2008 State Report

First, we would like to apologize that the 2008 IYS State Report has not been available as quickly as during previous years. We are still waiting on approval to release the report from the Illinois Department of Human Services at this time. We do understand that it is becoming more difficult to recruit schools to participate in this year's administration without state results from the last statewide administration and have forwarded these concerns to our contact at DHS. At this point we cannot be certain when it will be made available but we hope it will be before the 2010 IYS survey window begins.

Winter Break- Online Schools

While schools are out for winter break, we are setting up IDs and passwords for alls chools surveying online to be sent out during the last week of January via email.
This email will also include instructions on how to set up your computers for surveying. If you have not received this email by 1/29/10, please contact Jessica Thomas via email jcthomas@chestnut.org or by phone 309-451-7849.

Online training webinars will be conducted during the last 2 weeks of January for any schools wanting to walk through how to set up computers to administer the survey. Details will follow.

Winter Break- Packing Materials

While schools are out for the winter break, we are feverously packing materials for all schools registered to take the survey via paper using the most updated information we have either from their original registration or their revised confirmation form. For schools with a survey date in February: We will begin shipping materials out to you via FedEx Ground starting on January 11th. This is to ensure all schools are back in session to receive their materials shipment. Schools surveying in March or April will receive their materials approximately 30 days prior to their intended survey date.

If you receive your package and need additional materials, contact Jessica Thomas via email jcthomas@chestnut.org or by phone 309-451-7849. Please be sure to pay extra attention to the "School Instructions" envelope in your package. It contains preprinted shipping labels to return your package to the IYS office via FedEx Ground.

"One Thousand Schools" Celebration

Please join our “One Thousand Schools” celebration. In the next ten days we expect to register the 1,000th school to participate in the 2010 Illinois Youth Survey. While the main benefit to participation is that schools receive valuable survey results without any cost to the schools (courtesy of the Illinois Department of Human Services), we are adding a small additional incentive, in recognition of the growing appreciation we are encountering from schools. Four schools randomly selected from the list of all schools registered by December 31st will be notified in January that they have been chosen to receive a fifty dollar appreciation check, to be issued upon completion of their surveying. We encourage using the check in a way that expresses appreciation to the students and staff of the school for their participation, but use will ultimately be up to each individual school.

Register TODAY!!!

2010 IYS *Online* Informational Sessions

We are offering several *Online*informational training webinars to help schools and prevention providers feel more comfortable with the online version of the IYS. Perhaps you’ve thought about using the IYS *Online* but were hesitant because you aren't too familiar with it. If so, please plan on attending one of the upcoming trainings, and see how your school can benefit by participating online rather than by paper.

The trainings will be conducted online and last approximately 1 hour. You will need a computer with internet access and a phone capable of calling long distance into our teleconferencing line. You can also listen to the conference through your computer's speakers and make any comments and/or ask questions via the on-screen public chat option if you’re not able to dial long distance.


The dates and times are as follows. Please contact us by email to jcthomas@chestnut.org to register your participation in one of these sessions. Be sure to include your name, school, and date/time you would like to attend. Further information will be sent once we receive your registration.

Thanks and we hope to see you next week!

Date Time
Mon, 11/2 9am-10am
Mon, 11/2 11am-1pm
Mon, 11/2 1pm-2pm

Tue, 11/3 9am-10am
Tue, 11/3 2pm-3pm

Wed, 11/4 9am-10am
Wed, 11/4 11am-12pm
Wed, 11/4 1pm-2pm

Mon, 11/9 9am-10am
Mon, 11/9 11am-12pm
Mon, 11/9 1pm-2pm

Tue, 11/10 10am-11am
Tue, 11/10 12pm-1pm

Wed, 11/11 9am-10am
Wed, 11/11 2pm-3pm

2010 IYS Confirmations

We are in the process of sending confirmation emails to all schools that are registered for the 2010 survey. Each school will receive a PDF file attached to their email that lists the registration information for their individual school. Schools can make any revisions needed on the confirmation form, and then fax the revised form to the IYS Office at 309-451-7764. If no revisions are needed, the form does not need to be returned.

We are sending emails out to schools by county name, starting with Adams County. We hope to complete all confirmation emails by the end of next week (Nov. 6).

As always, please let us know if you have any questions!

Thank you to participants

We would like to say thank you to all who participated in the online training session on "Accessing your IYS results online". Feedback from those in attendance says the information was valuable to them in learning how to access and print their results.

