School Families: Implementation and Evaluation of a Middle School Prevention Program

The authors describe a school prevention program called School Families that emphasizes normal developmental needs of middle school students. In addition, the results of an in‐depth qualitative evaluation of the program are presented. The School Families groups comprised middle school students, teachers, and adults from the university and community who meet weekly during the school day to process issues related to academic performance, decision making, self‐esteem, and social skills. On the basis of written narratives, individual interviews, and focus‐group discussions, the 35 participants (12 middle school students, 14 teachers, and 9 university students) reported that the School Families program largely had a beneficial influence on them.