Since the 1960s long-term studies have documented nation-wide patterns of adolescent smoking, drinking and illicit drug use. The federal government responded by passing the Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities Act, which funded school-based prevention programs. The problem for school counselors in a Georgia Public School District was determining which approach; Life Skills Training-Elementary School (LSTES) or the Standard Elementary Guidance curriculum was most effective in addressing Alcohol and Tobacco Prevention. This applied study used a quantitative method with a quasi-experimental design to compare two approaches currently in use in a suburban Atlanta, Georgia school district. This study sample was archived data from students assigned to seven elementary schools. The data set, both pretests and posttests, was generated during the 2010-2011 school year using the Brief Life Skills Training Questionnaire. Questionnaires from 150 students exposed to the Georgia standard elementary guidance curriculum were the control group; questionnaires from 375 students exposed to LST-ES were the treatment or comparison group. Research questions were examined using Analysis of Covariance with students pretest scores as the covariate. Results for Research Question one indicated there was no significant differences in smoking and drinking attitude between the two groups, (p=0.615). Results for Research Question two indicated there was a significant difference in the knowledge score between the two groups, (p<0.001). The comparison of two approaches to Alcohol and Tobacco Prevention indicated it does not matter which of two approaches is used when the goal is to influence student attitudes. It does matter which approach is used to affect students' knowledge, because LST-ES was demonstrably more effective than the standard elementary guidance curriculum. Recommendations for practice include using LST-ES curriculum to meet requirements outlined by Georgia QCC. The recommendations for practice for school counselors were to use the Brief LSTQ-ES as a pretest and posttest assessment and the LST-ES curriculum to address Alcohol and Tobacco Prevention. The primary recommendation for future research was to replicate the study at the middle school level to assess the impact of competencies developed in elementary school. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]