Definition: Level of school connectedness among public school students in grades 7, 9, 11, and non-traditional programs, by sexual orientation (e.g., in 2017-2019, an estimated 30.7% of gay, lesbian, and bisexual students in grades 7, 9, 11, and non-traditional programs in California had high levels of school connectedness).
Data Source: WestEd, California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS) and Biennial State CHKS. California Dept. of Education (Aug. 2020).
Footnote: Levels of school connectedness are based on a scale created from responses to five questions about feeling happy, safe, close to people, a part of school, and about teachers treating students fairly. 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.
