Bay State Community Services (Bay State) collaborates with school districts to administer Youth Health Surveys (YHS), aimed at evaluating the health status of students in grades 6 through 12. This initiative involves working with district leadership and designated staff to create tailored survey instruments for middle and high schools, drawing on the frameworks established by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Youth Health Survey (YHS). These instruments, including both the national and state-specific versions as well as district-specific surveys, are revised biennially to address emerging health concerns. Participation in the surveys is facilitated through passive parental consent, and the surveys are conducted online during students' regular class periods.

Upon completion of the survey period, the collected data undergoes a review process to ensure its integrity and completeness. This involves assessing the amount of time each student spent on the survey and identifying any records where students either started but did not answer any questions, completed fewer than 50% of the questions, or had a disproportionately high response rate in a time frame less than 50% of the average completion time. Such incomplete records are excluded from the final analysis.

Summary Dashboards

These dashboard pages feature six charts: an "Overall" display and then displays disaggregated by grade, age, sex, whether Hispanic/Latino or not, and race.

Go to the Summary Dashboards

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