For those schools that participated online in the 2008 or 2009 IYS but did not attend one of the trainings, we are able to schedule one-on-one sessions at your convienance. Please contact Jessica Thomas to indicate your interest. Be sure to include your name, title, school, and 2-3 options for days/times you are available. We will get back to you as soon as we can to confirm your individual session.

"Accessing your IYS results online" Webinars

To: Schools that Participated in the IYS Online in 2008 and/or 2009
From: Jessica Thomas, IYS Office
Re: How to Access and Customize Reports Using your IYS Data
Webinar Dates: October 5, 6 and 7

Hello! You're invited to attend the online training webinar "Accessing your IYS Results Online". The dates and times are shown below. We will be providing a step-by-step walkthrough of the reporting function on SmartTrack's website. You will be able to access your results and create customized school reports based on a variety of factors. If you would like to attend one of the scheduled trainings, please register with one of the widgets below or email us.

If you register through an email, please be sure to include your school name, your name and title, and any experience you may have with SmartTrack’s reporting function, as well as the date and time you would like to attend. You will need a computer with internet access and a phone to dial in to the teleconference. If you do not have your Administrator ID and password that you should have received from SmartTrack shortly after your students completed surveying, please let us know so we can obtain that information for you at the meeting.

We are inviting schools that participated in the 2008 and 2009 Illinois Youth Survey using the online version. Any staff at your school are welcome to participate in the webinar training. Some schools have guidance counselors, social workers and/or student assistance professionals participate, while others have staff that work with grant writing, reporting and/or evaluation participate (such as with Safe and Drug-Free Schools or No Child Left Behind.) Please let us know if you have any questions. We look forward to "seeing" you all at one of the training sessions. Thanks so much for your participation in the Illinois Youth Survey!

"Accessing Results Online for the IYS" Training Webinars

October 5, 2009 11am - 12pm


October 5, 2009 2pm - 3pm


October 6, 2009 2pm - 3pm


October 7, 2009 11am - 12pm


October 7, 2009 2pm - 3pm

Promoting the IYS to Schools Training

Thank you to all the providers that attended the "Promoting the IYS to Schools" training presented by Prevention First and Lighthouse Institute (a division of Chestnut Health Systems) yesterday. Lots of great questions were asked and participants learned a great deal about the IYS. If you have any questions that we did not cover in the training, please contact us or PFI.

Any providers that did not attend can still get a listing of eligible schools in their county/service area by contacting Jessica Thomas (jcthomas@chestnut.org) or Donna Prather (dprather@chestnut.org).

2008 IYS State Report Update

We are still waiting for the State to release the 2008 IYS State report, and hope to be able to post it to our website sometime in September. Currently, we are in the process of posting the 2008 County results, and you should be able to view those on our website very soon.

In the meantime, please send us an email if you'd like to add your name to the request list for the state report upon release, and specify if you'd like a print copy or CD. Thanks for your patience!

2009 IYS - Online Schools Report Training - Thank You

We would like to thank all of you who attended the training sessions on how to access your results from the 2009 IYS online. For those of you who were unable to attend, we will be conducting this training again once schools are back in session. If you have an idea of a day that would be best for you, please contact Jessica Thomas via email at jcthomas@chestnut.org or call 309-451-7849. Additional information on dates/times will be posted when it is available. Thanks again to those who participated and we hope to see the rest of you during the next group of sessions!

As a reminder, this training is offered to all schools who participated in the 2009 IYS using the online format only as well as any SPF Community Coordinators who are interested.

2009 IYS - Online Schools Report Training - Update

The following dates/times have been cancelled due to a lack of registrations:

• Tuesday, August 4, 11am


• Tuesday, August 4, 1pm


• Wednesday, August 5, 1pm

If you would like to attend one of the trainings but have not yet registered, please either email Jessica Thomas at jcthomas@chestnut.org or fill out the required information in the widgets below. (See the 7/21 post for more information) We will offer this training again to those who have not been able to attend in either September or October.

2009 IYS - Online Schools Report Training Sessions

We are hosting online training sessions for schools who completed the 2009 IYS online. Training sessions will last approximately 1 hour and will cover how to access and use the reporting feature on SmartTrack's website. Please click on the widget below and enter your email address to register or contact Jessica Thomas via email at jcthomas@chestnut.org with your desired date and time to participate. If there is another date that would be better, please contact us at the IYS office and we will be happy to accomodate you. Thank you again for your participation in the 2009 Illinois Youth Survey!

