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History The Michigan Alcohol and Other Drugs School Survey Project The MAOD project is a research/service activity conducted through The Kercher Center for Social Research at Western Michigan University. The purpose of the project is to collect data from 8th, 10th and 12th grade students on their attitudes toward and usage of alcohol and various drugs, and since 1994-95, safety and violence issues. This information is then provided to individual school districts for use in the design and assessment of their drug education and prevention programs. The project began in 1988, when Western Michigan University was asked by the Michigan Department of Education to develop and implement an approach for the appraisal of perceived drug and alcohol use among 8th, 10th and 12th grade students throughout the State. The rationale for using an agency outside of state government to obtain the data was to ensure a maximum of confidentiality for students and school districts, while providing a useful assessment tool that would also qualify a district to apply for Drug Free School funds. The survey itself was patterned after the national high school substance use survey, Monitoring the Future, carried out by Dr. Lloyd Johnston and his staff at The Institute for Survey Research at the University of Michigan (who were also consultants in the development of the MAOD project). In addition, The MAOD report that is provided to school districts uses the Monitoring The Future's 12th grade national statistics for comparison purposes. Survey administration started in the 1989-90 school year. One hundred five (105) school districts were surveyed during that first year, with a total of 41,345 students participating. By the end of this, the 2003-04 academic year, approximately 85% (N=445) of Michigan's K-12 public schools as well as many private schools, had been surveyed at least once, accounting for over 750,000 cases. |
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In addition to carrying out alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs surveys for Michigan school districts, MAOD has been involved in a number of special projects, including aggregate reports and out-of-state projects. During the summer of 1993, for example, we prepared a report for the Michigan Office of Drug Control Policy consisting of first administrations of all districts that had been surveyed between the 1989-90 and the 1993-94 school years. It included a total of 156,818 cases. During the 1995-96 school year, MAOD conducted surveys of a stratified random sample of 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students, plus, for the first time, 6th graders. The results of that report produced results on a statewide basis, which previously had not been available for comparison purposes. In addition, a number of school consortia have contracted with MAOD to compile aggregate results for their combined districts, in order to make localized comparisons of data. In each of these cases, MAOD requires written permission from the individual districts before producing these reports. The MAOD survey has also been received favorably in several other states. We have provided survey instruments, data processing, and other services to the College of William and Mary, Dartmouth College, and the Donahue Institute at the University of Massachusetts. In general, they use the MAOD survey instrument to collect data for their surrounding communities. We are also working with school districts or drug prevention programs in Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Colorado, and New York to assist them with data collection and analysis. |
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