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LIZ: Good afternoon. My name is Liz Moreno and I am an
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Abstinence Content Specialist for the CBAE T/TA contract at
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Pal-Tech with the Family & Youth Services Bureau. I’ll be
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the moderator today and on behalf of our team, I’d like to
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welcome you to this Grantee Showcase Webcast. We are glad
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you could join us today as Miss Eve Jackson from St.
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Vincent Hospital in Indiana will be sharing about their
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organization’s approach to actively engaging positive
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teenage role models. We hope that you will find Miss
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Jackson’s presentation on their peer educating and
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encouraging relationship skills project to be beneficial.
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Thank you for all the hard work that you’re doing. We
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definitely appreciate your work. Before I introduce our
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speaker, I’d like to go through a few key points. Currently
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your telephone lines are in “listen-only” mode to avoid any
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background noise. After the presentation, you’ll have the
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opportunity to ask Miss Jackson questions and I’ll give
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instructions on how to “un-mute” your line if you’re
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interested in doing so. You will receive an email shortly
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after the Webcast with an evaluation form. We would greatly
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appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to complete
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and return the evaluation form. We value your feedback as
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we are always looking for ways to improve how we serve you.
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It is my pleasure today to introduce Miss Eve Jackson. Miss
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Jackson taught high school for 10 years and then in 1994
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went on to develop “A Promise to Keep,” a faith-based
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abstinence until marriage education program for St. Vincent
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Hospital and Health Services at the ??? Indianapolis. From
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1994 to 2000 she directed the “Promise to Keep” program in
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central and southern Indiana. In 1998 she created the
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“PEERS Project,” a secular version for public schools and
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authored its peer facilitated curriculum – peers educating
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peers about positive values. St. Vincent Hospital’s “PEERS
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Project” has been awarded three community-based abstinence
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education grants. Miss Jackson’s primary role as project
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director is to oversee the work of 44 part-time and four
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full-time adult coordinators in 50 school districts in 30
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counties throughout Indiana. In addition, she also manages
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all aspects of their CBAE grant and coordinates peers’
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evaluations that are being conducted by Dr. Kenneth Ferraro
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(phonetic) of Purdue University. She has a BA degree in
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English and Journalism and a ??? and Masters of Science.
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She taught skill-based abstinence education to her ???
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students from 1987 until 1994. Miss Jackson and some of
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PEERS mentors have also presented break-out sessions at
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four national conferences and several state conferences.
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And with that, I’m going to turn it over to Miss Eve
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Jackson.
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JACKSON: Thank you. Hi, I’m glad that you all can be
with us this afternoon and I look forward to this ‘cause I
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love to share about what great work um our – I think best
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untapped resource uh can do and that is for our high school
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students to, um, really become –uh, to give them ownership
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of the abstinence education decision which is their, their
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decision anyway to make. But give them ownership of
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programs and to, to really uh equip and educate and empower
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them so that that they – the best role models who are
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making good choices can really, uh, influence their peers,
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especially middle school students but also high school
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students. So first I’d just like to start and, um – by
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telling you about our peer-facilitated abstinence education
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model. And um, 99 percent of what we do throughout the
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state is peer-facilitated. We do have some adult
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coordinators and abstinence education teachers who teach in
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alternative schools and in some um, urban settings. But
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most of what we do is school-based and it is taught by high
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school students. Um, and, this is just a picture of some of
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our adult leaders and, and mentors. Just a little bit about
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our program and the expanse of it – as um, Liz said, I have
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been doing this for many years. About 20 years ago I
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started in my daughter’s high school when they were – they
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were students there – I was teaching in a different school
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system, but I wanted to involve my daughters and their
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peers in a, um, youth development model where they could
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really have the experience of sharing their own decision
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and convictions with others in a public school setting. So
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that’s kind of how it started and I volunteered for three
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years and had about 9 mentors of each of three years. And
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of course, a couple of them over that time period were my
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daughters. And um, in 1994 I was offered a position for uh,
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offered to develop this outreach for St. Vincent Hospital
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and Health Services that is central Indiana. And I uh then
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was able to do this full-time so it’s been about 15 years
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that I’ve been doing this full-time. But I have worked with
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– had the privilege of working with many high school
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students, uh…over the last 7 years since we received our
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first CBAE grant in 2001, we’ve had 17,000 high school
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students who have been involved and been peer educators or
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“peer mentors” as we call them in our program throughout
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the state. And every year we have about 2200 peer mentors
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who teach our curriculum which I will explain. Um, but they
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teach our curriculum and they – and last year they reached
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more than 43,000 middle school and high school students,
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mostly middle school, but also some high school students.
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And um, so our program – uh, we kind of talk about and
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laugh about how it’s kind of gotten out of hand, but it’s,
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it’s expanded beyond anything we ever dreamed would happen.
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And it’s been thanks to the CBAE funding and also Title 5
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grants as well. And um, so I will kind of explain it
25
through but I really had the privilege – the privilege of,
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of doing what I do – working with high school students and
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getting them in front of hi- middle school and other high
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school students so they can basically be positive role
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models and um, the powerful influence that they have. And
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it’s just so different. I mean adults are great at, at, um
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educating young people about abstinence, but it’s just a
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totally different influence and a different perspective
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that obviously the high school students have – who are
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pressured, even to a greater extent than the middle school
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students, much more so, but when they can stand up and say,
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“I, uh, have made these decisions. I’ve made a commitment
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to not have sex until I’m married. I’ve made a commitment
13
to not use drugs.” It has such – it delivers such a
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powerful message to their peers that it is possible and it
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really helps to raise the bar of expectations. So, why it
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is essential to actively engage positive teenage role
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models? Uh, first of all, over the years, I’ve not always
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been able to articulate this because it is um, the
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involvement and the – just the experience that the young
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people have as peer facilitators – really impacts the
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identity formation, and, their identity formation. And it
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strengthens their own commitment and that is one of the
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main reasons why we are involving high school students and
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having them be our peer educators is because we’re really
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trying to strengthen their commitment to abstinence. Uh,
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you probably have read this, too, but there are a couple
2
different, um, – there’s the um – let me see “Learning
3
Pyramid” that – it has done some research on learning
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retention and there’s also the Edgar Dale “Cone of
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Learning.” And they – they both have similar outcomes in
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that when people exemplify and teach a desired behavior,
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they retain 90 percent of what they’ve learned compared to
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20 percent when they only see and hear something and 50
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percent when they discuss something. So large group and
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small group discussions are great because then young people
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retain 50 percent of what they’re learning. However the
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importance of, you know, one of the main reasons for
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allowing these young people to be our educators is so that
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they will retain this. And as they teach it and learn it
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and repeat it over and over again, it really is
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internalized in, you know, who they are. And in their own
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values and belief system. So active involvement enhances
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our role models’ – our peer mentors’ character development.
