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 patterns and attitudes of
Illinois youth.
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 abuse 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 drawing a random sample to represent 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:
- Option for paper or online surveys
- English or Spanish language (online only) questionnaires
- 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