The Strategic Use of your California Healthy Kids Survey
(CHKS) training focused on how schools can effectively utilize data from the
CHKS survey. The training was put on through the San Diego County Office of
Education presented by Leslie Poyner. The training referred to what is commonly
known as the CHKS survey to CalSCHLS, which stands for California School Climate, social-emotional and mental Health, and Learning supports and engagement through a Survey system sponsored by the California Department of Education.
This survey has been used a measure for the US Department of Education in order
to identify proactive factors that link directly to success in school, cares,
and in life. CalSCHLS measures and asses school climate factors. School climate
is composed of supports that engage school safety which include; high
expectations, caring relationships, opportunities for meaningful participation,
perceived school safety from school community members, and school
connectedness. School climate also measures the violence, victimization, and
substance use within a school community. A school’s school climate score ranges
from 100 to 500, 300 being the mean average. The presentation explains the
correlation between school climate and school performance. Schools in
California that have a higher school climate index score, or what is known as
“beating the odds,” typically have a higher amount of personal resources,
higher levels of academic performance, and more support from adults at school;
which is seen through high grades, increased school connectedness, less absences,
and a sense of safety at school. 
The presenter focused on a detailed explanation of how schools
have effectively used CalSCHLS to increase school climate index scores. As
mentioned prior, school climate encompasses a variety of factors. The school
that was used as an example of how to increase the school climate decided to
focus on the caring adults in school’s question of the survey. Their goal was
to increase the percentage of 9th and 11th grade students
to feel that some adult cares about them in the school setting. The presenter explained
how the school utilized the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) model. The Plan
was to institute a graduation policy that required every student be enrolled in
a non-academic organization each year of high school. All staff was required to
offer a hands-on class any topic of their choice, and students would choose the
class they wanted to be a part of in the beginning of the year. The Do aspect focused on the observation part
of the plan. A high level of engagement was reported being seen amongst both
students and staff because students were able to select a class based off their
interests. The Study component required revision of the school climate report card
and the average score of students that believed there was a caring adult in
school. The goal was to hopefully see an increase in the percentage of students
that answered pretty much or very much true for the caring adults question. The
district noted an increase after the program was implemented and the CalSCHLS
survey was administered again. The Act component
focused on reviewing the data examined and summarizing how the plan, do, and
study aspects were carried out. Staff was noted to be more involved,
specifically with students that they had struggled with behaviorally with in
the past. Students were noted to have more trusting relationships with
teachers, which allowed teachers to refer students appropriately, and student’s
problems were being addressed more effectively. 
The presenter had us review our CHKS data and do an activity
that required us to look at various components within the schools we are
interning at. She provided us with a prediction worksheet that required us to
graph and predict the percentage of students that answered the question, and
then afterward report the actual percentage so we could ultimately compare
results. We looked at questions that focused on harassment of school property,
caring relationships, academic motivation, and drug and alcohol use. This was a
beneficial activity because it allowed us to note the difference in what we
perceive versus what students are actually reporting based of their perceptions
and experiences. Facilitating an activity like this with staff would be
effective and would allow for a concrete illustration of the discrepancies and
possible disconnect happening between staff and student perceptions of the
school.
This workshop was extremely beneficial, especially when it
comes to reviewing CHKS data. In my experience working in various schools, a
lot of the time the CHKS results are disregarded because it is seen as more
work for counselors to review and analyze. However, as we can see from the
example provided in the workshop, reviewing the data can make a major
difference concerning various gaps that exist within a school. My one
suggestion for this workshop would be to review more about analyzing the data,
and noting what to focus on specifically.
Counselors or any district member reviewing the data would be more
inclined to do so if there was a straight forward more procedural way of doing
so. I would highly suggest that counselors at all levels attend a workshop like
this in order to understand the importance the CHKS serves, and how it can be vital
data that could transform one’s school.
Contact Leslie Poyner if you would like to learn more about this
Email: lpoyner@wested.org
californias3.wested.org
- Ella McParlane
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