Should Johnston Students Participate in Survey on Drug Use, Thoughts of Self-Harm?

We may never fully understand the mind of a teenager, but one survey aims to better understand the experiences and attitudes of teens in Iowa.

On April 9, the Johnston school board of discussed whether or not to continue with the Iowa Youth Survey in the fall.

The survey, administered every two years, seeks to have teens in sixth, eighth and 11th grades answer questions pertaining to their attitudes and experiences regarding alcohol and other drug use, on violence, and their perceptions of their peers, family, school and neighborhood and community environments.

Bruce Amendt, academic services executive director, said the district has participated in the voluntary survey since 1999. In order to participate in the fall of 2012, the district must let the state know at the end of April.

The data from the survey is used by counselors and at-risk staff within the school buildings, he said.

"The one that struck people the most were the items related to self harm, the items around that I don't think the people that looked at it within SIAC understood the magnitude, not large numbers, but even when 2 percent of 400 kids in an item like that it's pretty significant," Amendt said. 

Julie Walter, board member, was concerned with the amount of time that students spend out of the classroom to take the survey.

"Of the 170 pages is it really utilized?" she asked. "If I could see it utilized in our district I would be much more supportive of it."

Walter said the current ninth-grade class took the survey as sixth-graders but appears to be struggling.

"I feel that we aren't using it the best we could," she said.

Susan Baker, a counselor at Johnston High School said counselors at the high school use the data from the survey.

"The counselors at the high school do use the information from the Iowa Youth Survey to help evaluate programs/practices that we have in place to help us as we work to provide for the needs of our students," Baker said in an email. "How we use the information varies from survey to survey depending upon what the data tells us."

Amendt said the district utilizes the information with at-risk staff and counselors by reviewing the information item by item to see what trends show.

"If we aren't going to use the Iowa Youth Survey we will do research to see what else is out there, there needs to be a check, not every year in every grade, but we need to have some survey check on student perception on how safe the school is an what health choice they are making," he said.

Walter said when her child was in sixth grade she read the survey before opting that her child not participate because of the explicit questions. 

Here are a few sample questions from the 2010 State of Iowa survey results:

In the past 30 days, on how many days have you: Sniffed glue, breathed the contents of gases or sprays in order to get high?

In the last 30 days, how many times have you been bullied at school in the ways listed below: I have received a threatening or hurtful message from another student in an email, on a website, on a cell phone, from pager text messaging, in an internet chat room, or in instant messaging?

During the past 12 months, did you ever feel so sad or hopeless almost every day for 2 weeks or more in a row that you stopped doing some usual activities? (This question asked of 11th graders only.)

Superintendent Clay Guthmiller said that having staffers who work with at-risk students and counselors using the data to create programs was beneficial.

"If we save one or two children, is it worth it?" he asked of the data used to create programs for students.

Amendt recommend continuing with the survey, his only concern being the amount of time it takes to receive the survey data back.

The item will be further discussed at the April 23 board meeting.