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Obviously, um, they know that is so important that they
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walk the talk because other people are watching them. And
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it’s not just what they say in the classroom and this is
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something that, you know, we obviously talk with them about
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but they’re well aware of – is that it’s not just what they
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say. It’s what they do and who they are as people. And we
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are in, obviously, mostly rural school districts throughout
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the state because Indian’s very rural. But even in our
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large, um, suburban or urban school districts, young people
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are watching them and whether they’re athletes or however
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they might know them through – through siblings and um, all
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the like, they need to be people of integrity and it needs
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to be real. And they understand that putting themselves out
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in front and center really, um, helps them to know how
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important it is to be accountable. It also really improves
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their worth because they understand that they are valued
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for who they are and what they’re doing and the choices
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that they make and the contribution that they’re making to
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others. So it really does help their worth and self – self
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esteem or self respect and their potential. It helps them
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develop and reach their potential as not only leaders, but
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as communicators. And the social responsibility involved in
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this as I mentioned – it is so important for them to
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really, uh, live up to the commitments that they made not
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only for themselves, but also for the young people who they
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are, uh, really helping and reaching. Another point is that
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active involvement strengthens their skills and social
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competency. So – so what they’re learning as well as um,
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you know, the fact that they are role models, helps them in
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– in really developing self control, delay of
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gratification, their critical thinking skills and in some
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of our lessons they actually teach critical thinking skills
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so they’re learning about this. And um, you know, talking
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about it, teaching it themselves. It helps in coping with
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peer pressure because it – it primarily gives them a
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support network in their school system where they, you
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know, can – are not having the pressure, the negative
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pressure, but more the positive pressure from their friends
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and from the other peer mentors in the school. And then of
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course it helps them with problem solving. So implementing
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the PEERS Project abstinence education development model –
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it’s a real mouthful. But basically what we’re trying to
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say is we are trying to help the youth develop their
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character and the model that we use is the peer
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facilitation, and um, our curriculum and everything that we
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have. Um, the PEERS Project organizational chart is sort of
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like this. St. Vincent Hospital and Health Care Center was
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gracious enough to initiate and originally sponsor and
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underwrite our program back in 1994 for a few years. And
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the um, St. Vincent Hospital partnered with the Archdiocese
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of Indianapolis so that I could be hired to develop a
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program for the school. I am personally not Catholic, but
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- so our program is not just a Catholic program. It is um,
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you know, our message is primary prevention, health
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education and it is a, you know, a nonsectarian program.
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But it is faith based in that the – the uh, sponsorship and
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the grantee is St. Vincent Hospital with the um partnership
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of – of the Archdiocese. And since 2001, I have only worked
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in the public schools and someone else now directs the our
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Promise to Keep program in – in the Catholic schools and
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that is continuing. So I am called the project director and
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then we have a few regional coordinators throughout the
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state, four full-time people who also work to help oversee
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the work of other part-time coordinators in their area.
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Part-time or “area coordinators” – so they work in a
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specific area. Typically their own local school district
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but for a few of our part-time people, they also work in
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um, a few other school districts in their county. So they
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usually serve maybe just one county at the most. Our
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regional coordinators have a lot of responsibilities and a
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lot of roles and they um, themselves work or oversee the
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work in several school districts, um typically larger
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school districts in the larger cities in Indiana. And then
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of course our support staff is indispensible. We have an
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administrative assistant and a bookkeeper. So that’s pretty
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much the way it is set up. As you can see, it’s not real
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top heavy. There are not a lot of us (LAUGHS) uh, doing the
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work of um, overseeing and supervising and coordinating the
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work of 2200 volunteer peer teachers every year – or peer
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educators and who reach about 43,000 students. So the
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training is um, obviously the nuts and bolts of this is
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that we typically train people who want to implement or
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replicate our program – we train them in Indiana or
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Indianapolis um, and that way we can have, um you know,
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they can actually see the peer mentors and me and talk with
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them. They can see them during their practices. They can
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see them during their presentations that they’re making of
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our um, teaching our lessons in the classroom. They are
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able to, you know, we sit down and talk and go through all
8
of the curriculum and the protocol and everything that we
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have. So we train the adult coordinators or adult coaches.
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They are just as – as, um, critical to what we do in each
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of our school systems as a basketball or football coach
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would do on the field. It wouldn’t happen without our
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adults and our, our adults are, are number one, obviously
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the quality of people who number one, believe 100 percent
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that abstinence until marriage is, you know, the number one
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way for young people to um, live their lives. And that
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should be their commitments and their goals. And so they’re
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totally committed, obviously to abstinence until marriage
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education. Our coaches also though have the responsibility
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of, um, of working with the schools who they partner with
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and then uh, working with a liaison or leadership in the
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schools teachers or counselors uh, within the school deans
23
(phonetic) to um, actually identify the best role models in
24
the school and then, uh, this is down to the selection and
25
training of the peer mentors. So I’ll just try to make this
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as uncomplicated as I can. Let’s say they’re in your school
2
district. You’re obviously working in your school and your
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school wants to implement some peer facilitation in
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addition to a traditional – a more traditional adult-
5
facilitated program. So the first thing that you would do
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obviously is uh, to uh, show samples of the curriculum that
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we have or another peer facilitator curriculum and samples
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of the curriculum and our protocol and everything that we
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have in place. Like I said, we have a 75-page protocol. So
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we have really have I think just about everything written
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out including letters of parent consent and student
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commitment and everything that you need. Um, so that the
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superintendent, the principles of the middle schools and
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high school, uh, school board members, health teachers,
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parents – interested parents would be invited to a meeting,
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an information meeting so that they can see the materials
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and basically have an overview of the program. So when it’s
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– what we call a “pilot” or the first year of a program,
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the um, um, you know, our person who is trained to be the
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coordinator in that school district would tell them that we
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need to begin with between oh 15 and 20 recommendations of
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the best role models in the high school. The leaders that
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they can think of from a diverse – whether it’s ethnic
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population or just diversity as far as their interest.
