California Healthy Kids Survey - CalEdFacts

The California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS) is an anonymous, voluntary survey of school climate, safety, and overall student wellness. It is administered to students in grades five, seven, nine, and eleven. It provides schools and communities, as well as the state, with key data on school climate, safety, student engagement, barriers and supports associated with academic performance, and overall student well-being. The CHKS provides data for the Local Control and Accountability Plan, Single Plan for Student Achievement, and fulfills the data collection mandate of the state Tobacco Use Prevention and Education Program. It also provides data on many other statewide and local programs such as after school, migrant education, facility improvement, public health, alcohol prevention, and other youth development programs.

At the heart of the CHKS is a research-based core module that provides valid indicators of school climate, students’ drug and alcohol use, school violence, resiliency, and youth development.

In addition, there are supplementary modules to choose from at the secondary school level that ask detailed questions on specific topics. These include more in-depth questions on school climate, social and emotional health, mental health,  resiliency and protective factors; tobacco use, drug use and violence, physical health, sexual behavior, and after school activities. Districts can also customize their questions in a module targeting topics of local interest.

The CHKS is best administered with its companion staff (California School Staff Survey) and parent survey (California School Parent Survey). All three surveys are collectively known as the California School Climate, Health, and Learning Survey (Cal-SCHLS) System. The Cal-SCHLS was recognized by the US Department of Education as a model program. In 2014-16, about 700 districts and 5000 schools administered the CHKS to over one million students in California.

For more information on the CHKS, please contact Hilva Chan, Education Programs Consultant, Coordinated School Health and Safety Office, by e-mail at hchan@cde.ca.gov. .