Boise Initiative Prepares for Upcoming Academic Year and Survey

Welcome back-to-school Boise!

This summer has been an important time for the Communities for Youth Boise Initiative as we work with the Communities for Youth Empowerment Team, St. Luke's, and local school partners to launch another year of youth data collection via the Youth Well-being Survey.

This survey is an important part of our community’s upstream prevention work as the results help us make informed decisions about how to support young people in our community. The youth survey also provides us a means of checking in on how our current prevention efforts are going and helps us see if we are having an impact.

Community members meet to discuss survey results and next steps for building the best community possible for youth.

How Can We Improve on Last Year’s Survey?

Last year, Boise School District schools, Anser Charter School, and Riverstone International School took part in the Youth Well-being Survey. We are looking forward to working with these schools and districts again this year, and we want to ensure that consent for participation reaches a threshold rate of 65%. When survey participation is low, data is generally not representative of the youth population, and thus cannot not be shared publicly, used to guide new upstream prevention efforts, or compared to prior data. The 65% minimum participation rate may seem a little strict, but this standard is in place to help make sure we make the decisions that have the best chance of improving our community and ultimately the lives of our young people.

To help make the consent process easier for parents/guardians and to increase awareness about the Youth Well-being Survey generally, our initiative has been working with local school leaders from Boise schools to increase communication and to make the consent form more accessible.

There are also lots of ways parents/guardians and other community members can assist in making the Youth Well-being Survey a success this year.

• If you are a parent/guardian of a teen in middle or high school please ensure you have provided permission/consent for your child.

  • Anser Charter School – Click here to read the consent form and provide your consent.

  • Riverstone International School – Click here to read the consent form and provide your consent.

  • Boise School District Schools – If you did not provide consent in Infinite Campus, you can easily do so here.

• Closer to the actual date of survey administration for your child’s school, we encourage you to speak with your child about the survey. Key points to cover with your teen include:

  • The survey helps school leaders and others create a more youth-friendly community.

  • No young person is required to take the survey or to answer all the questions once they have started.

  • All surveys are 100% anonymous and cannot be used for any kind of disciplinary purpose (getting someone in trouble).

• If you have already provided consent for your child, you can also help us spread the word to other parents about the importance of having a high participation rate for our community. Some parents simply forget to provide consent, while others may not read through all the details and think the survey is just something “extra” their child doesn’t need to take part in. There are also some survey-related myths that other parents/guardians may be concerned about. Some key points to address with other parents who may be skeptical include:

  • For the vast majority of teens, asking about their experiences with “risky” behaviors (e.g., using/misusing substances like alcohol or tobacco, dating and sexual activity) does not persuade them to engage in those behaviors.

  • Prior research has shown that the vast majority of teens take surveys like the Youth Well-being Survey seriously and do not intentionally make-up answers or lie about behavior.

  • Questions on the Youth Well-being Survey have been purposefully worded in ways that minimize feelings of discomfort or stress. Any question that a young person does find distressing they are encouraged to skip.

Things to Remember About the 2024-2025 Youth Well-being Survey

• Youth participation requires parent/guardian consent however, parent/guardian permission does not mean a teen is required to take the survey.

• All surveys are 100% anonymous, no identifying information will be collected and it is not possible to tie any answers provided to any individual student. All data is collected using a highly secure online system.

• All reporting to schools and community members is done at the aggregate level and not at the individual level. Individual level data is never shared.