To learn more about youth drug use in a community, coalitions often develop student surveys. The challenge is how to get that survey completed by students and implemented properly in a school. That’s why it’s important that coalitions understand what is required in their state or school district in order to conduct a student survey. For example, the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment of 2002 requires written parental/guardian permission for students to take part in Department of Education funded school-based surveys that ask questions of a sensitive nature. However, some states and school districts have implemented policies and laws that also require written consent for all school-based surveys. What does this mean for coalitions?

Active vs. passive consent
There are two ways to get parent/guardian consent for school-based surveys. In both, parents/guardians are notified of the survey and permission for their child to participate is requested.

Passive Consent: In passive consent, parents/guardians send back a form only if they do not want their child to take part in the survey. If no form is turned in, schools can assume that consent for participation is given.

Active Consent: In active consent, parents/guardians must send back a form agreeing to allow their child to take the survey. Without this written permission, the student can not participate in the survey. If a form is not turned in, you must assume that permission is not granted.

Impact on communities
Using active consent may mean increased cost to communities because it usually requires more follow-up with parents/guardians to return the permission slip. Additionally, some communities and researchers feel that active consent may result in a biased sample. Active consent usually results in fewer students surveyed, and there is evidence that suggests active consent approaches result in a sample that is not truly reflective of your school-aged community. When a school-based survey is implemented, the goal is to have the individuals that fill it out to accurately represent your community. If data from surveys are used for planning and tracking outcomes, this information should be as accurate as possible. Communities should ensure that their school data reflects what’s really going on with students.

However, just because your school has shifted to the active consent approach does not mean that you need to abandon doing a school survey or using the results. Experts suggest that if you manage to get at least 70 percent of your school population to complete the survey, then the sample sufficiently represents your student body. So coalitions need to work with their schools to increase the likelihood that parents/guardians read the consent form, agree to allow their child to participate in the survey, and return the signed form back to the school.

Suggestions for coalitions
Coalitions can work with their schools to implement certain activities that will help increase the response rate. Here are some ideas for schools:

• Instead of sending the form home with the student, give it directly to the parent/guardian. One way to do this is to include the consent form in registration, emergency or other beginning-of-the year packets.
• Ask for a quick turn around (2-3 days). You can still accept forms after the due date, but this will emphasize the urgency of the survey and hopefully make parents/guardians less likely to lose track of the form.
• Help teachers out by giving them a roster of all the students in their class that return a consent form and extra forms for those who still need to return a form.
• Help schools develop incentives for both students and teachers. For example, schools could offer a pizza party for each class that reaches a return rate of 90 percent; or enter students who return a consent form into a drawing. Schools could also reward teachers with the most returned consent forms. For example, teachers who reach a 90 percent return rate in their class would receive a gift certificate.
• Involve local businesses by asking them to donate prizes and gift certificates to schools.
• Help schools inform parents/guardians about the survey. For example, create fliers to distribute to parents/guardians describing the survey, how the information will be used, and the importance of their child’s participation. Coalitions can also help schools conduct follow-up calls to parents/guardians reminding them to complete the consent form.

For more information on conducting student surveys, visit WestEd’s Healthy Kids Survey at www.wested.org/hks.

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Evelyn Yang is the Evaluation and Research Manager at CADCA’s National Coalition Institute. She may be reached at eyang@cadca.org.