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Whether they’re athletes or um, you know, the brain-game
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team, any – you know, whatever – different, different um,
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groups from the school. Everyone possibly be represented.
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And so those students then are sent a letter – one of the
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letters in our protocol saying they’ve been recommended to
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apply to be peer mentors in our program. And then, um, they
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complete an application that we have that basically asks
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them to explain why they’ve made this commitment – is this
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their commitment that they have decided to save sex for
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marriage? Why have they made this commitment? Who in their
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life has influence them? And uh, about what percentage of
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their friends also agree with them that sex should be saved
12
for marriage? So um, the app - when the applications come
13
back and people basically – they’ve been recommended to
14
begin with. So you know that they are – are young people
15
who are leaders and uh, who are, you know, known in their
16
school for being people of integrity. Then the
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applications, you know, are read carefully and the students
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that basically confirm that they um, have made this
19
commitment and this is something that they very much
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believe in – then they’re sent another letter saying they
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have been, uh, selected to be a peer mentor in our program.
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And then from there it goes on to um, meetings and training
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to prepare the – the high school students. So that was part
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of training the coaches. Rodney Bussle (phonetic) – the
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gentleman to the right here, one of our um coordinators and
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he’s talking to a couple of our former peer mentors. We
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made this a few years ago. So the adult leaders training
3
process is our staff works with new people who want to
4
implement a peer facilitation program. So I, you know, talk
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to the new, um, adult staff person or, you know, person
6
from another school district whatever. Um, I talk to them,
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show them our curriculum, go through it, go through our
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protocol. The regional coordinators work to help train
9
through kind of a – they see on the job how our regional
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and area coordinators work with their own group of uh,
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students in different school systems or maybe one school
12
district. And then our support staff provides excellent on
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– just on-going support throughout the school year and even
14
the summer uh, sending them the information, more
15
materials, whatever it might be that they’re there to
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provide, uh, you know, their help in any way possible.
17
Okay. So the adult leaders training process as I said, they
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uh, they go through the 75-page protocol and appendix. The
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appendix has about, oh, there’s at least 25 different
20
letters – uh, everything as I said, from parent consent,
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information about our evaluation, um, the student
22
commitment, evaluation forms for the classroom teacher, uh,
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recommendation forms for the high school teachers and
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counselors to recommend other peer mentors and the like. So
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the – the coordinators who have strong programs help to
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train new people and, of course, as I said ongoing support
2
through our staff. And then selection and training of the
3
peer mentors. The high school students as I have explained
4
– they are recommended. We also obviously, are open for
5
students to initiate – recommending themselves that they’re
6
interested in the program and being part of the program.
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And when someone, you know, comes to us and says that he or
8
she is interested, we typically um, ask their counselor and
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talk to other people possibly teachers and counselors
10
about them. We also have peer mentors. Peer mentors are our
11
best source of recommending other students. So once the
12
program has been piloted and um, as I mentioned we do need
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from about I said 15 to 20 students recommended and that is
14
because we actually need in order to implement the program
15
and – and carry it through – we have approximately 5
16
students – 45 students, peer mentors who work in a group
17
and teach one lesson. We have three lessons in our
18
curriculum at each grade level from grade six through nine
19
or wherever the high school students receive help.
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Typically it’s nine through tenth grade in Indiana. So we
21
have three lessons at each grade level, so by the time the
22
students are in high school and have received our program,
23
they have received 12 lessons altogether. And the peer
24
mentors, then, in order to not take advantage of their
25
time, these are of course, the busiest young people in the
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world. They are engaged in everything, so many different
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activities which is one reason why they’re such positive
3
role models and they’re also positive role models because
4
they’re engaged in productive activities. So we know that
5
they are very busy young people and we do everything we can
6
to streamline the time that they have to give to the
7
program to learn the material and to present the lessons.
8
Um, so the peer mentors are in groups of four to five. Each
9
group learns one lesson. Um, each group only misses one
10
full day at school, typically full day at school – I’d say
11
that in the larger school district. It might only be a
12
couple hours or a half-day of school in smaller school
13
districts. But um, the peer mentors then are – the
14
coordinators meet with the peer mentors in their groups or
15
individually – however you can catch them before school,
16
during study hall, after school, if possible in the evening
17
and the peer mentors then in the three or four or five
18
times that they meet with their coordinator practicing,
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they have been working on the material – learning the
20
material. Because we have four to five in a group and the
21
lessons are somewhere between 12 and 15 pages, there is um,
22
not a whole lot that any peer mentor has to learn (PHONE
23
CONNECTION BRIEFLY BREAKS UP) so it’s very easy, really,
24
and do-able and as busy as they are to learn just a couple
25
pages, to practice it over and over again on their own time
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and then with the coordinator. We have kind of a dress
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rehearsal. Um, some of our coordinators are able to
3
actually have more of a rehearsal where it is, you know, in
4
the evening or on the weekend and several groups present to
5
each other. In some of our larger school systems, uh, the
6
rehearsal would be just bringing the mentors together, to
7
time the presentations, and to show our videos and, you
8
know, have them practice the activities. Um, they typically
9
then, most of our middle school classes are about 45
10
minutes in length so each group of mentors would go pretty
11
much all throughout the day, depending on how large the
12
school is, as I said, and go from one class to the next to
13
the next doing exactly the same thing each time just as we
14
would if we were teaching as adults. Um, the lessons that
15
we have are very interactive, very engaging. We have made
16
many of our own video vignettes that supplement the topic
17
of the um, lesson. For example, whether it’s media
18
influences or teen pregnancy or STDs we have made our own
19
videos that are anywhere from three to10 minutes in length,
20
as I said, to supplement the material. It’s very
21
interactive and engaging. There are some small group
22
discussions, but we have role-playing, uh games,
23
activities. Peer mentors – one, you know, as we know, one
24
of the many great things about high school students is
25
they’re very frank and over the years they have helped us
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improve our curriculum as we’ve updated it and made it much
2
more engaging and interactive and more fun for the high
3
school students to teach. And fun in the way that – that
4
it’s not just fun and games, but they’re really able to
5
present the material in a way that is age-appropriate and
6
uh,
7
remember when they hear it. So these are just a couple of
8
our peer mentors. The motto of our program is “Abstain to
9
attain.” So we have t-shirts that – that say “Teens Abstain
relevant and something that the young people will
10
from Sex to Attain your Goals.” And we talk a lot about
11
attaining their goals and how abstinence until marriage
12
will help them do that. So the area coordinators meet with
13
the groups as I said while they learn the material. They
14
coach and mentor the peer mentors. Um, these as I said are
15
adult coordinators are wonderful and they are able to also
16
help the young people in their character development just
17
by – by getting to know them and just by pouring themselves
18
into these young people. Um, so the adult coordinator also
19
is responsible for scheduling the presentations in the
20
middle schools or the high school health classes. About, I
21
would say at least 95 percent of all of our programming is
22
school-based so that allows us to reach so many students.
