Student Surveys Hampered by Alaska LawJanuary 9, 2006
Research Summary
State officials were unable to publish an annual risk-assessment survey because of poor participation, and experts laid the blame on a state law that requires parents to sign permission forms before students can be asked about their behaviors, the Associated Press reported Dec. 26."We don't want schools, or anyone else, intruding into the privacy of homes without their parents' permission," said state Sen. Fred Dyson (R-Eagle River), who sponsored the legislation requiring parental approval of the surveys. "I hold the old-fashioned view that the responsibility of raising kids lies with parents."
The 2005 Alaska Youth Risk Behavior Survey was shelved because less than 60 percent of students responded, the state Department of Education said, making it too small a sample to generalize about student trends. Many students simply did not return their permission forms, despite the fact that some districts hired staffers to call parents and request that they complete the forms, and schools offering pizza parties to classes where 100 percent of the forms were returned. Those efforts cost schools thousands of dollars.
"It's not a matter of parents refusing as much as it is the forms themselves not making it back to the school," said Patty Owen, survey coordinator for the state Division of Public Health. "There are zillions of things coming home. It's just one of the pieces of paper coming home that gets lost in the shuffle."
COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE: