Publications

Following are some key publications related to the achievement gap and improving school climate, research that has been conducted using CHKS data, student well-being and achievement, and the psychometric properties of the Healthy Kids Survey.

Workbook for Improving School Climate & Closing the Achievement Gap

The Workbook for Improving School Climate and Closing the Achievement Gap: Using Your California Healthy Kids and California School Climate Surveys (pdf) helps you review survey results within the framework of improving academic achievement and well-being among all students, with special attention to addressing the needs of diverse populations and students in special education and migrant education. It provides concrete examples of how to use the data to improve practice and policy.

Download or view the complete Workbook or individual Workbook Sections:

Workbook for Improving School Climate & Closing the Achievement Gap (pdf) (complete edition)
Introduction (pdf)
Closing the Achievement Gap Section (pdf)
Special Education Section (pdf)
Migrant Education Section (pdf)
Appendices (pdf)

For more information about the P-16 Council's recommendation on the school climate survey contact Shadidi Sia-Maat, Ph.D., Education Programs Consultant, CDE: (916) 319-0652.

Factsheets

Brief research reports based on the CHKS data.

Factsheet 1 (pdf): Health Risks, Resilience, and the Academic Performance Index
This is a brief report that describes how schools where students are low in health risk factors and high in protective factors have higher API scores than other schools.
Factsheet 2 (pdf): Student Tobacco Use and TUPE Competitive Grant Funding
This brief report examines trends in student tobacco use in high schools with competitive TUPE grants and schools without such grants. The results indicated that high schools that received TUPE grants have been more successful than other schools in reducing tobacco use and its precursors.
Factsheet 3 (pdf): Are Student Health Risks and Low Resilience Assets an Impediment to the Academic Progress of Schools?
This factsheet describes how health risk and resilience are longitudinally related to subsequent changes in standardized test scores. The results indicate that health risk and low levels of resilience assets impede the progress of schools in raising test scores.
Factsheet 4 (pdf): Bias-related Harassment among California Students
This factsheet uses CHKS data to analyze the prevalence of harassment in California Schools, and correlate that harassment with a variety of other behaviors. Results indicate that in addition to the negative physical and mental effects of harassment itself, students who are harassed are at greater risk of a wide range of detrimental behaviors and experiences, including poorer grades, school attendance, feelings related to depression, and substance abuse.
Factsheet 5 (pdf): Links between Cigarette Smoking and Other Substance Use, Violence, and School Problems
This factsheet summarizes the results of an analysis of CHKS data on AOD use, violence and school problems among middle and secondary school students, comparing 'current smokers' with 'nonsmokers'. The results suggest that cigarette smoking among youth has become a marker for other risk behaviors and problems, especially among 7th graders, and that efforts to reduce student smoking will be more successful if embedded in approaches that address a broad range of risk behaviors and problems.
Factsheet 6 (pdf): Substance Use and Other Problems Among Youth in Foster and Relative Care
This factsheet summarizes the results of an analysis of substance abuse and other risk behaviors, school problems, and resilience, among secondary students in foster care or living with a relative other than a parent, compared to youth living with a parent. Compared to Parent Home Youth, the Foster Care Youth reported much higher rates of substance abuse, poor school attendance and grades, and more violence-related behaviors, as well as harassment and feelings of incapacitating sadness. They also were more likely to be low in caring adult relationships and total environmental assets. Relative Home Youth tended to fall in the mid-range.
Factsheet 7 (pdf): Risk Behaviors and Problems Among Youth in Nontraditional Schools
This factsheet summarizes the results of an analysis of risk-taking behavior among students that attend Nontraditional Schools (such as Continuation and Community Day Schools), compared to 11th graders. It finds generally higher rates of substance use among Nontraditional School students when compared to Grade 11 students and concludes that “there is much more to be done to create the intimate, nurturing atmosphere that nontraditional schools need to ensure these high-risk youth are reconnected with school and graduate”.
Factsheet 8 (pdf): The Achievement Gap, School Well-Being, and Learning Supports
This factsheet summarizes a study of how academic performance and school well-being vary by the racial/ethnic composition of schools. School well-being refers to a school having a developmentally positive learning climate characterized by environmental supports, safety, and school attachment, as measured by student-reported data collected in 2004-06 by the California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS). Both academic performance and school well-being varied consistently and persistently across schools by racial/ethnic groupings.
Factsheet 9 (pdf): Racial/Ethnic Differences in School Performance, Engagement, Safety, and Supports
This factsheet describes how 17 school-based CHKS indicators covering these areas differed significantly across eight racial/ethnic groups of secondary students. Overall, White and Asian students reported the most positive outcomes, and African American and Latino students had the least positive outcomes in regard to school performance, engagement, and safety. Latinos were the lowest of all groups in school developmental supports; African-Americans, in school connectedness and safety. The results demostrate that underlying the Achievement Gap, there are also gaps in school engagement, safety, and supports that need to be addressed.
Factsheet 10 (pdf): Harassment Among California Students, 2006-08
This factsheet updates Factsheet #4, providing current and expanded data on harassment among California students in 2006-08. The results suggest little if any progress has been made in reducing harassment (especially for race/ethnicity) among California secondary students. Thirty-seven percent of secondary students self-reported being harassed at least once. Even higher rates were found for types of verbal harassment. Victims of harassment are more likely to have school-related health-risks, and feelings and experiences that compromise learning and well-being. They are more likely to not feel safe and connected to school; have higher truancy; and experience lower developmental supports at school (caring adult relations, high expectations, and opportunities for meaningful participation). Further, harassed youth reported higher rates of fighting and weapons possession at school, as well as risk of depression.
Factsheet 11 (pdf): Students Who Report Chronic Sadness, 2006-08
This factsheet summarizes the characteristics of 7th and 9th graders who reported chronic sadness/hopelessness on the 2006–2008 California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS). Three in ten secondary students report that, in the previous 12 months, they felt so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more that they stopped doing some usual activities, an indicator of student mental health needs, possibly risk of depression. Seventh and 9th graders who experience such chronic sadness, compared to their peers who do not, are at elevated risk of a wide range of educational, health, social, and emotional problems, including lower school attendance, performance, and connectedness, and greater likelihood of having been victimized at school and substance use. They also report lower levels of the developmental supports in their schools and communities that have been shown to mitigate these problems, a deficit that may contribute to their problems.

Health, Well-being, & Achievement

Ensuring That No Child Is Left Behind (pdf)

This non-technical report summarizes the findings from the two annual reports listed below, examining how gains in test scores are related to health-related barriers to student learning. For other useful summaries, download Factsheets 1 and 3.

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Student Health Risks, Resilience, and the Academic Performance Index

Year 1 Report (pdf). The Year 1 Report describes how schools where students are low in health risk factors and high in protective factors have higher API scores than other schools.

Year 2 Report, Longitudinal Analyses (pdf). The Year 2 Report describes the extent to which student exposure to health risks and low levels of development supports is related to subsequent changes in academic performance.

API Presentation (pdf) The API presentation presents a brief summary of the results, while the annual reports provide a more extensive discussion of the analyses and results.

Using the CHKS to Help Improve Schools and Student Achievement (pdf)

A great tool to help foster support for the survey, this document explains how the CHKS can be used to help improve schools and student achievement. It briefly describes survey content and rationale, and provides a short synopsis of recent research linking health with achievement.

Download the Workbook for Improving School Climate & Closing the Achievement Gap (PDF)