Using Needs Assessments to Drive School and District Improvement

By Julie Corbett Sam Redding
August 17, 2017

This guide describes the core components for developing and administering needs assessments, a critical step to guide any school or district improvement process. It includes information on Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requirements, as well as planning and designing a needs assessment with accompanying worksheets. The guide ends with a list of questions to be answered during planning with advice from the authors. The section detailing how needs assessment fits into a continuous improvement framework may be of particular interest.

This guide can be used by schools identified for comprehensive support and improvement under ESSA, and the SEAs and LEAs working with them. Additionally, this guide can be used by any school embarking on a school change effort and can support a needs assessment around student-centered learning. It is useful for both school-wide, or segmented needs assessments where one might look at one aspect of the school.

Source Organization: The Center on School Turnaround

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