23
As I said, to reach, you know, more than 40,000 students,
24
it would have to be school-based. We also have in the
25
summer time, um, programming – that we call our “communityEEI Production
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based” – after school or summer programming where we have
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some of our school mentors who work for us in the summer or
3
after school and go to the boys and girls clubs and the
4
YMCAs and present anywhere from one to 8 lessons to those
5
after school and summer students. We do pay those peer
6
mentors to work outside of the school day, but all of our
7
2200 peer mentors in the school are volunteers and we do
8
not pay them. They – it’s community service, volunteer, but
9
in Indiana, it is not required that high school students
10
have volunteer service for graduation. So all of our
11
students do this voluntarily and to my knowledge, none of
12
them receive any school credit for that. And so bringing
13
the peer mentors with the participants is such a – you
14
know, is key. We’re trying to get these wonderful role
15
models from the high school in front of the middle school
16
students, in front of their peers in the high school, as
17
well. Typically, for the high school lessons, we do use the
18
upper class – the juniors and seniors who um work in the
19
groups to present our lessons to the high – to the other
20
high school students. But um just the – the connection that
21
is made between the mentors and the program participants or
22
students, you know, the adolescents, is so powerful. And
23
um, the middle school students and even the high school
24
students really do, they – you know, saying “they hang on
25
every word” is – is not hyperbole. They really do um listen
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well. This young lady who happens to be a high school
2
student – you can see here talking to the young girl –
3
actually – last, let’s see. Two years ago she was the
4
Indianapolis 500 Festival Queen and of course, this picture
5
was taken when she was in high school. So many of our
6
mentors go on to – to really achieve. Um, also, obviously,
7
the evaluation of the effectiveness of this peer
8
facilitation model is critical and I’ll talk about our
9
outcomes in a little more detail in just a little bit here.
10
So the peer mentors’ impact on schools, communities and
11
students um obviously strengthen the schools and
12
communities because what we’re trying to do is to really
13
help these wonderful young leaders and role models to reach
14
their potential. And have every opportunity that they can
15
to speak, to communicate, to live, to exemplify the
16
qualities that we are endorsing that the abstinence not
17
only from sexual activity until marriage but also
18
abstinence, you know, from drugs and all that. So it helps
19
uh, create positive youth development models in the
20
schools. And I know you’re all probably familiar with the
21
Search Institute. And Search Institute talks a lot about
22
asset-building opportunities but they need asset-building
23
opportunities, you know? So that was always, you know, kind
24
of the problem. We want to help build assets in these young
25
people which will help them ultimately to make better
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choices and to achieve and to be successful in life, but
2
they have to have this opportunity. So that’s one of the
3
main reasons why the program was started. So also this peer
4
facilitation model helps connect with parents of the
5
mentors and participants so we – through, you know, the
6
students receiving the program, they talk to their parents
7
about this whether they’re mentors or participants. So this
8
helps to really involve and educate the parents at the same
9
time. Um, so this – it solicits the teachers’, the
10
counselors’, the students’ buy-in by inviting them to
11
identify and recommend students who demonstrate
12
characteristics and risk-avoidance behavior. Uh, as we all
13
know in every school there are some teachers and some
14
adults who uh, may be reluctant to say that they think
15
abstinence is realistic or effective – abstinence education
16
for young people. And to have the school staff be part of
17
the – part of the program and actually part of um – you
18
know, helping us with the selection process helps to draw
19
them in and helps many times to win, you know, their
20
enthusiasm for the program. Uh, also it helps schools
21
provide co-curricular activity that is likely to improve
22
their students’ academic performance. The National School
23
Board Association um, journal many, you know, research
24
journals and, and um, you know just lots of research that
25
is available now had connected a link and found that there
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is a definite link between their student participation in
2
co-curricular or extra-curricular activities and how this
3
then, um, directly affects their connection to school,
4
their connection to the um, you know, the, not only the
5
staff but to the academics at the school. They are setting
6
their goals. They’re seeing themselves as leaders and it
7
really helps them to um have more of an interest and a
8
commitment to their academics in school as well. And it
9
really helps to improve, um, you know, helps the
10
performance of the students or it helps to keep it high.
11
Uh, it also helps – uh, peer facilitation also helps win
12
the endorsement of abstinence from pre-marital sexual
13
activities from most of the sectors of society. So when we
14
have recognition whether – it’s activities, events, whether
15
it’s a breakfast or a lunch or a reception or a dinner for
16
our peer mentors, we invite not only parents, but also
17
leaders in the community – the mayor, you know, city-county
18
council, school board members, superintendents and the
19
like. So it really does ??? many sectors of the community
20
and many of the stakeholders in the community. It also
21
empowers the abstinence sub-culture in schools and
22
communities so it increases the peer mentors’ confidence by
23
affirming and spotlighting them as leaders who are making
24
healthy choices. When I used to teach high school many
25
years ago, it was such a (GASPS IN FRUSTRATION) – it was
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just so hard for me to – to deal with the fact that some of
2
the greatest leaders in the school were looked down upon
3
back in the ‘80s as “nerds” because they weren’t drinking.
4
They weren’t smoking. They weren’t sexually active. So this
5
was one of the goals was to turn this around and, you know,
6
do everything we could to help these young people who
7
really are the true leaders, to have, um, you know, center
8
stage and to be spotlighted and to be appreciated and
9
affirmed. And this – this really is happening. Uh, also it
10
provides youth constructive opportunities to contribute and
11
help others which is so vital to help people feel better
12
about themselves and to um, just really, you know, want to
13
continue this positive behavior. It helps youth feel
14
supported and valued and it empowers youth to take control
15
of their lives and strengthens their commitment to
16
abstinence and a healthy lifestyle. Peer facilitation
17
actively engages positive role models as change agents. So
18
obviously they educate – by educating and equipping the
19
peer mentors in schools and communities to lead by example,
20
by walking the talk. This gives these peer mentors
21
ownership of the abstinence education intervention.
