed neighborhoods and has served 562 children during the first 3 project years. The evaluation results support the initial hypothesis that the multifaceted intervention approach would result in more positive changes in student knowledge, attitudes, and behavior concerning substance abuse and related life skills and that those whose mentors were most involved with them wouldfare even better.