Definition: Estimated percentage of public school students in grades 7, 9, 11, and non-traditional programs who have caring relationships with adults at school, by sexual orientation and level of agreement (e.g., in 2017-2019, 26.1% of gay, lesbian, and bisexual students in grades 7, 9, 11, and non-traditional programs in California had a high degree of caring relationships with adults at school).
Data Source: WestEd, California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS) and Biennial State CHKS. California Dept. of Education (Aug. 2020).
Footnote: Levels of caring relationships are based on a scale created from a student's responses to three questions about having a teacher or other adult at school who cares about the student, who notices when the student is not there, and who listens when the student has something to say. Years presented comprise two school years (e.g., 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years are shown as 2017-2019). County- and state-level data are weighted estimates; school district-level data are unweighted. Students in non-traditional programs are those enrolled in community day schools or continuation education. Use caution when comparing data for gay/lesbian/bisexual and straight groups across time periods, as the wording of the sexual orientation question changed in 2017-2019. The notation S refers to (a) data for school districts that have been suppressed because there were fewer than 10 respondents in that group, and (b) data for counties that have been suppressed because the sample was too small to be representative. N/A means that data are not available.
