Conducting a Needs Assessment

Presented by: Tabitha E. Foreman, M.Ed., PresidentGrossman and Associates, LLC

Educational Consultants

What is the best thing?

Turn to someone not from your school and tell them about something exceptional that is happening at your school.

How did you know?

How did you decide? Was it your opinion? Do you have data to support your opinion? Would other people from your school have

said the same thing? Would other people from your school agree

with you?

Goals for today’s workshop

To provide you with information to enable you to conduct a quality needs assessment that will maximize existing resources, improve what works, discard what doesn’t, and uncover the met and unmet needs of your students, parents, teachers, and school community.

Why do a needs assessment?

They are essential to quality program development and program improvement

Unless systematic needs assessments are conducted, precious resources are wasted addressing problems that do not exist (Schuh, J., & Upcraft, L., 2001).

What is a needs assessment?

“Needs assessment is the process of obtaining and analyzing information to determine the current status and service needs of a defined population and/or geographic area” (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 1999).

A needs assessment can be described as a process for identifying the knowledge and skills necessary for achieving organizational goals (Brinkerhof & Gill, 1994).

A needs assessment is a method of finding out the nature and extent of performance problems and how they can be solved (Molenda, Pershing, & Reigeluth, 1996).

A needs assessment is a process for pinpointing reasons for gaps in performance or a method for identifying new and future performance needs (Gupta, 1999).

In general, a needs assessment is a systematic approach to identifying social problems, determining their extent, and accurately defining the target population to be served and the nature of their service needs (Rossi, P. H., Freeman, H. E., & Lipsey, Mark, W. L., 1998).

Benefits of conducting a needs assessment “A needs assessment can be a powerful tool used to assign

priority to service needs and develop strategies to address them.”

To generate ideas and document perceptions about various issues

To collect information to support likely alternatives (decision making)

To estimate relative acceptability of various alternatives (identifies potentially controversial issues)

To select the most acceptable program from the alternatives To determine whether or needs are being met

(Annie E. Casey Foundation, 1999, Schuh, J., & Upcraft, L., 2001)

When done well…

A needs assessment provides: A description of what is currently occuring An inventory of existing resources A gap analysis of met and unmet needs within

targeted populations Results that can be used to set priorities,

program plan, and can also be used for planning and decision-making

Met and Unmet Needs

A met need is one that is currently being addressed through the use of existing resources.

A unmet need is one that is not being addressed through the use of existing resources.

Met needs are. . .

Available Appropriate Accessible

Unmet needs are. . .

Not available Are available, but are not appropriate or are

inaccessible Often expressed as demands when they are

recognized

What is a need?

It is the “gap” between a present state of “what is” and a desired end state “what should be” (Witkin, B.R., & Altschund, J.W., 1995)

The need is the problem or the concern Needs are: “anything essential for a

satisfactory mode of existence or level of performance” (Scriven, M., 1999)

The focus of a needs assessment are NEEDS NOT WANTS

Student needs

Assessing student needs is the process of determining the presence or absence of the factors and conditions, resources, services, and learning opportunities that students need in order to meet their education goals and objectives within the context of a school’s mission (Upcraft,L., & Schuh, J., 1996).

Designing a needs assessment

Determine the purpose Determine the objective(s) Identify resources that are available Understand and agree upon the roles and

responsibilities Determine the questions to be answered Develop the methodology for collecting and analyzing

the data Establish a timeline and a workplan

(Annie E. Casey Foundation, 1999)

What is the focus?

Focus on the ends to be attained, rather than the means. This means we must know where we want to go (Witkin, B.R., & Altschuld, J.W., 1995).

Schools should narrow their focus and use their assets to advance their mission, rather than to broaden their focus and dilute what they do best (Witkin, B.R., & Altschuld, J.W., 1995).

Key questions a needs assessment answers What are the practices, attitudes, or beliefs of the

target population? To what extent is the target population receiving

services? What are the barriers to accessing or using services

available as perceived by the target population? What programs, strategies, or interventions work best

with the targeted population? What related resources and services are available,

accessible, and appropriate for the targeted population?

