Alcohol and Drugs in Schools: Teachers' Reactions to the Problem

Abstract

IT WILL come as no surprise to Kappan readers that many adolescents use alcohol and drugs. Recent research reveals that these behaviors are not restricted to evenings and weekends but occur during the school day as well. (1) The school zone is far from a reality. Historically, schools have been thought of as safe havens where students can learn and grow, not as places where illicit substances are used and sold. Unfortunately, drugs too often make their way into the nation's schools. Data from one national survey showed that, in 2005, 62% of high school students and 28% of middle school students reported attending schools where drugs were used, kept, or sold. (2) These figures represented a 47% increase since 1992 for middle-schoolers and a 41% increase for high school students. Furthermore, teens who attended schools where drugs were present were three times likelier to have tried marijuana, two times likelier to have tried alcohol, and three times likelier to have gotten drunk in a typical month, compared to teens who attended drug-free schools. Most research on student drug use has focused on general drug use. For example, large-scale surveys, such as the Monitoring the Future Study and the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, provide long-term data on general adolescent drug use with little focus on school use. (3) But few surveys, if any, have specifically examined the problem of drugs at school or asked teachers about drugs in school. Our study of in-school substance use was based on two premises: 1) drugs in school are a significant problem, as evidenced by the extant survey data, and 2) teachers play central roles in detecting and responding to in-school substance use among students. We examined drug use at school through an analysis of teachers' reports when asked about the extent of drug problems in their schools, their knowledge of school drug policies, and how they respond to the presence of drugs in their schools. Our research builds on research conducted from the student perspective. THE TEACHER SURVEY The data for this study were reports from 103 teachers in middle schools and high schools in a city in upstate New York. Only physical education and health education teachers were chosen to participate in the study. These teachers had contact with a representative cross section of students in all grade levels (7-12) and were most involved with the schools' drug education classes. Thirty-two percent had less than five years of teaching experience, 48% had between six and 20 years of experience, and 20% had more than 20 years of teaching experience. Seventy percent of the teachers were male, and 88% of the teachers were white. The teachers completed a questionnaire anonymously during a one-day professional development session. The paper-and-pencil questionnaire asked 64 questions about various aspects of the drug problem at school, such as, Have students used drugs in your classes? What actions are taken when students violate school drug policies? To what extent does student drug use interfere with teaching? Teachers were able to complete the questionnaire in about 10 to 15 minutes. We used the teachers' responses as measures of the prevalence of alcohol and drugs in school, how problematic these substances were in school, teachers' knowledge and attitudes about their schools' drug policies, and teachers' reactions to perceived drug use in their classes. In addition, we compared the teachers' responses with the reports of high school students taken from a national survey of health-related behaviors (4) and from a large-scale study of school-related substance use that had been conducted in the same school district. (5) PREVALENCE OF ALCOHOL AND DRUGS IN SCHOOL In 2003, students reported that about 6% of their peers had used alcohol or marijuana on school property within the preceding 30 days. (6) In addition, students in the same district in which we conducted the teacher survey reported that 12% of high school students had used alcohol and 16% had used marijuana at school during the previous six months. …