22
are ultimately going to be the ones to make the decision
23
of, you know, what they do. And so when they have
24
ownership, they definitely have more accountability. It
25
helps their commitment as well. This allows mentors to
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engage in experiential and active learning rather than
2
being passive observers all the time. And it empowers them
3
to affect the attitude and behavior of their peers. It
4
motivates teenagers to become agents of positive peer
5
pressure. Also it maxi – maximizes the influence of
6
positive role models in changing their culture. So it
7
connects these middle school students with the positive
8
role models. It provides incentive for the middle school
9
students to be future peer mentors. We hear over and over
10
again, every day practically, “What do I have to do to be
11
in this program? I want to be a peer mentor when I get to
12
the high school.” And so the mentors can clearly say, you
13
know, “You need to be making good choices. You need to be,
14
uh, encouraging your friends and running around with young
15
people who share your values, who are making good choices.”
16
And it also helps middle school and high school students
17
meet their basic personal and social needs in healthy ways.
18
Young people typically make the choices that they do and –
19
and choose to do certain things in order to be accepted by
20
peer groups and to belong. And when they can belong and be
21
accepted for doing the positive things, that’s what we want
22
to see in schools. The effectiveness the PEERS Project. Um,
23
we have – thanks to the CBAE grant – we have – grants - we
24
have been able to evaluate our program since 2001 and we
25
have contracted with Dr. Ken Ferraro who is the Professor
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of Sociology at Purdue University here in Indiana. And um,
2
so, you know, with his research assistance – they have been
3
doing a lot of research over the years. This is just one
4
graph that just kind of shows the um, the effect of, you
5
know, of being in the program over time and this shows at
6
sixth grade, 90.70 percent um, said that they had, um – let
7
me see, it says that these students had committed to wait
8
for sex who said that the PEERS Project helped in their
9
decision. So on the post test we have only one additional
10
question from the pre-test and - on our survey - and it
11
says, “Have the peer mentors helped you make a decision
12
regarding saving sex for marriage?” So at sixth – at the
13
end of sixth grade, um, the survey found that over 90
14
percent said that the peer mentors had helped them make a
15
decision to save sex for marriage. At seventh grade it did
16
drop a little bit, but it was still about 86 percent of the
17
students. And the same group of students at the end of
18
eighth grade, it was um, 68 – more than 68, 69 percent of
19
these students at eighth grade who were still committed and
20
said that the mentors were still influencing their
21
decisions. Uh, one example of a, um, state health statistic
22
regarding the teen birth rate and, you know, the, the, the
23
real evidence of the positive impact of peer facilitation –
24
one of the counties in Indiana called Brown County – I
25
don’t know if you’ve heard of it? But it’s in a cute
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little, um just a rural, hilly section of Indiana that’s
2
called Nashville, Indiana. And in 2000 – uh comparing 2000
3
with 2006, there was a 90 percent reduction in the teen
4
birth rate between 15- to 17-year-olds. Measuring,
5
comparing 2000 with 2006 and this is on the State Health
6
Department’s Web site. And then also between 2000 and 2006
7
– between, among the 18- and 19-yar-olds, there was a 72
8
percent decline in the teen birth rate. And in all of the
9
counties where all of their school districts have our
10
program and have had it for five years or more, there has
11
been a significant drop in the teen birth rate. Brown
12
County’s reduction is obviously the best that we have, but
13
there are – but all of them have a significant reduction if
14
all of their students are involved in the different school
15
districts in their county. The principle of Brown County
16
High School, uh, sent me a letter one time and this is what
17
he said. “Our peer mentors have changed the texture of our
18
school and they are making it a better place.” Brown County
19
also happens to be a rural, low-income county. Most of the
20
residents in Brown County are – are not, you know, low- to
21
middle-class and so for Mr. Stark, the principle, to say
22
this I think really, um, you know, it’s exciting to us to
23
see the change in the texture. And I asked him, “What do
24
you mean by the ‘texture’ exactly?” And he said, “There is
25
a different feel in our high school than there used to be
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before your program came.” Um, some other things that I
2
would just like to mention regarding the outcomes of peer
3
facilitation that are not on the PowerPoint presentation
4
and…um for example we have traditionally evaluated sixth
5
graders and um, high school students. And as you saw on the
6
graph a little earlier, that we have done some longitudinal
7
studies where we have tracked the same group of students
8
from sixth grade through the ninth grade or tenth grade
9
whenever they have helped. Um, but for the sixth graders
10
who have received “PEP” compared to those in the control
11
group or the delay treatment group that did not receive
12
“PEP” – the sixth graders were 15 points, uh, a little more
13
than 15 percent more likely to be committed to abstinence.
14
Of the sixth grade students who received “PEP” and were
15
initially uncommitted to abstinence, they were nearly four
16
times more likely to be committed after having the program
17
than those who had not had the program yet. Also regarding
18
the ninth graders who have been evaluated, um, the students
19
who did not have “PEP” were nearly twice as likely to have
20
had sex at ninth grade than those who had had the program.
21
So these are students at ninth grade who had been involved
22
in our program since sixth grade. But um, comparing our
23
treatment students with those who had not been in the
24
program in a different school district, they were um, you
25
know, the ones who hadn’t had “PEP” were twice as likely to
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have had sex. Uh, students who had “PEP” were more likely
2
than those who didn’t who had – let me see. Students who
3
had “PEP” were more likely than those who did not have the
4
program to report having assertiveness skills to resist
5
sexual urges and advances. So 96 percent of the students
6
who had had “PEP” had these skills compared to only 76
7
percent of the students who reported having skills who had
8
not been in the program. Students who had “PEP” were more
9
likely than those who did not have the program to report
10
understanding the social, psychological and health gains to
11
be realized. Ninety-three percent of the students who had –
12
were treatment students compared to the delayed treatment
13
students or control students and um, 89 percent of the
14
control students said that they uh, did not understand all
15
these – the health gains to be made by abstaining. And a
16
couple more things. The students who had “PEP” were 17
17
percent more likely to report having made a commitment to
18
abstain compared to students who did not have the program.
