The Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) has funded the administration of the Illinois Youth Survey (IYS) biennially since 1990. The IYS is a self-report survey administered in school settings and is designed to gather information about a variety of health and social indicators including substance use and perceptions, bullying, school climate, nutrition, and physical activity.
The administration of the IYS has two major goals:
- To supply local data to schools and school districts throughout Illinois. During state-funded survey years (e.g., 2018, 2020, etc.), the survey is available to all eligible public and private schools in the state at no cost. Each participating school is eligible to receive a report specific to their own students' responses. These local reports provide critical information to school administrators, prevention professionals, and community members as they work to address substance use issues in their communities.
- To provide a scientific estimate of health and social indicators for the state of Illinois. The scientific estimate is based on a random sample representing the state population of 8th, 10th, and 12th graders in Illinois public schools.
Why IYS?
The IYS reflects expertise in all aspects of the survey data collection process:
- Best practices in survey design and question wording
- Questionnaire content that keeps pace with current trends
in research, practice, and prevention in various content areas
- Experience in establishing protocols and procedures
- Training materials and instructions for survey administration
- Processing, cleaning, and validating all collected data
- Assuring data confidentiality
- Data analysis at various levels
IYS participation comes with:
- English or Spanish language options
- Training materials and assistance with training
- Benefit of a connection with a provider in the community
- Reports created for your school or district at no cost
- Technical support in interpreting reports
- Value of comparing your local data with other benchmarks