EFFECTS OF A DRUG EDUCATION INSERVICE PROGRAM ON THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THE STUDENTS OF PARTICIPANTS

The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of an
inservice drug education program on the drug education achievement
of participants and students of participants. The problem
was concerned with the evaluation of a specific inservice program.
Of particular interest was the achievement of students
whose teachers had completed the inservice program. A pretest/posttest-control group design was used in the experimental
study. The population selected for the study was all
fourth and fifth grade teachers and their students in the North
and Central Area public elementary schools of Palm Beach County,
Florida. A random sample was drawn from an alphabetized list
of teachers in the designated population. Teacher subjects
were assigned to the experimental and control groups on an
odd/even basis. Student subjects were drawn randomly from the
attendance cards of each teacher subject. In this study, no significant relationships were found concerning
teacher achievement and age or years' experience.
A significant relationship was found between achievement of
all teacher subjects and achievement of their students. Student
achievement was dependent on test performance of their
teachers.
The information survey revealed that the self-instructional type inservice program was acceptable to the teachers in the
experimental group, and that this approach was effective in
improving and updating teachers' knowledge of drug education.