About "Parental Consent"
During the last few years, there has been extensive discussion and debate, both in Congress and in the Indiana General Assembly, about the issues of "parental consent" and so-called "survey abuse". Legislation was adopted at both the state and federal level to assure the student's right to privacy, and to prohibit certain abuses of student and parental rights. In each legislative debate, the proposed laws were modified after public hearings, in an attempt to reach a compromise that would protect students and parents, but still allow legitimate surveys to continue. Our representatives were involved in these hearings and worked with the legislators to come to a compromise that would allow our Alcohol and Other Drug Use Survey to continue. The result was the insertion of wording in both laws that stated that students could not be required to participate in certain surveys without written parental consent. Participation in our survey is voluntary and students can opt out of participation.
The federal law, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services guidelines that implement it, clearly exempt voluntary and confidential surveys such as the IPRC Alcohol and Other Drug Use Survey. Our experts' reading of the Indiana law, along with informal interpretations from state government, concludes that the Indiana statute also exempts voluntary and confidential surveys. We recognize that not all parties to the debate agree on this point. The Indiana law also exempts surveys that are directly related to curricular instruction. Both Indiana and federal laws require that schools design their prevention curricula based upon local data. Our experts believe that this adequately links the survey to curricular instruction. Schools should follow their school board's rules, and the advice of their own attorneys. We cannot provide legal advice.
We are not opposed to written parental consent, per se, but oppose the requirement because it has the potential for compromising the validity of the sample of participating students. Over the past five years, we have been getting voluntary consent to participate in our surveys from more than 95% of eligible students. When the requirement for written parental consent is imposed, the survey participation rate will drop dramatically -- in many cases to less than half of eligible students. Lack of written consent may be due to a number of factors, including parental inability to read and write, parental absence from the home, failure of students to take forms home or to return them, parental confusion or misinformation about the need for a non-drug-using student to participate, or simple forgetfulness. Lack of written parental consent rarely comes from a willful decision on the part of a parent to exclude their son or daughter from participation. Students from at-risk environments are somewhat less likely to return parental consent forms for the reasons stated above. Therefore the requirement for active written parental consent is likely to exclude a disproportionate share of a population most likely to use certain drugs. This would result in a diminishment in the validity of the sample.
The IndianaPreventionResourceCenter supports parental notification, and the right of parents to inspect survey forms in advance and to exclude their sons and daughters if they wish to do so. Based upon our extensive experience, only a handful of parents in the typical school are concerned about this issue. Students from those families can easily opt out of participating in the ATOD survey without affecting its validity.
[Continued on reverse side]
The IndianaPreventionResourceCenter's Alcohol and Other Drug Use Survey is conducted for two purposes: (1) to provide local schools and their communities with valid estimates of the prevalence of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use among their students, and (2) to provide the state of Indiana with similar estimates of prevalence on a statewide basis. While we do not charge the local schools for providing this service, the service is costly. The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration - Division of Mental Health and Addiction pay more than $100,000 per year to support the costs of this survey. The proportionate share of the cost for each participating school corporation is in excess of $1,400. When the results are scientifically valid estimates, we believe that the cost is well worth the investment. We also believe that to spend that sum of money on a non-representativesample would be a waste of taxpayer dollars.
Our Recommendations
1.Schools should follow the guidelines approved by their school boards, and should follow the advice given by their own attorneys. If necessary, school boards may modify their guidelines to clarify how those guidelines apply to voluntary and anonymous surveys.
2.If the local guidelines permit, and if the local school believes it is necessary and/or appropriate, advance parental notification of the survey may be made. This notification should stress: (1) the fact that the survey is completely anonymous and completed in private, without any personally identifiable information that could be traced to an individual student, (2) the fact that participation is voluntary and that students can easily "opt out" of participation by submitting a blank survey form, (3) the need for non-drug-using students to participate to make sure that we produce accurate estimates of the percentages of students who do use, and (4) offer an opportunity for parents to inspect the forms.
3.If local guidelines require written parental consent, we will need information about the school's plan for obtaining that consent. We need to be assured that data will be collected from an adequate and representative sample of eligible students. Schools MUST have in hand signed parental consent forms from at least 90% of eligible students before we will ship forms to the schools.
4.Schools MUST agree to follow our guidelines for participation and student privacy. Forms must be collected in private, students must be informed that their participation is voluntary, students must be allowed to deposit forms directly into the secure envelope --they may not be collected, and envelopes must be sealed immediately after students deposit the forms in them. Forms may not be checked or straightened by school personnel.
In order to assure accurate and valid results, we must know the exact size of the population being sampled.
If your school cannot administer the survey to a representative sample of students you should refrain from participating in the survey. If you have any questions, please contact us prior to your agreement to participate in the survey.
