Detailed Description of the Research Design of the Field Trial

Teachers will be stratified based on the background characteristics of their school (enrollment, ethnicity, percent free or reduced lunch, and recent standardized test scores), the NREPP program (or programs) they teach, the number of years they have been teaching in general, and they number of years they have been teaching their assigned program specifically. They will then be randomly assigned to a condition, either immediate or delayed. In the Immediate condition, teachers will receive program-relevant messages as they teach during their first teaching cycle of their prevention program and can continue to receive messages during their second cycle if they choose. Messages will be delivered just prior to teaching the program. In the Delayed condition, teachers will teach their program as usual for one cycle then will be eligible to receive messages during their second cycle of the program they are teaching. Teachers can begin as soon as spring 2011 with the project but must be finished teaching both cycles by May of 2012.

When teachers are eligible to receive messages, we will invite them to register. They will log on to the Prevention ABCs Genie message website and complete their teaching schedule. Teachers will then receive automatic emails several days prior to when they plan to teach each lesson. The emails will provide brief messages (less than 100 words) about the upcoming session, as well as a link to a one-minute streaming video that provides further demonstration, discussion, and teacher testimonials relevant to the upcoming session. During their visit to the website teachers will also be invited to rate the quality and helpfulness of the messages they have viewed.