Purpose and Design of the A.D.V.A.N.C.E. ® Program
The A.D.V.A.N.C.E. ® (Avoiding Drugs Violence and Negative Choices Early) curriculum is a collaborative effort by A.D.V.A.N.C.E. ® instructors in cooperation with school administrators, educators, students, parents, and community to provide an educational program in the classroom to reduce and prevent the dangers and negative choices of gangs, drugs, and violence.

The primary objective of the A.D.V.A.N.C.E. ® curriculum is to significantly reduce and lower the use of drugs and the potential of violent behavior by young people.  Student program goals are as follows:

  • Understand the risks of drugs and violence from a legal and health prospective.
  • Develop communication skills that can promote assertiveness to resist.

The A.D.V.A.N.C.E. ® student workbook is to help students recognize and resist the many direct and indirect pressures that influence students to submit to negative influences and choices to experiment with drugs, violence, and gangs.

The A.D.V.A.N.C.E. ® program offers proactive strategies to enhance protective factors especially bonding to family, school, and community which appear to foster the development of resiliency in young people who are potentially at risk for substance abuse or other problems. A.D.V.A.N.C.E. ® strategies include emphasis on development of social competence, communication skills, reading and writing skills, empathy, decision making, conflict resolution, and positive alternative activities to drugs, violence, and gangs.

Organization
The A.D.V.A.N.C.E. ® program is divided into nine 45-60 minute structured lessons to be facilitated by a Georgia P.O.S.T. (Peace Officer Standards and Training) certified law enforcement officer approved by Sheriff Steve Cronic, Lieutenant Gene Joy, and the Hall County Sheriff’s Office.

The A.D.V.A.N.C.E. ® instructor shall be assigned to one elementary school per day during the normal week of school and attend the school once a week for a period of nine weeks. Student participation in the A.D.V.A.N.C.E. ® program may be incorporated as an integral part of the school’s curricular offering health, science, and social studies, language arts, or other subject(s) as appropriate. A.D.V.A.N.C.E. ® offers a variety of interactive, group participation activities which are structured to encourage students to solve problems of major importance in their lives.

A.D.V.A.N.C.E. ® Graduation
The last lesson (Lesson ten) of the A.D.V.A.N.C.E. ® curriculum is the graduation. The assembly-type activity takes place in the school gymnasium where parents are invited to participate in the recognition of the student’s accomplishments.