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.