Training Dates/Times:
Mon, August 3, 2009       11am - 12pm
Mon, August 3, 2009       1pm - 2pm
Tue, August 4, 2009       11am - 12pm CANCELLED
Tue, August 4, 2009       1pm - 2pm CANCELLED
Wed, August 5, 2009       11am - 12pm
Wed, August 5, 2009       1pm - 2pm CANCELLED

To register using the widgets below, follow these instructions:

Webinar Registration Widgets

August 3, 2009 11am - 12pm



August 3, 2009 1pm - 2pm



August 4, 2009 11am - 12pm
CANCELLED

August 4, 2009 1pm - 2pm
CANCELLED

August 5, 2009 11am - 12pm



August 5, 2009 1pm - 2pm
CANCELLED

2008 IYS State Report Update

We found out today that we will need to make significant revisions to the 2008 State report draft. Due to the additional editing time needed, we now expect that the report will be available for release sometime in August.


Please contact our office if you'd like to add your name to the mailing list for the state report upon release, and specify if you'd like a print copy or CD. Thanks for your patience!

How to make changes to your 2010 IYS registration information

Several schools have contacted us, wondering what to do if they need to change their survey date or enrollment numbers.

Once school is back in session this fall, we'll send a confirmation email to all schools that have previously registered for the 2010 IYS. This email will contain all the information the school gave us when registering, and schools will have the opportunity to makes any changes needed at that time.

Schools are still welcome to register for the survey over the summer on our website (click on "Register for 2010").

Questions? Give us a call or send us an email!

Summertime

Well, summer has begun and most schools are now out for the year. Throughout the summer you can still register your school for the 2010 IYS. We will be ordering our first round of materials shortly so the more schools that register early, the better.

Changes for the 2010 IYS have not yet been finalized but we will post them on our website (and here) when they are.

The 2008 State Report is still waiting to be approved but as soon as it is, we will both post it in its entirety on our website and a notice will be posted here on this blog.

2009 IYS Online Schools Results

SmartTrack has uploaded all completed surveys back onto their website. Schools can again access their results at this time. We apologize for the delay in availability from our previous post. Please contact SmartTrack at 866-714-8080 or Jessica Thomas at the IYS Office 309-451-7849 with any questions or difficulty you may be having in accessing your results.

2009 IYS SPF Community Reports

All community-level reports have been sent to their SPF Coordinator via email. If you have not yet received your report or if you would like a printed copy, please contact Jessica Thomas at 309-451-7849 or by email to jcthomas@chestnut.org.

If your community received a report without a grade level you thought participated (i.e., report without 12th grade included when 12th grade did participate), you have been contacted regarding this. We need a signed release form from the school whose data is missing before it can be released. As you know, if there is 1 school reporting at a specific grade level (in our example for 12th grade) releasing those results would equate to releasing individual school data. We do not release individual school results outside of the school without a signed release form from school administration.

Please contact us with any requests for additional reports you may need. Remember that we will not be producing a statewide report with 2009 IYS data.

2009 IYS - Data Collection Complete

Thank you to all the SPF Community Schools who participated in the 2009 IYS! We have received all of the completed surveys at our office and should be receiving the remaining data back from scanning this week. If your school has not yet received your initial report by the end of the week (6/12/09), please contact Jessica Thomas by phone at 309-451-7849 or by email to jcthomas@chestnut.org.

When all data is received, Community Reports will be completed and will be sent to SPF Coordinators via email. If you would like a hard copy of your community report or any other specialized reports, please contact the IYS office with your request.

Thanks again for all your hard work on getting your schools surveyed during this off-year! As a reminder, all SPF Schools who participated in the IYS in 2009 are now registered to complete surveying in 2010 with the same information. If your contact person is changing, please contact the IYS office at your earliest convenience.

2010 IYS Registration for 2009 SPF Schools

All schools within a SPF community who participated in the 2009 IYS have been registered this week to complete the 2010 IYS. The contact person from 2009 was sent an email stating the need to inform us of any contact changes for next year. All information will be confirmed in the fall so any changes in number of students, method of delivery, or survey date can be processed before materials are shipped.

SPF schools who did not participate in 2009 are now being recruited as part of the statewide email recruitment process. Their first email regarding 2010 registration was sent on Monday, 6/1/09.

2008 State Report

Where is it?? When can we get a copy??

We're sure many of you are asking those questions or have been for some time so we would like to update you on the status of the 2008 IYS State Report.

Throughout the past 6-9 months, we have been working to complete the State Report with the hope it would be available this spring. It has been completed and sent to the State for review and approval. Once we hear that it has been approved for distribution, we will notify schools through our website and a posting will be placed on this blog.

