1. The Illinois Youth Survey
This presentation is intended for providers to use to inform school/district administrators about the IYS and encourage participation. We recommend to bring along IYS school information packets to provide to your audience (school administrators). Providers should be very knowledgeable about the IYS prior to delivering this presentation, review the information on the IYS website, and anticipate questions and responses from the audience. IYS website:
Insert your name, title and organization on this slide to represent that you are presenting this information

2. About the IYS
The Illinois Youth Survey (IYS) is a self‐reported adolescent survey administered in Illinois schools and funded entirely by the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS)
Conducted since 1993
The Center for Prevention Research and Development (CPRD) at the University of Illinois has been the state contractor since January 2011
All public and private schools in Illinois are welcome to participate
Chestnut Health Systems was the original contractor for the IYS (from ). CPRD was awarded the contract in January 2011 based on a competitive bid process.
CPRD has been intimately involved in the IYS since 1998 and with large scale survey research since 1988:
Has processed/scanned survey forms ( )
Created the original individual school reports ( )
Drew the 2008 and 2010 state random samples and prepared the state sample data for analysis.

3. About the IYS
The survey is given to students at the 8th, 10th and 12th grade levels
Administered in the Spring of every other school year during even numbered years (2014, 2016, etc.)
The school chooses a date between January and Mid-May to administer
Takes approximately one class period, or about 40 to 50 minutes
1st bullet: These are the grades for which the survey is available. It is advantageous, but not required for a school or district to administer the survey at each of the grade levels indicated. Schools may survey other grade levels and should contact CPRD for more information.

4. About the IYS Available in English or Spanish
English version available online or paper
Spanish version available online only
You receive everything you need 30 days prior to the survey date you choose: survey forms, pre-sharpened pencils, instructions, and even UPS shipping
The English version of the survey is available in paper or online format. The Spanish version of the survey is limited to completion online. An electronic version of the parent notification form is also sent but schools would need to print them out.

5. Purpose
Designed to gather information from youth about a variety of health and social indicators including:
Substance abuse (ATOD)
Violence and bullying
Perceptions of school climate
Depression
Nutrition and fitness

6. Why is Prevention Important?
Adolescent substance abuse, bullying, and other emotional and health issues are related to negative school outcomes:
Absenteeism
Academic difficulties
Lack of motivation
Interpersonal violence
It is important to help school administrators see the connections between substance abuse, the school environment and student performance. Schools need to know how prevention can improve the school environment and benefit student performance.

7. Why is Data Important?
Research shows that cost effective youth prevention strategies should be based on local, up-to-date data from youth
The IYS provides data to schools about what their students are doing and thinking in regard to emotional and health related issues
Data gathered through the IYS can be used to guide planning for effective prevention strategies to ultimately increase academic performance and
healthy behaviors
Schools want to know how the data will help THEM. If you can add other specific ways that schools will be able to utilize the data (aside from assisting you in your efforts), then you should include those ideas. One suggestion is that the data can also be used by schools to enhance their grant proposals and possibly for current grant reporting purposes.

8. IYS Advantages
Data provides schools and communities the knowledge they need to develop and evaluate localized, targeted and effective solutions to youth substance abuse, violence and related issues
The Illinois State Board of Education has always supported DHS’s survey efforts, and are provided with the aggregated state results, but it is the responsibility of DHS/CPRD to administer the survey. If they were to use an alternate approach, such as a phone survey, it would not be as valid, as no other approach offers the anonymity and degree of participation as a classroom survey; there would be much higher costs; and schools would not have the benefit of comparing the results with state and county (when available).

9. Benefits
Each participating school will receive their own individual school results
Report will cover all survey items and includes state comparisons for selected items
Schools can measure progress over time (when implemented every two years)
The data can be useful for a variety of school and community planning efforts
The data can be useful for grant reporting purposes and to help leverage additional funding
Additionally, as more schools participate, regional and state profiles become more valid, and more county-level profiles become available.

10. Cost
No cost to the school when implemented in 8th, 10th or 12th grades during the statewide surveying years
Schools can add questions to get data on local issues at no cost
Free training is provided on how to interpret and use the school-specific data for planning
CPRD will have a list of survey questions by topic that can be used to add questions not already on the main survey. The bank of additional questions are validated and most can be compared to nationally collected data sources. In 2016, schools have the ability to add up to 30 questions to the survey.

11. Confidentiality Participation is confidential
The identity of the youth who participate is not collected or revealed
Compiled survey data is shared only with the participating school, unless the school administrators sign a release of school results
County, regional and statewide reports are not released in a way that an individual school’s results can be identified
2nd bullet: County Profiles are also created when at least two schools from different districts participate at the same grade level. Counties in which just one school or district participates are excluded to protect anonymity. Single school reports are sent to those schools for use in their own communities.

12. Validity
The IYS produces valid results when conducted according to survey directions
Questions are carefully designed and tested
There are screening measures in place to detect and invalidate over-reporting and under-reporting
Studies of similar surveys comparing self-report to actual use have showed substantial validity
Patterns of use revealed by the IYS are consistent with other measures
Confidentiality: It’s important for students to be comfortable with and understand that the survey is confidential and that their responses cannot and will not be traced back to them. Stressing confidentiality and following the recommended classroom survey administration procedures are the keys to maximizing truthful reporting.

13. Benefits and Bottom Line
For the price of
1 class period every 2 years,
schools and their community partners can receive essential information to:
Compete for grants that infuse needed resources
Guide local community coalition efforts
Track changes in health behaviors
Reduce barriers to academic success

14. Questions? Parental Consent
CPRD recommends that schools send parents notification about the survey and a "passive" permission form. With "passive" permission, parents are notified of the survey and send in a slip only if they want to exclude their child.
Both “passive" and "active" permission fully alert parents to the nature of a survey and give them the option of whether their child participates. The difference is that, with "passive" permission, a parent sends in a slip only if they want to exclude their child, while with "active" permission, a parent would send in a slip to indicate whether or not to include their child. We prefer passive permission forms because many parents simply fail to respond to any communication about a survey, irrespective of their opinions about the survey. Research has shown that an unrepresentative sample of youth may be produced when an active permission form is used. The use of active permission requires more effort on the part of schools to follow-up on getting permission slips back, and still may not give as valid a result.
Because the survey is funded by substance abuse prevention funds rather than Department of Education funds, schools are not required to use an active permission process. Rather, schools need only to notify parents of the survey and provide an opportunity for them to opt their child out of participation in the survey.

15. Resources IYS website: https://iys.cprd.illinois.edu
(888) (toll-free)

16. CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey
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Behaviors that contribute to unintentional injuries and violence.
Sexual behaviors related to unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV infection.
Alcohol and other drug use.
Tobacco use.
Unhealthy dietary behaviors.
Inadequate physical activity.

17. Opioid Lesson Resources
Developed by DEA and Discovery Education