References:
Anderman C, Cheadle A, Curry S, Diehr P, Shultz L, Wagner E. Selection bias related to parental consent in school-based survey research. Evaluation Review. 1995; 19:663-674.
Dent C, Galaif J, Sussman S, Burtun D, Flay B. Demographic, psychosocial and behavioral differences in samples of actively and passively consented adolescents. Addictive Behaviors. 1993;28:51-56.
Dent CW, Sussman SY, Stacy AW. The impact of a written parental consent policy on estimates from a school-based drug use survey. Evaluation Review. 1997;21:698- 712.
Ellickson PL, Hawes JA. An assessment of active versus passive methods for obtaining parental consent. Evaluation Review. 1989; 13:45-55.
Esbensen FA, Deschenes EP, Vogel RE, West J, Arboit K, Harris L. Active parental consent school-based research – An examination of ethical anti methodological issues. Evaluation Review. 1996;20:737-753.
Esbensen FA, Miller MH, Taylor TJ, He N, Freng A. Differential attrition rates and active parental consent. Evaluation Review. 1999;23:316-335.
Harrington KF, Binkley D, Reynolds KD, Duvall RC, Copeland JR., Franklin F, Raczynski J. Recruitment issues in school based research: Lessons learned from the High 5 Alabama Project. Journal of School Health. 1997;67:415-421.
Hollmann CM, McNamara JR. Considerations in the use of active and passive parental consent procedures. Journal of Psychology. 1999;133:141-156.
Johnson K, Bryant D, Rockwell E, Moore M, Straub BW, Cummings P, Wilson C. Obtaining active parental consent for evaluation research: A case study. American Journal/ of Evaluation. 1999;20:239-249.
Keamey KA, Hopkins RH, Mauss AL, Weisheit RA. Sample bias resulting from a requirement for written parental consent. Public Opinion Quarterly. 1983;47:96-102.
MacGregor E, McNamara J. Comparison of return procedures involving mailed versus student-delivered parental consent forms. Psychological Reports. 1995;77:1113-1115.
McCormick LK, Crawford M, Anderson RH, Gittelsohn J, Kingsley B, Upson D. Recruiting adolescents into qualitative tobacco research studies: Experiences and lessons learned. Journal of School Health. 1999;69:95-99.
Noll RB, Zeller MH, Vannatta K, Bukowski W, Davies WH. Potential bias in classroom research: Comparison of children with permission and those who do not receive permission to participate. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology. 1997;26:36-42.
Renger R, Gotkin V, Crago M, Shisslak C. Research and legal perspectives on the implications of the family privacy protection act for research and evaluation involving minors. American Journal/ of Evaluation. 1998; 19: 191-202.
Severson HH, Ary DV. Sampling bias due to consent procedures with adolescents. Addictive Behaviors. 1984;8:433-437.
Severson H, Biglan A. Rationale for the use of passive consent in smoking prevention research: Politics, policy, and pragmatics. Preventive Medicine. 1989;18:267-279.
[See Text of Relevant Indiana Code on reverse side]
Indiana Code from P.L.204-1995, SEC.1
Effective July 1, 1995
IC 20-10.1-4-15
Section 1.
(a) A school corporation shall make available for inspection by parents or guardians of a student any instructional materials, including:
1. teacher's manuals;
2. student texts;
3. films or other video materials;
4. tapes; and
5.other materials;
used in connection with a personal analysis, and evaluation, or a survey described in subsection (b).
(b) A student shall not be required to participate in a personal analysis, an evaluation, or a survey that is not directly related to academic instruction and that reveals or attempts to affect the student's attitudes, habits, traits, opinions, beliefs, or feelings concerning:
1. political affiliations;
2. religious beliefs or practices;
3. mental or psychological conditions that may embarrass the student or the student's family;
4. sexual behavior or attitudes;
5. illegal, antisocial, self-incriminating, or demeaning behavior;
6. critical appraisals of other individuals with whom the student has a close family relationship;
7. legally recognized privileged or confidential relationships, including a relationship with a lawyer, minister, or physician; or
8. income (except as required by law to determine eligibility for participation in a program or for receiving financial assistance under a program);
without the prior written consent of the student (if the student is an adult or emancipated minor) or the prior written consent of the student's parent or guardian (if the student is an unemancipated minor). A parental consent form for such personal analysis, evaluation, or survey shall accurately reflect the contents and nature of the personal analysis, evaluation, or survey.
(c) The department and the governing body shall give parents and students notice of their rights under this section.
(d) The governing body shall enforce this section.
Section 2.
(a) The governing body of each school corporation shall adopt a written policy to implement IC 20-10.1-4-15, as added by this act, not later than August 15, 1995.
(b) This SECTION expires December 31,1995.
[Editor's Note: The term "department” refers to the Indiana Department of Education. The term "governing body" refers, to the local school board.]