Our hope is for it to be approved and available by mid-June but, unfortunately, we cannot control the date. We apologize for any inconveniences this may cause.

2009 Online Schools - Results Availability

All online surveying is now closed so that we can access the results of all schools to complete community reports for SPF Project Coordinators. Because of this, schools will not have access to their results this week until 6/1/09. This is to be sure no new schools survey while the data is being pooled. Results will be available again next Monday. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Wishing all a Safe Memorial Day weekend

2009 SPF Community Reports

Looking for your 2009 SPF Community Report? We are currently working on creating community reports similar to those in 2008.

Some information to note: We do not release information regarding a single school or school district without the written consent of a school administrator. For example ... if your community has only 1 high school participating in the 2009 IYS, in order for us to send a community report including the high school's grade-levels, we would first need a release from that school. If your community has schools from only 1 school district within a grade level, we would require a release either from each school involved or from the district as a whole.

We will inform coordinators who fall into one of these categories so they can obtain and send us the required releases, so we can send out their community report as soon as possible.

2009 Initial Reports - Schools

Most schools have completed surveying and have received their results at this time. The designated contact person at each school received their school report via email attachment approximately 2-4 weeks after returning their completed surveys. If you have not received your school report or would like a printed copy, please email Jessica Thomas at jcthomas@chestnut.org.


In order to maintain school confidentiality, we do not release individual school results to anyone outside the school or its administration unless a written request is submitted. If you would like your schools' individual results to be shared with your community organizer, please fill out the "Release of School Results" form that was sent with your materials. We'll gladly send another copy to you at your request if it has been misplaced. Please be aware that only school administration is able to release their results outside the school.


Follow-up reports usually available in fall of the school year following the survey year will not be available for schools surveying in spring of 2009. These reports require statewide data to complete, which we don't have as this is an off-survey year for most of the state. Consequently, a state report will also not be available for 2009.


The next statewide survey will be given in the spring of 2010. Please be sure to register your school before the end of this school year to give us a more accurate number of how many surveys/pencils to order.

2009 IYS - Ends today

Today marks the end of the extended survey window for all eligible SPF Community Schools to complete the 2009 IYS. If we have not yet received your materials, please be sure to have all materials packed and return service requested by next Friday, 5/22 at the latest. Upon receipt of your request, we will email your labels to the contact you provided. Then, all you have to do is print them, stick them on the package, and give the package to your driver.

If you do not have a regular pickup scheduled at your school, you can

1. Call for a pickup (800-PICK-UPS)
2. Hand the package to the driver when you receive a delivery, or
3. Bring the package to your nearest UPS location

If your school has not completed surveying at this time and has received materials, please respond contact the IYS office today. This includes schools who were to survey online but have not yet done so.

Thank you all for your interest and participation in both the 2009 IYS and your community's prevention efforts.

Changes for the 2010 IYS

We are excited to say we have made many positive changes to the 2010 survey process from the 2008 administration. The biggest change is that we have moved to an electronic recruitment/registration/confirmation process from the paper-based process used for many years. This will increase our contact with schools while still controlling costs. There will be no paper mailings for recruitment or confirmation (unless specifically requested) because we have placed all of the information previously included on our website: http://www.illinoisyouthsurvey.org/register/.

Our new registration process now asks schools to choose their method of delivery (paper/pencil or online) as well as their intended survey date. In 2008 we didn't request this information until the confirmation process, however, we believe that schools are more likely to complete surveying if they are able to put the survey on their school calendar as early as possible to avoid any conflicts. For your convenience, please visit the links below for 2010 state testing dates.
ISAT: http://www.isbe.net/assessment/isat.htm
PSAE: http://www.isbe.net/assessment/psae.htm
IAA: http://www.isbe.state.il.us/assessment/iaa.htm
ICEPT: http://www.isbe.state.il.us/assessment/icept.htm
ACT: http://www.actstudent.org/regist/dates.html

For those schools completing the survey online, we are offering additional trainings this year to proctors (planning & initial computer set-up), administrators and other staff (report creation). These trainings will be conducted online at numerous dates throughout the year (more information to come).

We are changing our primary shipper from UPS to FedEx and we are no longer requesting "call tags" in which a driver brings the labels with them to pick up the package. We are now requesting a return service in which we create the label and email it to the school contact person, who prints and adheres the label to the package. Then, all you would have to do is either give the package to the driver on your regularly scheduled pick-up or you can even bring it to a drop location near you.

Of course, we are still working on more ideas to make the survey both easier to administer and results easier to understand and utilize. Please leave a comment with any other ideas or difficulties you may have. If we don't know, we can't fix it!