19
Um, also, of the ninth graders, two out of three said that
20
they found the program helpful in deciding to remain
21
sexually abstinent. Oh, also we evaluate and survey our
22
peer mentors as well as our program participants and of the
23
peer mentors, um, most of them had made a commitment when
24
they were 14 years of age or older, so they were, you know
25
that was about eighth grade. Uh, some of our peer mentors
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had said they had made a commitment to save sex for
2
marriage in sixth grade and of these peer mentors who had
3
been involved and now they’re in high school, only 5.3
4
percent had engaged in, in um sexual intercourse and 8
5
percent had engaged in oral sex. Compare this with the 2005
6
Youth Risk Behavior Survey where 40 – more than 45 percent
7
of high school students um, have ever – have reported ever
8
having sex. And um, oh – and um, let me see – 57 – 59.7
9
percent of “PEP” mentors who had sex only had had sex
10
before they got into the program and the majority of those
11
said that they uh, um, had abstained since being in the
12
program. So I will turn it over to questions, but it’s
13
just, I think, we’re trying to just show that there is a
14
real, um, uh – an effect that is holding these young people
15
who are making a commitment at middle school. It’s holding
16
them all the way through high school and we even did some
17
surveying, online surveying uh, once our students had
18
graduated and in college, the majority yet had not engaged
19
in sexual activity who, you know, obviously they had to
20
choose to take the online survey, but um, it really has I
21
think a staying power for these young people to maintain
22
their commitment and sustain their commitment to abstinence
23
through high school when they’re involved as peer
24
facilitators.
25
LIZ: Wow, Eve. Thank you so much for sharing about
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your program. It’s exciting to hear about the impact that
2
it is making. Thank you. And, as you said we are going to
3
open it now for questions and answers. Um, to ask a
4
question, you’ll need to press “star 7” to un-mute your
5
line and once your question has been answered, please press
6
“star 6” to mute your line. And when you ask a question,
7
please identify who you are and where you are from. So who
8
has the first question?
9
DIANE: Um, my name is Diane deLong and I am with
10
Catholic Charities in Prescott, Arizona. And um, Eve, this
11
is an incredible program and I’m just curious if you could
12
give us more um – information about the lessons and the
13
content and some of the, you know, interactive sessions?
14
JACKSON: Sure. As I said we have three lessons. Each
15
of sixth, seventh, eighth grade and high school. At sixth
16
grade level we start with media and our first lesson is
17
called “Media Influences.” And uh, at each of, in each of
18
our lessons, we really emphasize to our peer mentors that
19
it is um, there’s a task or a goal, you know, that they
20
have. And our “Media Influences” lesson – the goal is to
21
teach the sixth graders critical thinking skills because
22
there’s no way, you know, you can’t get around the, you
23
know, preoccupation with sex in the media so they’re trying
24
to help them learn how to analyze the media, how to think
25
critically and how to not only judge but hopefully choose
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through understanding how the influence that the media has
2
on them through, you know, a few statistics and various
3
activities that we have, but, you know, for them to
4
understand they need to choose media that is not uh,
5
totally about you know sex before marriage because that is
6
going to influence their decisions as well as their
7
thinking. Um, and then the second lesson is on “Teen
8
Pregnancy and Parenthood.” Um, we have a video of some teen
9
parents that we have produced and our – our message there
10
is that these young people say they wished they had waited.
11
Um, you know, we’re not trying to judge them or putting
12
them down, we’re just trying
13
the video as well as in the lesson, you know, how it really
14
can rob a young person of their education and even
15
sometimes their life, you know, their youth, to become a
16
parent um too soon. The third lesson is on a “Assertiveness
17
Techniques” where the high school students are – through
18
role-playing which is a lot of fun for them, you know, for
19
them to be role-playing in the middle school – with the
20
students to be role-playing with the high school students –
21
but to uh, teach them how to be assertive, say “no, that
22
doesn’t work” – you take the offense. You ask, “Why?” You
23
state your feelings and if that doesn’t work, you just
24
cannot be with people who are pressuring you or have
25
pressured you. Um, we have a video with that as well with
- for them to emphasize on
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some peer mentors in that. At seventh grade, the first
2
lesson is called “Friendship and Peer Pressure” and we talk
3
about, you know, what is a friend? What is a true friend?
4
We have some, some little skits and the like and you know,
5
there to really – um, and then the discussion is, you know,
6
what would a true friend do in different circumstances. The
7
next lesson is on STDs and we have a video that we’ve made.
8
Uh, we have updated our – the videos that we’ve made about
9
four years ago – we did update them and um, the STD video
10
again is very short that we use. But it’s interactive. We
11
have the “cup demonstration” which you’ve probably heard
12
of. Where you have the water in the cup and it says
13
“Disease” on the outside of it and it’s labeled and all
14
that. So they - that’s a fun activity. We also have a card
15
activity where – they’re all given a card and it has a
16
letter on it and um so they’re either disease-free
17
initially or they have an STD and then they sign each
18
others cards, you know. And then they talk about um
19
epidemics and how an epidemic happens. Um, the third lesson
20
at seventh grade is called “Linking Drugs to Sex” and
21
because of the interconnectedness of all the risk
22
behaviors, the lesson again is very engaging and it talks
23
about the fact that young people need to stay away from
24
tobacco and alcohol and all of that as well as you know,
25
sex because if they start drinking or smoking, it’s –
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they’re more likely to become sexually active and vice
2
versa. Um, and then in eighth grade, we start talking about
3
love and relationships. And the first lesson is called
4
“What Love Really Is.” And the second lesson is on “Healthy
5
Relationships.” The “Healthy Relationships” is mainly a
6
skit that uh, class participants are the actors and we give
7
them, you know, their parts. And there’s “Abusive Bob” and
8
there’s “Selfish Susie” and “Kind-Hearted Kenny” and the
9
like. So then they talk about character qualities and how
10
do you identify and determine what someone’s character is
11
and how that then will help you understand what that
12
person’s really like and the way they, you know, the
13
choices that they’ll make in their behavior. Um, and then
14
the third lesson is called “Learning to Love” and it’s
15
about developing the character qualities needed for healthy
16
relationships and we also have um, start talking about how
17
to be an effective communicator and how to communicate um,
18
you know, in an – like to negotiate and to discuss things
19
with someone. How to communicate when you um, your feelings
20
and also how to manage your anger and how to, you know, try
21
to um, positively be pro-active rather than reactive. Then
22
at the high school level, again it’s all about – well, two
23
of the three are about love, of course, and the third
24
lesson is again on STDs. So the first lesson is called,
25
“Smart Love” and it’s, you know, we talk a lot about um,
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gratification and being able to defer gratification versus
2
um, you know, instant. And why this is and the myths of
3
love and you know why – why some people – why some people –
4
why some teens become sexually active and others don’t.