(Annie E. Casey Foundation, 1999)

Types of data

Primary data Original data that you collect and analyze (report

cards, portfolios)

Types of data

Secondary data Information that was collected by someone else,

but which you can analyze or re-analyze (standardized test scores)

Types of data

Qualitative data Data presented in a narrative form that cannot be

expressed numerically (interviews, teacher comments on student behavior)

Types of data

Quantitative data Data presented in numerical terms (test scores)

Tools for a needs assessment

Secondary data Looking at what you already have

Focus groups Interviews Forums or public meetings Surveys Questionnaires Observations

Ways of Assessing Need

Eyes and Ears Systematic classroom and school observations Official records Review of teacher and student work Third-party review Written open-ended survey Check and rank list surveys

Ways of Assessing Need

Delphi Technique problem statement reproduction of comments computation of average and frequency re-rank

How do I pick the right methodology? Ask:

What information is already available? What new information is needed?

How can it be collected efficiently given time and financial constraints?

How will the needs assessment process be coordinated and monitored?

How will quality control be maintained? How will the data be analyzed? When, how, and in what form will the results be

presented? What efforts are needed to promote acceptance of the

needs assessment results? Staff and community “buy-in”

Models Combining Assessment and Planning

Force Field Analysis PDSA Strategic Planning

Force Field Analysis

Force Field Analysis What should be What is Gap between should and is Restraining forces that impede forward movement Driving forces that assist in forward movement Select restraining forces that are both important and capable

of being weakened What actions will weaken

Select driving forces that are important and capable of being strengthened

What actions will strengthen

Force Field Analysis

Force Field Analysis Continued

Integrate and sequence actions to create a comprehensive action plan for moving the current state of affairs to the desired state. Include evaluation Include timeline for implementation and

evaluation

PDSA

Planning, Doing, Studying, and Acting

PDSA

Plan-assessment and planning

Study-data are collected

Act-data are analyzed

Do-implementation

Strategic Planning Conduct external analysis (what is in the external

environment?) Conduct internal analysis (what is in the internal

environment?) State objectives (tied to the mission) Develop and analyze alternative strategies (teams

work to develop and then compare) Design action plans based on analysis from the

alternative strategies

Strategic Planning Identify common beliefs Identify vision (what should be in the future) Identify mission (summary of purpose, based on

beliefs and vision, becomes focus for all remaining phases)

Formulate policies (ground rules that apply to remaining phases of the planning process, the content of the strategic plan, and its implementation)

Remember The value and necessity of broad-based participation by

stakeholders (quiets some skeptics) Importance of team work that is meaningful and not

“ceremonial” Choose the appropriate means of gathering information Recognize the core values of the school That the school’s mission and vision should guide the process

If you don’t have a well-articulated, widely adopted mission and vision, this process (as almost everything you do) will not be as successful as you want and will diminish the effort you put into this needs assessment and any program you decide to undertake!

Other things to remember

Needs assessment is a participatory process; it is not done to people

Needs assessments are political activities (definition of politics). Priorities derived maybe contrary to “what we always do.”

“We’ve been doing it this way for years”

“We’ve been doing it like this since Mr. Jefferson was the principal”

More things to remember

People will resist your “new idea”

“Every year they come up with something else.” (teacher’s experiences with “new things” and their “short shelf-life” “it will get worse before it gets better”-Ray McNulty)

People will resist and resent the needs assessment process for various reasons

“Another survey, they didn’t do anything differently when we filled out the other one.”

THIS ISN’T GOING TO WORK!

Finally

Needs assessments should look for facts Needs assessments should be flexible Merely collecting data is NOT a needs

assessment Information is NOT power if you don’t use it Surveying people and then not doing anything

with the information makes people resent the process and resent you for not taking action.

The process Pre-assessment-exploration

What is our focus? Who are the stakeholders? Does our focus coincide with our mission and vision?

Assessment-data gathering What type of data do we already have? How will we collect the data? Roles and responsibilities-who does what and

WHEN? What data are we missing?

How should it be collected? Post-assessment-utilization and ACTION

What did we learn about our school community?