2010 IYS - Registration Period Has Begun

We have moved to an electronic recruitment/registration/confirmation process from the paper-based process used for many years. This will increase our contact with schools while still controlling costs. There will be no paper mailings for recruitment or confirmation (unless specifically requested) because we have placed all of the information previously included on our website: http://www.illinoisyouthsurvey.org/register/.

Our new registration process now asks schools to choose their method of delivery (paper/pencil or online) as well as their intended survey date. We believe that schools are more likely to complete surveying if they are able to put the survey on their school calendar as early as possible to avoid any conflicts.

We have sent out 3 rounds of emails to most eligible schools in the state (there are quite a few private schools that we do not have email addresses for yet but are still working on it) and have received an excellent response rate. The first email went out at the beginning of March 2009 and as of today we already have 472 schools registered!

This year we are also working with local prevention providers and state agencies to assist schools in registering to participate in the 2010 Illinois Youth Survey. Our goal is to double the number of schools who participated in 2008 (884) and we are well on our way. Of course, our ultimate goal is to have more accurate, complete data from a majority of schools and communities in the state to facilitate the changes necessary to support a safe and drug-free environment. As the number of schools participating each year continues to grow, it becomes more important that we are notified of any changes in the contact person at each school.

The preferred method of communication for the 2010 IYS is via email so please keep the IYS office updated with any change of your email address. Also, we ask that you add the following email addresses to your safe list so that none of our messages will be marked as spam: dprather@chestnut.org and jcthomas@chestnut.org.

To register your school to participate in the 2010 IYS, visit our website and complete the registration survey http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB228JTJ98CKW.

2008 IYS - Follow-Up Reports Available

For schools that participated in 2008, you should have received your initial report before the end of the 2007-2008 school year. Included in this report was a feedback form with a request for a follow-up report when it became available. At this point, we have only received requests for the follow-up report from a small number of schools. School contacts were emailed on May 5, 2009 if their school had a follow-up report available but had not yet requested it.

The follow-up report puts your individual school data in perspective. It compares your use rates for the gateway substances (alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and inhalants) plus binge drinking over the past two weeks with the aggregated use rates of similar schools, and also provides this data from your last survey results, if applicable, for comparison. The second report section rates your school on several key risk and protective factors that are known to be powerful contributors to community-wide substance use rates, are highly correlated with community-level substance use scores in Illinois, and can be addressed with prevention strategies and/or programs already proven to be effective.

If you have not aready responded requesting your follow-up report be sent or would like another copy of your initial report, please email Jessica Thomas at jcthomas@chestnut.org with your name, title, school name and address where the report should be sent. We will attempt to send them before the end of the 2008-2009 school year.

To see if your school participated in 2008: http://www.illinoisyouthsurvey.org/register/2008_IYS_participation_list_9-3-08.xls

SPF Schools 2009 IYS

This year we surveyed schools in select communities who received a grant for prevention planning (SPF Schools) along with some others who have not yet participated in the past or that needed yearly data for special circumstances. For more information on the SPF project, please see our website: http://www.illinoisyouthsurvey.org/SPF-SIG/ or contact your project coordinator.

The survey period has been extended to 5/15/09 for all eligible schools in a SPF community who have not yet participated. Please be sure to schedule and administer the survey to your students on or before 5/15 and request your completed materials to be returned before 5/22. This will allow us to receive the data back from scanning and send out reports before the end of the school year. At this point, we are still waiting to receive materials back from 24 schools and for 6 schools to complete surveying online. To see a listing of schools and their progress with the 2009 IYS, please visit our website. Schools are listed by community and updated weekly on Fridays.

This year we are sending reports to the school contact via email attachment as they are available. If you would like a print copy of your report, please contact Jessica Thomas at jcthomas@chestnut.org or 309-451-7849. To maintain confidentiality reports are only sent to the individual school unless a signed release from school administration is received. To release your individual school data to an outside agency, please fill out the Release of School Results form that came with your materials and fax to 309-451-7764.

All schools who have received their report are welcome to provide feedback on this year's administration: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/survey-intro.zgi?p=WEB228YGKUK7PN
If you have received your report but have not yet supplied feedback, please do so. We review the feedback as well as all suggestions for improvement.

Thank you to all SPF Community Coordinators for your work with the schools this year in successfully obtaining more complete data from more schools!

Welcome Message

Hello and welcome to the new blog for the Illinois Youth Survey! We hope this information will be helpful to schools, providers, and parents to keep updated on what's going on with the survey at this time. We will attempt to update the blog at least once a week.