5
Then we have the second lesson is called “Love that Lasts a
6
Lifetime.” And again, that is – we start out by talking
7
about dating violence. We have a great handout from the
8
Dibble Institute on dating violence and what you can do
9
about it. Um, we talk about, um, you know what is abuse?
10
And what is healthy? And a lot of discussion in that
11
because high school students, of course, uh not only
12
intellectually able to and mature enough but they love
13
discussing and their input is vital, you know. So they’re
14
talking about it and they’re well aware of what is a
15
healthy relationship and what isn’t a healthy relationship.
16
And then the third is – we show the video “The Rules Have
17
Changed” by Dr. Meg Meeker on STDs. And we have some
18
questions about that afterwards. Did you get more than you
19
ever wanted to know. (LAUGHS)
20
LIZ: Great. Thank you, Eve.
21
JACKSON: Sure.
22
LIZ: What is our next question?
23
JACKSON: One thing I might add about the lessons is
24
that they were developed and written for peer facilitation
25
so it is – they are scripted. Myself having taught high
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school for 10 years and working with young people a lot, I
2
was a little bit reluctant to just have this open-ended
3
conversation. That is not what we do. We have very scripted
4
lessons and the students have their parts. It’s more like
5
they’re – um not like they’re acting. We don’t want them to
6
memorize the material. We tell them the goal is for them to
7
as teachers to learn the material well and to talk about
8
it. Um, I have had over the years, you know, where we’ve
9
worked with thousands of students – to my knowledge I have
10
only had one student who said she didn’t want people to
11
tell her what to say. The other students appreciate the
12
fact they don’t have to do the research and write their own
13
lesson. Um, you know, at the beginning of every lesson, the
14
mentors introduce themselves, say what they’re involved in
15
at school and then they have an opportunity to briefly
16
explain why they decided to save sex for marriage. So they
17
do, you know, and then during the lessons there are
18
sometimes where they, um you know, they are encouraged in
19
the lesson to discuss, um, you know, kind of their own
20
experiences a little bit without mentioning any names and
21
why they – are making the choices that they are and doing
22
what they’re doing.
23
MAN: Eve?
24
JACKSON: Yes.
25
MAN: This is ??? Phelps (phonetic). I’m with
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Abstinence Education in Wichita, Kansas
2
JACKSON: Oh, hi.
3
MAN: Hi. And Eve, you probably know our “Peer and ???”
4
Project…
5
JACKSON: Yes!
6
MAN: …is based primarily on peer education…so
7
JACKSON: Yes…
8
MAN: …I just had a question on your uh, your, your,
9
your instructors, your peer mentors go out in teams and
10
only teach one lesson for a whole day. Do they ever – how
11
are they exposed then or are they exposed to the whole
12
curriculum.
13
JACKSON: That’s a good question. They basically are
14
not exposed to the whole curriculum. We do have an, um,
15
mentor handbook. I’m glad you said that. And it summarizes
16
very briefly each of the lessons. So they do have that and
17
that is primarily made up of facts and statistics because
18
we want to be able to document everything we say. And um,
19
make sure that it is accurate and medically accurate as
20
well. So they do not, unfortunately, get an overview of all
21
the lessons. The other thing too, is that usually they can
22
go each semester. So they typically would do a second
23
lesson the second semester uh, to a different grade level.
24
And one way we really try to, uh, help um, with the
25
development and the um, the peer support of these mentors
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is we don’t just at the end of the, you know – they’ve made
2
their presentation and then that’s it, you know? “Goodbye.
3
Thanks.” We um, our coordinators try to have um,
4
activities. Uh, we have a um – we’ve had a state
5
conference, a state-wide conference in the past um, and –
6
but the local schools – the coordinators try to get the
7
mentors together whether it’s a bowling party or just to
8
get kids together and talk. They love to talk about issues
9
and the challenges and all that. So, you know, we really
10
try to do more in the leadership development and um, just –
11
just really support them, you know, as a group and help
12
them get to know each other better in those ways.
13
14
15
MAN: Now are your coordinators, are they uh, paid
through the projects? Or are they volunteers?
JACKSON: No. Our coordinators – our adult coordinators
16
are all paid. They’re all employees um, so they’re –
17
whether they’re part-time or full-time, um, you know,
18
they’re part of our staff and that’s part of our budget for
19
the CBAE grant.
20
MAN: And, um, along those lines, too – you mentioned
21
“Title 5.” Does any of the Title 5 money – do they use to
22
pay for this same person? (phonetic)
23
JACKSON: The program? Well, now – this is the first
24
time since the Title 5 has started that in Indiana, um, if
25
you receive CBAE money you cannot receive a Title 5 grant
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which makes sense. So uh, we haven’t – and they’re just in
2
the process now. They haven’t even posted – the State
3
Health Department has not posted their RFP yet, but they’re
4
going to pretty soon. So um, any of our, our local school
5
districts that apply for the Title 5 grant, if they get the
6
grant, then we will not pay them anymore. You know, they
7
can use our curriculum, but they won’t be our employers
8
anymore – employees any more.
9
10
MAN: I’ve ??? other questions so I’ll probably have to
contact you later about that.
11
JACKSON: Okay. Well, please do.
12
LIZ: Thanks, Eve. I have a question about – I was just
13
astounded with the statistics on – toward the end of your
14
presentation on the decrease in birth rates in Brown
15
County?
16
JACKSON: Yes.
17
LIZ: (LAUGHS) And I was just curious of, you know,
18
maybe other programs in that county as well. Have you
19
partnered with other programs, you know? It’s just amazing
20
to see the decrease and so I was just curious to know.
21
JACKSON: Nope, we have not. We have not partnered…
22
LIZ: No. Okay.
23
JACKSON: …in that particular county. We have done some
24
partnering uh, with the Family & um, FACS – Family &
25
Consumer Science…
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LIZ: Right.
2
JACKSON: …and, and several of those around the state
3
we have given our materials to and trained to teach our
4
material and use in their classrooms. But that then is
5
adult facilitated so the FACS teachers are teaching it.
