According to a recent survey, over half of Tompkins County students (53.4%) have a low commitment to school, while at the same time more than two-thirds of students (68.8%) are involved in prosocial opportunities at school. These insights represent just two of the risk and protective factors gleaned from the October 2021 Community Level Youth Development Evaluation (CLYDE) survey, which was administered to all students grades 7 through 12 at the seven school districts in Tompkins County. A version of the survey has been conducted every two years since 2014, though the 2020 survey was postponed one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The survey is organized by the Community Coalition for Healthy Youth (CCHY), which includes representation from TST-BOCES, Tompkins County Youth Services Department (TCYSD), The Alcohol and Drug Council of Tompkins County (The Council), and the Tompkins County Health Department (TCHD). Nearly 3,700 students took the October 2021 survey, 95% of which were included in the analysis.
“The community-wide survey was started as a part of a federal Drug Free Communities (DFC) grant at the county Youth Services department,” said Bridgette Nugent, Deputy Director of TCYSD. “The school districts are amazing partners every survey year, both for organizing class time and permissions to allow students to participate, and when it comes time to review the results and respond to what the data tells them.” Each district gets their own report for their students; county-wide results are made available to the public.
“With CLYDE, for the first time in the history of the Tompkins County survey we have a way to bring the consolidated county data directly to the public through an online dashboard,” said Brandi Remington, Youth Development Coordinator for TST-BOCES. Called the Youth Development Dashboard, it breaks the survey results down into nine tabs, including for drugs and alcohol, bullying and mental health, risk and protective factors, and DFC core measures. Each tab can be filtered by school grade, gender, racial groups, and ethnicity. Open access to the dashboard is available at clyde.catalyst-insight.com/public/dashboard/tompkins_ny.
“We hope this dashboard will be viewed by parents and caregivers, school personnel, social services staff, and the students themselves,” Brandi Remington continued. “A well informed community is in the best position to make positive and equitable changes in how we raise, educate, and involve our youth so they become successful citizens.” The “Intro” tab of the dashboard provides important information about data credibility, the risk and protective factor framework, and a link to learn more about the Communities That Care model.
For more information, contact Brandi Remington at bremington@tstboces.org, or Kate Shanks-Booth TCYSD Director, at kshanks@tompkins-co.org.
The Community Coalition for Healthy Youth (CCHY) represents agencies, schools, government, businesses, families, and concerned citizens in Tompkins County, all working to reduce substance abuse among middle and high school youth through the use of effective, evidence-based programs and practices.