About the Illinois Youth Survey (IYS) Is your school or community looking for a way to accurately measure rates of youth substance use and violence? IYS brings Prevention Science to your school and community. IYS is designed to help you prevent youth substance abuse by giving you the knowledge you need to prepare. With improved knowledge your school and community can provide more precisely targeted and effective solutions.

Get the vital information you need at no cost to your school. Participation is confidential. Drug prevention becomes a science when... IYS gives your school leadership the information it needs.

Get the vital information you need at no cost to your school.

• "What kinds of substance abuse are children exposed to in our community?"

• "How many of our youth are involved in substance abuse practices?"

• "What can we do to help our youth avoid the consequences of substance abuse?"

These are questions that concerned educators and parents often ask.

One point is clear, knowledge can be an important tool when it comes to preventing substance abuse among school students. The more information your school leadership has, the better able it is to develop effective programs and support.

That’s the philosophy behind the Illinois Youth Survey. It’s a program scientifically designed to gather up-to-the-moment student information. It provides the background that can help your school address the issues that lead to substance abuse and provide better outreach for youth at risk.

The survey is sponsored by the Illinois Department of Human Services. That means youth in your area can take part – at no cost to your school.

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Participation is confidential.

Individual confidentiality is a core principle of the Illinois Youth Survey. The identity of the youth who participate is not collected or revealed. Full instructions accompany the survey to help educators create an environment that protects privacy and promotes truthful responses.

Survey data is also protected. While results as a whole are used to create a statewide profile of youth substance abuse and trends, the results for individual schools are shared only with representative administrators at the participating school.

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Drug prevention becomes a science when:

• It is based on measured substance use rates.

• It matches community risk profiles with proven ways to decrease risks.

• It measures progress made in strengthening protective factors, decreasing risk factors and decreasing substance abuse.

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The Illinois Youth Survey gives your school leadership the information it needs to develop effective tools and solutions.

• It gives accurate rates of substance abuse, as well as related problems such as youth violence.

• It measures key risk factors, such as access to drugs, peer drug attitudes and family rules.

• It's available to schools every two years, so changes over time can be monitored, and your prevention efforts can be adjusted to be most effective.

• It costs schools nothing. Sponsorship is provided from the Illinois Department of Human Services for use in grades 6, 8, 10, and 12..

• It can be administered in 45 minutes or less.

• It's available on-line or printed.

• It's available in Spanish.