Program Evidence

Does Revved Up Kids training work? Yes!

Since 2010, Revved Up Kids has trained thousands of children and teens to be safer from predators, and we've equipped thousands of parents to be better protectors of their children. But does our personal safety and self-defense training for children and teens work? The answer is YES.

In 2016, Revved Up Kids commissioned a program evaluation of our training for K-5th graders. We partnered with Dr. Matthew Lee Smith of MLS Health Services and The University of Georgia School of Public Health to conduct the evaluation. Dr. Smith and his team created a three-pronged evaluation that asked the following questions:

  1. Does Revved Up Kids training change a child's understanding of who predators are?
  2. Does Revved Up Kids training improve a child's everyday safety habits and self-protective behaviors?
  3. Does Revved Up Kids training increase a child's confidence in responding to a predator.

More than 600 children participated in evaluation and control groups, and the program evaluation results determined overwhelmingly that Revved Up Kids training accomplishes all of these curriculum objectives.

98%
of adult observers indicate that Revved Up Kids training helps participants better understand who predators are.

98%
of adult observers indicate that Revved Up Kids training equips participants to practice good personal safety habits.

99%
of adult observers indicate that this program equips participants to respond appropriately to a predator.

94%
of adult observers indicate that they learned something new from the program.

79%
of teen participants indicate the training was interesting.

89%
of teen participants indicate they learned new things about their safety.

79%
of teen participants indicate they know more about predators because of the training.

83%
of teen participants say they will practice better safety habits now.

74%
of teen participants reported feeling more confident to defend themselves if needed.

Read The Full Report 

From Dr. Matthew Lee Smith of MLS Health Services and The University Of Georgia School of Public Health
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