Findings

Evidence-Based Program

• The Media Ready Program was reviewed and accepted by the National Registry for Evidence-Based Programs and Practices (NREPP) and is now listed in its database. The government sponsored database lends credibility to research-based programs by evaluating and rating them in several areas including outcomes, quality of research, study population, readiness for dissemination and cost. Visit NREPP’s web site to review the entire listing for the Media Ready program.
• The effectiveness of the Media Ready program was evaluated in a randomized controlled study which is the most rigorous type of research design for evaluating the effectiveness of an intervention program.

 Findings

• The program results show significant:
  • Improvement in students' critical thinking skills about media messages
  • Reduction in boys’ intent to use alcohol products
  • Reduction in boys' and girls' intent to use tobacco products
• The program was equally effective when taught to 6th, 7th, and 8th graders
• The program was equally effective in Language Arts and Health Education classes
• Students evaluated the curriculum very positively; they liked learning about media literacy
• Teachers evaluated the curriculum very positively; they liked teaching media literacy