The West Covina Unified School District administered the Elementary School and Secondary School California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS) in Spring 2005 to fifth-grade students. The CHKS is a comprehensive youth health-risk and resilience data collection service, sponsored by the California Department of Education (CDE). The elementary survey was designed to measure behaviors and, particularly, the factors that influence them. The survey items were selected with the assistance of an advisory committee of experts based on their value to schools and committees for monitoring and understanding behavior and for program planning. This report summarizes the results for key indicators of risk and well-being. The complete survey results are  available in the district's Technical Report.

Although this report provides information on the percent of students that are involved in risk behaviors, equally important is the percent of students who did not engage in them. While it is essential to identify and address student problems, we should not lose sight of the positive behaviors and attitudes of most youth. About half the CHKS is devoted to assessing youth assets or resilience traits that have been found to promote success and help prevent the onset of healthrisk behaviors even in the presence of high-risk environments.