Good reasons for ignoring good evaluation: The case of the drug abuse resistance education (D.A.R.E.) program

Some school districts ignore the evidence and continue to offer D.A.R.E. In our study of 16 school districts, we found two persuasive reasons: (1) Evaluations generally measure drug use as the main outcome, but school officials are skeptical that any low-input short-term program like D.A.R.E. can change adolescents' drug-taking behavior. (2) Evaluations often do not often report relationships between cops and kids. Improvement in these relationships is a main reason for many districts' continued implementation of D.A.R.E. Districts also mention other understandable although more problematic rationales for keeping D.A.R.E.