CHKS and Academic Achievement
California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS) research has shown that meeting the basic developmental needs of students by ensuring that they are safe, drug-free, healthy, and resilient is central to improving their academic performance.Healthy students learn better. Research has shown that meeting the basic developmental needs of students by ensuring that they are safe, supported, challenged and engaged is central to improving their academic performance and overall wellness. Research studies and reviews over the past decade have consistently concluded that student health status and achievement are inextricably intertwined. By providing a safe and supportive school environment for students that promote a safe, resilient, and healthy lifestyle, schools are supporting learning that will result in positive academic gains. These documents describe research on the link between health status and student achievement and discuss how incorporating health and prevention programs, and a positive school climate into school improvement efforts can produce positive achievement gains.
Using the CHKS to Help Improve Schools and Student Achievement
(PDF)
This document explains how the CHKS can be used to help improve schools and student achievement. It briefly describes survey content and rationale, and provides a short synopsis of recent research linking health with achievement.
Workbook for Improving School Climate, 2nd Edition
(PDF)
This workbook is meant to help school communities interpret and use data from the CHKS, and the companion staff and parent surveys. It is designed to assist local school community members in their efforts to close the racial/ethnic achievement gap and to strengthen special education, migrant education, and other educational services for culturally, linguistically, and ethnically diverse students.
School Climate and Academic Performance
(PDF)
This factsheet demonstrates how school climate, as measured by the School Climate Index (SCI), is strongly related to state Academic Performance Index (API) scores. As SCI scores increase—as high schools became safer, more supportive, and more engaging—API scores increase as well. The SCI is a composite index score constructed based on CHKS data.
Positive School Climate: A Hallmark of Academically Successful Schools
(PDF)
A small subset of California middle and high schools perform much better academically than predicted based on their student demographics. This factsheet shows that these high performing schools ("beating-the-odds" schools) have much more positive levels of school climate relative to other schools. It also shows that a separate group of schools that perform much worse academically than predicted have much more negative levels of school climate.