Conducting Educational Needs Assessments: (10 Evaluation in Education and Human Services)

What goals should be addressed by educational programs? What priorities should be assigned to the different goals? What funds should be allocated to each goal? How can quality services be maintained with declining school enrollments and shrinking revenues? What programs could be cut if necessary? The ebb and flow of the student population, the changing needs of our society and the fluctuation of resources constantly impinge on the education system. Educators must deal with students, communities, and social institutions that are dynamic, resulting in changing needs. It is in the context of attempting to be responsive to these changes, and to the many wishes and needs that schools are asked to address, that needs assessment can be useful. Needs assessment is a process that helps one to identify and examine both values and information. It provides direction for making decisions about programs and resources. It can include such relatively objective procedures as the statistical description and analysis of standardized test data and such subjective procedures as public testimony and values clarification activities. Needs assessment can be a part of community relations, facilities planning and consolidation, program development and evaluation, and resource allocation. Needs assessment thus addresses a xiii XIV PREFACE broad array of purposes and requires that many different kinds of procedures be available for gathering and analyzing information. This book was written with this wide variation of practices in mind.

Table of Contents:
1 Introduction to Needs Assessment.- The Current Practice of Needs Assessment.- Current Needs Assessment Literature.- Problems in the Practice and Theory of Needs Assessment.- Definition of Need.- The Needs Assessment Process.- A Checklist for Designing and Evaluating Needs Assessments.- Summary.- 2 Preparation.- Identifying the Client, Other Audiences, and the Target Population.- Purposes of the Needs Assessment.- Determining Information Needs.- Identifying the Agency or Person that Will Conduct the Assessment.- Needs Assessment Planning: An Example.- Developing the Basic Design.- Converting the Design into a Management Plan.- Institutional Support.- Reaching and Formalizing Agreements to Govern the Assessment.- The Example Revisited.- Appendix 2A: Needs Assessment Planning Chart.- Appendix 2B: Planning Budget.- Appendix 2C: Summary Budget.- Appendix 2D: Memorandum of Agreement Between the School Board and Learning Disabilities Council.- Appendix 2E: Grant Letter.- 3 Information Gathering.- Definition.- Designing and Operationalizing the Information Collection Plan.- Planning Information Collection.- Conducting Observation Procedures.- 4 Analysis.- Preliminary Analysis.- Needs and Strengths Analysis.- Treatments Analysis.- Summary.- 5 Reporting Needs Assessment Information.- General Guidelines.- Reporting Criteria.- Preparing a Reporting Plan.- Functional Elements in Reporting.- Reporting Examples.- Charts, Graphs, and Tables.- Summary.- 6 Evaluating the Needs Assessment.- Why Evaluate a Needs Assessment?.- Standards of a Good Needs Assessment.- Evaluation Questions.- Types of Evaluation.- Summary.- Appendix 6A: Questions for Evaluating a Needs Assessment.- Appendix 6B: Checklist for Judging the Adequacy of an Evaluation Design.- Appendix A: Establishing Validity and Reliability in Instrumentation.- Appendix B: Techniques for Analyzing Needs Assessment Information.