.: Overview

Why Participate in the Oregon Healthy Teens Survey? "Because there is no curriculum brilliant enough
to compensate for a hungry stomach
or a distracted mind. "
(National Action Plan for Comprehensive School Health Education, 1992).

Kids bring their whole life to school with them…and it doesn’t fit in a locker. Every student faces life challenges that impact his or her ability to learn.

There is a strong, well-established link between health and learning. Students’ health impacts their attendance, test scores, and ability to pay attention in class. Supporting kids and addressing health issues such as hunger, stress, harassment, substance use and unintended pregnancy can greatly improve their ability to learn and academic success.

OHT results can help members of the school community to make data-driven decisions about the health needs of their students and effectively address
health-related barriers to learning. OHT can be used for:

  • Track student behavior changes as required by Title IVA, Safe and Drug Free Schools funding
  • School-wide improvement planning and assessment
  • Curricular decisions
  • Grant writing/reporting
  • Engaging community partners
  • Informs the types of funding opportunities offered by the Oregon Health Authority

The 2011 Oregon Healthy Teens [OHT] Survey will be administered throughout Oregon in the spring. This immensely important survey is being conducted by the Wyoming Survey & Analysis Center (WYSAC), a department of the University of Wyoming, and is sponsored by the Oregon Health Authority [OHA] and the Oregon Department of Education [ODE].

The data from OHT cover a plethora of topics, including substance use, physical activity, nutrition, and bullying. Results from this survey provide the backbone of data driven decisions that is critical for your school district and can be used to plan and apply for funding for future prevention efforts. Every school and school district who participates will receive a confidential report that will compare their local results* to the state level results. The OHT is administered to 8th and 11th grade students in odd-numbered years and provides a wealth of data that is crucial to our youth population. Oregon teens have unique concerns and the on-going success of OHT is pivotal in understanding and addressing these concerns. The OHT is administered by traditional paper-and-pencil method and, for the first time, also as an online survey. Each school will chose the option best suited for their student population.

Visitors to this website will find up-to-date information about the 2011 OHT, including training materials, survey administration documents, and copies of the questionnaires. Please feel free to download and view the materials on this website. If you have any questions, concerns or would simply like to talk to the research team, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Schools or school districts that have too few students to maintain the students’ confidentiality will receive a report that aggregates the results across multiple schools or districts.