Illinois Youth Survey on Prezi

DIRECTIONS: University of Illinois confident in IYS results

Franca Onyibor, Staff Writer

As of 2008, the Illinois Youth Survey, administered by the University of Illinois, slightly modified the way schools had to survey their students. IYS has been offered to public and private schools in Illinois for the past fifteen years.  In the past, because of necessity, if a grade level had exceeded the enrollment of 450 students, the school was mandated to survey only half of those students.

“Resources weren’t available so it prevented us from printing out surveys for schools to assess all of the students,” said Beth Welbs, Assistant Director at the Prevention Research and Development at the University of Illinois.

Schools would be asked to choose students from different educational levels, family backgrounds, social classes, etc. to ensure that the results were characteristic of a range of students.

“As long as it was administered properly, the results were accurate because when they [schools] chose sample students they would have to choose a representative,” said Illinois Youth Coordinator Jessica Thomas.

Nonetheless, those at IYS recognized that the amount of students surveyed is of top priority and responded to the needs of the schools. In order to better aid local schools, as well as the state of Illinois as a whole, IYS adjusted the way its resources were being spent, so that more of the surveys would reach the hands of more students, regardless of the size of the school.

And for many schools the change comes as a relief.

“Sometimes it’s hard for schools to administer only half of the students and it’s less disruptive for them to say, ‘let’s just do everyone,’” said Welbs.

Currently, grades six, eight, ten and twelve are administered the survey every other year. 2012 now marks the third round of IYS using a scientific sample to best represent the Illinois students.

The survey operates in a way that every year the IYS is not administered, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey by the Center of Disease Control is administered for high schools nationwide. This way, results are continuously being released and Illinois schools can track whether or not any sort of prevention efforts are working.

“We’ve made it so that people are confident in the results and can rely on them,” said Welbs. “We’ve seen some really exciting things happen statewide and nationwide.”

The results from the survey are now better used for grant writing purposes and to lay the tracks further prevention efforts down the road.

“A lot of schools and districts that have used it [IYS] have found it really valuable. But there are some schools who choose not to take the survey,” said Welbs.

For the most part its value comes down to two general reasons: many times schools get asked to take surveys that are used primarily for research; thus, they opt out of administering the Illinois Youth Survey to their students. Secondly, many schools fear that if they do administer the survey, once parents and the surrounding community gets a hold of the results, they will begin to point a figure at them, and find fault within in the school.

“We have a lot of information from folks both in communities and schools and a lot of those things that influence substance abuse aren’t solely the responsibility of the schools,” said Welbs. “A lot of things go into it.”

DIRECTIONS: Applying IYS data to Huntley High School

Tyler Davis, Editor in Chief

For Huntley High School, Illinois Youth Survey serves as a messenger for information that is the most part already known. Due to the infrequency of the survey, many of the statistics published in the study are already known by the high school. However, this does not mean the survey is without use.

“It gives us a good idea of what our school is like and helps our staff help…students,” said health teacher Angela Zaleski.

After 2010’s results were released, the health department was able to sit down and have a few meetings where they discussed the curriculum in relation to several small pockets.

“It’s good for us to be aware of what we’re teaching, but it’s not just done for health class,” said Zaleski.

Beyond aiding Huntley’s health department, IYS provides an interesting look at how Huntley compares to the rest of the state of Illinois. The high school receives individualized results, and all results are compiled by county as well.

“What I like to do with that is look then at how we compare to the rest of the sample,” said Principal Dave Johnson. “If Huntley High School is aligned with [the sample], that tells you a number of things: one, that our kids are very similar to kids everywhere in the state, or that we’re doing things that are similar to the rest of the state to get that response. But if the answers are indicating that there are some issues, that really is then where we can zero in on that information and say, ‘okay, there are some issues here that quite frankly we need to address.’”

In response to these areas, Johnson and the Huntley administration would re-evaluate what needs to be done in terms of education. Adversely, in very positive domains, the reasons for this can be examined as well.

“I think you need to look at that [data] with a grain of salt,” said Johnson. “You have to assume that the information you’re getting is valid and that it’s not just being done in a way that’s going to not represent accurately what truly are either the beliefs or the behaviors that students are indicating that they’re engaged in or believe in.”

In terms of trends, McHenry’s tenth grade monthly tobacco use has decreased from 2006’s 16 percent to 2008’s 13 percent to 2010’s 12 percent, according to published IYS data. The same trend exists for marijuana use – 18 percent in 2006 to 17 percent in 2008 to 16 percent in 2010.

As far as Huntley’s results go, they seem to strongly reflect what counselor Pat Olsen-McGee sees in both parents and students of the high school.

“We live in a pretty nice area,” said Olsen-McGee. “The parents want very good things for their kids. My experience with the students here is that we have students who aspire to do more than graduate from high school. I think they’re hungry for more.”

But above all, Zaleski expressed her concern with the truthfulness of students in taking the survey. According to Illinois Youth Survey, data is screened for inconsistencies, but there is always a chance for error in surveys.

“We can’t help if we don’t know the truth,” said Zaleski.

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