6
We’ve also uh, trained the officers of SCCLA which is, you
7
know, the youth um, club of – of FACS at Family & Consumer
8
Career – I can’t remember what all that stands for – but we
9
have trained their leaders – state leaders as well as local
10
chapter leaders to teach and to do some peer facilitation
11
in their school district. Um, and you know, we partner with
12
a few other people in Indianapolis, but in most of our
13
counties we have not, including Brown County.
14
LIZ: Okay. Thank you.
15
JACKSON: Uh, hum.
16
LIZ: Do we have any other questions? I believe
17
somebody, um, typed out a question for you on the screen?
18
On the right hand side…
19
JACKSON: Oh, I see. I see, okay.
20
LIZ: …address that question…
21
JACKSON: Oh. (LAUGHS) Um…well, we get that question,
22
and um, as everybody does. And um, you know, there are – of
23
course, we do not want to discriminate. There have been
24
actually some peer mentors in our program over the years
25
that after they had been selected to be peer mentors, they
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did say that they were in a lesbian or gay lifestyle,
2
whatever. And again, the message is the same whether you’re
3
heterosexual or homosexual. Um, you know, to be part of our
4
program, you need to be abstinent. You also need, uh, to,
5
you know, believe that abstinence until marriage is the way
6
to go and that is just – that’s who we are, you know.
7
That’s the, the, the basis of our program. So they – they –
8
if they don’t agree that abstinence until marriage is uh,
9
needs to be the expected standard and the lifestyle, then,
10
you know, like anybody else regardless of – of um sexual
11
preference or whatever, they would not be able to be a peer
12
mentor. Uh, our selection process has helped a lot. When I
13
first started doing this about 20 years ago, I was glad
14
just to get a warm body, you know. And so I wasn’t – we
15
weren’t selecting the students. They were just applying –
16
anybody could do that. And there were some that I did not
17
feel – and I could you know, just tell by talking to them
18
and – and hearing their, you know, them presenting or
19
talking way back in the beginning that they weren’t that
20
committed. So that’s why over the years I’ve learned
21
through – what not to do as well as what to do. And learned
22
that it’s so much, um, - what we need to do is we need pow-
23
positive role models. We need students who are walking the
24
talk. Uh, young people cannot stand hypocrisy more than
25
adults even and uh, the young people wouldn’t put up with
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it. So when we do have a peer mentor who has not lived up
2
to this commitment, um, many times uh, you know, we – we
3
don’t necessarily – we cannot uh, assume anything. So
4
typically, you know, that person is a mentor that year but
5
the next year that person would not be recommended. So we
6
do – the list of students who we – we receive, we run that
7
list by um, you know, the dean and the counselors and
8
teachers and the like to make sure that they would
9
recommend these young people. Uh, you know, they have to be
10
in good standing with the school. They can’t have – they
11
can’t be uh, late to class all the time or, or um, you
12
know, they, or troublemakers. So we – we really want to –
13
to get, you know, the best representation we can from the
14
school. Um, and, you know, as far as the um, Susan’s
15
question is – I think it was Susan – that this is – this is
16
primary prevention. This is primary health prevention and
17
regardless of what people, you know, different persuasions
18
are – abstinence is the only way to prevent – 100 percent
19
of the time, the STDs and teen pregnancy and the like or
20
whatever. So it’s – it’s a primary prevention, you know –
21
primary prevention policy. It’s a public health policy. So
22
everybody’s ??? basically the same. We have had some – over
23
the past especially when I’ve been to a couple national
24
conferences. It seems like I get more questions about –
25
about this issue and about well, some young people, you
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know, homosexuals cannot marry. And basically it’s a health
2
issue and um, you now, I just don’t – I don’t argue with
3
them. But I basically say, “The health issue is abstinence
4
until marriage. States have their laws. Indiana is one of
5
I’m sure many states that there is a law that states that
6
marriage is defined as, you know, the legal union of one
7
man and one woman.” So that’s all I do – you know, as far
8
as what I say. Okay, um – let me see…
9
10
11
LIZ: Okay. Great. Thank…
JACKSON: Oh, that was Jessica, I’m sorry, not Susan.
There’s one from Pauline. Is that it?
12
LIZ: Yes. I think Pauline made a comment.
13
JACKSON: Okay. On the American College of
14
Pediatricians home page has an excellent review of same sex
15
attraction on young people stresses abstinence. Well,
16
that’s good.
17
18
19
LIZ: Thank you, Pauline. That’s great to know as well.
Do we have any other questions for Eve?
JACKSON: Jessica has another one. Okay. (LAUGHS) ok,
20
she doesn’t have another question. Um, I must say in all
21
honesty – I want to be a forthright as I can – and I’ve had
22
people from Kathleen Sullivan to a lot of people – a lot of
23
the pioneers of abstinence education um say to me that
24
absti – that peer facilitation is very labor intensive. And
25
no one knows that better than we do. It’s very labor
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intensive. It’s – it would be a whole lot easier for me to
2
prepare myself to speak in front of classes which I have
3
done in the past and do occasionally. It’s a lot more work
4
to get groups of students prepared and ready and there’s
5
all kinds of challenges because they’re very – you know,
6
the busiest students in the schools. And um, you know,
7
there are some times – “Oh SAT tests is today and we…or
8
next week and that day you have scheduled we have to
9
reschedule.” And there – there are these challenges, yes.
10
That’s very true and I’m not trying to say it’s not labor-
11
intensive ‘cause it is. But it is worth every minute that
12
you spend preparing young people. I just – I’m so committed
13
to this and I’ve seen it so many times. Young people, uh,
14
just saying, you know, “Being in this program has made all
15
the difference.”
16
17
18
19
LIZ: Wow. That’s great. Do we have any further
questions for Eve?
JACKSON: Oh, here’s Sarah. Uh…yeah – the article. She
was thanking Pauline for the article.
20
LIZ: All right! Well, if we don’t have any more
21
questions, then this will conclude today’s technical
22
assistance Webcast. I’d like to thank Eve again for her
23
presentation…also…
24
JACKSON: Well, thank you.
25
LIZ: …thank each of you that participated in the call
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and for your comments and resources that you posted as
2
well. Um, all of the grantee showcase Webcasts can be
3
accessed by visiting our Web site – Abstinence.Pal-
4
Tech.com. And also please remember that as technical
5
assistance providers we are available to answer your
6
questions via email at Abstinence@Pal-Tech.com. Thank you
7
again for joining us for today’s Webcast and have a
8
wonderful day.
9
10
AUTOMATED WOMAN’S VOICE: Thank you.
END OF RECORDING.
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