SACRAMENTO — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell today announced that the 2005-06 California Healthy Kids Survey Reports (CHKS) Key Findings are now available for public review at California Health Kids Survey [http://www.wested.org/chks/] (Outside Source).

"The Healthy Kids Survey gives schools and communities a valuable data tool to evaluate their own efforts to prevent drug, alcohol, tobacco use, violence, and other health risk behaviors, as well as to promote positive youth development and well-being." said O'Connell. "This is important because research shows students perform better academically and develop better socially and emotionally when they feel safe, avoid drugs, eat a healthy diet, are physically active, and are surrounded by people who care about them."

The new posting adds 780 district-level reports to the 540 already online since the data was first posted in 2005.  This means a report is now available for every school district that has conducted the survey in the last two years, covering 85 percent of all districts in the state. The remaining 15 percent of school districts were exempt from reporting mostly because they are small school districts. Over the last two years, nearly one million students in grades five, seven, nine, eleven, and in nontraditional schools have completed the CHKS. There are separate reports for the elementary and secondary school levels.

"The posting of current CHKS results marks a milestone in making information readily available to the public, gathered directly from students, about a wide range of health risks, barriers to learning, and other problems that they face," said CHKS Director, Dr. Gregory Austin. "Equally important, the survey provides data on the level of school and community supports that students experience that can protect them from these problems and lead to positive academic, social, personal, and health outcomes. The first step in helping students do better in school and lead healthier lifestyles is to publicly disseminate the results and raise public awareness of student needs. We encourage schools and communities to collaborate in using the data to improve prevention, health, and youth programs to meet those needs."

CHKS started in 1997 as collaboration between the California Department of Education, WestEd, and Duerr Evaluation Resources. The survey is designed to target and explore today's most pressing youth health and behavioral issues. It is also California's benchmark research tool and a comprehensive youth risk behavior and resilience assessment on local students' behavior and attitudes with regard to alcohol and other drug use, tobacco use, violence and school safety, nutrition and physical health, and youth resilience. The CHKS also provides schools with information to help them stay connected to the community, as well as assess what help is available to them.  The California Department of Education requires all school districts and county offices of education to administer the CHKS at least once every two years in compliance with the federal No Child Left Behind Act.  

The CHKS is the local companion to the California Student Survey that is a legislatively mandated biennial statewide project of the Attorney General to assess seventh, ninth, and eleventh graders in the state. The 2005 California Student Survey results that provide state norms for comparison to the district CHKS data, are available at SafeState : Focus Areas : Drug & Alcohol Abuse : California Student Survey [http://www.safestate.org/index.cfm?navID=254] (Outside Source).

For more information about the California Healthy Kids Survey and to view the 2005-06 district reports, please visit California Healthy Kids Survey [http://www.wested.org/chks/] (Outside Source). To search for reports, visit CHKS: Search CHKS Admin Log Record [http://www.wested.org/cs/chks/search/chksa?x-layout=reports] (Outside Source). To talk to a survey coordinator, call 888-841-7536.  The survey director may be reached at 562-799-5155.  For information on WestEd, please visit WestEd [http://www.wested.org] (Outside Source). For information on Duerr Evaluation, please visit Duerr Evaluation Resources [http://www.duerrevaluation.com/] (Outside Source).