Conducting A Useful Strengths and Needs Assessment
Each fall, many organizations undertake the task of conducting a comprehensive strengths and needs assessment. While this can be done any time of year, the fall is a popular time because of the need to examine organization or program conditions in the process of developing grant applications or for participation in a school reform process. It is also an excellent way to frame the review of your organizational plan and target your improvement efforts for the upcoming year.
Conducting a comprehensive assessment is not easy. It requires taking an in-depth look at what is working well and what needs to be improved. In some cases, a professional external evaluator will take the lead while, in other cases, you have to go it alone. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you conduct your assessment:
Review the results of previous assessments. If you participated in a any time of program quality review in the last few years, pull out those reports and review them. Also examine the assessment results you put together last spring when you reviewed your agency plans. Note which data are recent and which need to be updated.
Involve all stakeholders. Nothing is more disconcerting to a leader than conducting a needs assessment and releasing the results only to hear someone say, "Well, I have that information. Why didn't you ask me?" An effective assessment will involve all the major stakeholders in your organizational community, including stakeholders, staff and community partners. You should structure your data collection efforts to include some opportunities for everyone to participate (for example, surveys), as well as opportunities for representatives to be selected (for example, leadership teams and focus group interviews). If you provide multiple opportunities for different viewpoints to be heard, you will be more likely to see results that really represent your community.
Don't forget to focus on strengths. Of course you want to know what is not working well so you can fix it, but don't forget to gather information about the strengths of your organization. Your strengths are your foundation for reform. Identifying your strengths also helps to ensure that you don't accidentally throw out something that is working well for you. Finally, identifying your strengths also helps to build organizational morale to help you get through the difficult process of reform.
Include data from a variety of sources. Be thorough in both the breadth and depth of data collected. Include both qualitative (focus group interviews, classroom observations, etc.) and quantitative (achievement assessment results, surveys, etc.) data and gather data from a variety of perspectives. Don't assume that the teachers' view (or any particular staff view) of a situation is the accurate one. It certainly is accurate for them, but other perspectives of a situation are also important.
Analyze the data appropriately. If you have quantitative data, be sure to perform the appropriate types of statistical analyses to ensure that you are getting as much out of it as possible. Disaggregating data is critical. For qualitative data, summaries and analyses of trends are very important. When all of the individual pieces of data have been summarized, bring a team of representatives together to review it. What does it tell you? What are the implications for action? Do you need to gather more data before taking action?
Don't take it personally. It's difficult, but don't assume that every identified need is a personal failure. The purpose of the process is improvement, not blame. If everyone enters the assessment process in the right frame of mind, conducting a comprehensive strengths and needs assessment can be a very effective tool for managing school improvement.
