Prevention Education Pilot Program for North Carolina Child Advocacy Centers

Prevention Education Pilot Program – Calling North Carolina Child Advocacy Centers!

As you know, North Carolina law requires school personnel to be trained in child sexual abuse prevention every other year. While some attempts have been made through legislation to educate students, presently there is no comprehensive mandate requiring prevention education in schools for youth. You, better than anyone, know the importance of prevention education for protecting children. We have heard from many of you that your attempts to provide such education has been met with resistance from schools.

Additionally, many CACs in North Carolina do not know what curriculum resources exist, or which are the best. Some organizations have created their own programs, however, they often don’t reach every grade level and would need to be expanded upon the passing of a prevention education mandate.

kNot Today is advocating for legislation requiring prevention education for all students in grades K-12 using evidence-based or evidence-informed programs. We will also advocate that adequate funding be provided by the state and that there be accountability for schools to ensure this is prioritized.

During the 2023-2024 school year we would like to support CACs who would like to pilot two different prevention education programs in your local schools. With a minimal ask of schools of allowing you to go into one classroom in the Fall and one classroom in the Spring, we are hopeful that your CAC will be able to participate. There will be no cost to your CAC or the participating schools, so this is a great opportunity for you to try new programs and/or begin or expand your CAC’s prevention efforts.

If you are interested in participating, click here to complete the online application.

kNot Today will also be on the CACNC Standards call on August 15th (at the beginning of the call) to answer any questions you may have about the pilot. Please note that applications are due by close of business on August 25, 2023. We will notify all applicants of final determination of participating sites by August 31, 2023. Depending on the amount of interest from CACs, we may not be able to select every applicant, as we only have availability for 16 participants. The final report provided by kNot Today and CACNC in June of 2024 will provide information that all CACs in North Carolina can use to inform your ongoing prevention education efforts. Together, we can protect North Carolina’s children!

If you have any questions after reviewing the attached plan, please join us on the CACNC Standards call on August 15^th at 1pm. Or you may email Stacy Vaughan, Program Consultant, at stacy@knottoday.org.

Thank you for all you do to protect children!

Additional Information on the Pilot Program

NC Child-focused Prevention Curriculum Pilot

CACs across North Carolina have the opportunity to participate in a school-based prevention education curriculum pilot during the 2023-2024 school year.

Goals:

• Provide CACs with various curricula to review and offer input on which will be promoted and funded in the future.
• Gather support and data to help promote passage of legislation for quality prevention education in schools.
• Understand CAC capacity and time required to implement prevention education in their communities to inform future support efforts.

Plan:

Curriculum:

• Each participating site/facilitator will implement two nationally recognized, evidence-based programs. There will be four programs that will be included in the pilot and they will be randomly assigned.

Sites

• Maximum of 16 CACs can participate
• Sites will be provided all needed materials and training
•  kNot Today will fund curricula for sites, provide needed materials, and coordinate the pilot

 Facilitators

• Each participating CAC will need to identify one facilitator who will present the lessons in person to students within the schools.
• The facilitator will need to complete two facilitator (virtual) trainings, one in the Fall and one in the Spring before implementing lessons.

Schools

• Each participating CAC will need to identify one or two schools that will allow them into one class in the Fall and one class in the Spring to implement the number of lessons required by that curriculum (any grade level 3rd – 5th).
  •  Option 1: Two different schools agree to participate. One school will receive first program implemented in one classroom in the Fall. A different school will receive second program implemented in one classroom in the Spring.
  • Option 2: One school agrees to participate. One classroom will receive first program in the Fall and a different classroom will receive second program in the Spring.

• Optional: If you would like, and the school agrees, you may present the programs to additional classrooms.

Timeline (suggested):

• August
  • Information out to CACs; application open Aug 10th COB
  • Applications due Aug 25th 
  • Sites notified of participation (Aug 31st) 
  • Information to get started with school outreach and training provided
• September
  • Participating sites to begin outreach to schools for approval
  • Facilitator training for first program completed
  • Class selected at school and lessons scheduled
  • Parent opt out provided to school to distribute to parents
  • Facilitator preparation
• October – November
  • Lessons implemented in one classroom
• November – December
  • Feedback surveys and curriculum checklist completed
• January
  • Facilitator training for second program completed
  • Class selected at school and lessons scheduled
  • Parent opt out provided to school to distribute to parents
  • Facilitator preparation
• February – March
  • Lessons implemented in one classroom
• April
  • Feedback surveys and curriculum checklist completed
• May – June
  • Feedback analyzed
  • Final report provided by kNot Today and CACNC

Outcomes and Measurements:

• Data related to participating sites and students
  • Tracking form
    • Grade level
    •  # of students
    • Disclosures
    • Gender and Race
• Feedback from facilitators
  • Feedback survey
    • Training feedback
    • Ease of scheduling
    • Ease of use
    • Feasibility for implementation
    •  Facilitator report on implementation fidelity
    • Facilitator perspectives on student engagement
• Feedback from students (optional but encouraged; facilitator to complete at end of lessons)
  • Exit slip from students
    • One main thing you learned
    • What did you like most?
    •  Was there anything you didn’t like?
    • Would you recommend that other students get these lessons?

• Feedback from Teachers (optional but encouraged)
•  Facilitator evaluation of curricula
  • Best practices checklist
    •  Completed by implementing facilitator
• Final report for all participating facilitators/CACs, schools, and other stakeholders
  • kNot Today and CACNC will prepare a final report to share in June 2024

Apply Here