Running head: Needs Assessment Proposal

Needs Assessment Proposal

Kelly Sneed
October 20, 2014
CUR 528
Justin Atwood

Needs Assessment Proposal

Needs Assessment Proposal

Prepared by Kelly Sneed

Background

The Fort Stevens Elementary school located in Yelm, Washington is in a

growing military community located 15 miles from Fort Lewis. There is a
felt need that with such a rapidly growing number of military children
there is a need for a program to meet their specific issues and needs.

Program

The Military Childrens Program would be aimed at assisting military

children deal with the issues of having a family member in the military
such as: moving, changing schools, making new friends, coping with
deployment, fears, and family issues.

Purpose

The purpose of this needs assessment is to determine and evaluate the

need for a Military Childrens Program at Fort Stevens Elementary in
order to meet the needs and concerns of staff, parents, and students.

Parameters

Level of assessment:

The level of assessment will be the local community within the

Fort Stevens Elementary School area.

Stakeholders:

Staff (i.e. teachers, counselors, principals, etc.)

Parents
Students

Budget:

Needs Assessment Proposal

The budget will be $100 to provide the available and necessary

resource to determine the need - surveys.

Time Allotment:

Five weeks o One week for all needs assessment preparation work
o Two weeks for data collection and analyzing
o One week for preparing the information and reviewing
preliminary results
o One week for sharing the formal results with all staff,
parents, and students

Needs Identified

The following information needs to be acquired

Existing Data

How many military children are there at Fort Stevens Elementary?

What issues do these children face?
What should be included in the Military Childrens Program?
What are perceived benefits of this program?
Would staff, parents, and students be interested in this program?

Current information on Fort Stevens Elementary website does not offering

formation on how many military students there are enrolled
(http://www.ycs.wednet.edu/Domain/60). Any previous surveys or data on
military children enrolled in Fort Stevens Elementary would be helpful but
not necessarily helpful to this program which calls for current levels of
enrollment, need, and interest.

Study Method

This needs assessment will rely on a convergent analysis; using multiple

sources of information and attempting to explore the need for the program
or confirm information about the program by means of different
assessment strategies and perspectives (Royse et al, 2009, pg. 69).

Fort Stevens Elementary principal, teacher, and staff viewpoints on

how many military children they have in class, any perceived
behavior related to being a military child that should or could be
addressed, and ideas on what they believe the Military Childrens

Needs Assessment Proposal

Program should incorporate and all possible benefits (see Staff

Survey).
Fort Stevens Elementary parents information on how many
children they have, how many deployments and moves (PCS) they
have made, and ideas on what they believe the Military Childrens
Program should incorporate and all possible benefits (see Parent

Survey).
Fort Stevens Elementary military students viewpoints on what
issues they have or face in being a military child and ideas on what
they believe the Military Childrens Program should incorporate
and all possible benefits (see Student Survey).

Data Collecting

Collect - One point of contact (POC) will be appointed for the collection
process within Fort Stevens Elementary school.

The POC will distribute and collect all staff surveys with the

school.
The POC will distribute parent and student surveys (in enclosed
envelopes for privacy) to each teacher, one survey each per

student.
Each teacher (K-6) will have each student fill out their survey in

class and collect them, returning them to the POC that same day.
Each teacher (K-6) will send home one parent survey with each
student. They will collect them back over the course of the week
and return them to the POC.

Data Analyzing

Analyze - One point of contact (POC) will be appointed for the analyzing
process within Fort Stevens Elementary school. The data collected will be
entered into the tables and charts. (The charts below are not accurate
data, just examples.)

Needs Assessment Proposal

Number of Military Children and Parents

Military Parents
Military Students
Total Students
0

100

200

300

400

500

600

Student Willingness to Participate Parent Willingness to Have Their children Participate

Maybe

Maybe
No

No
Yes

What Issues are Concerns?

Yes

Needs Assessment Proposal

1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
Teachers

0.2

Parents

The Report

Students

Once the data has been collected the needs assessment report can be
constructed to represent the information acquired. The report will follow
the format of this proposal with the necessary and gleaned data inserted.

Recommendations

Recommendations on whether or not a Military Childrens Program is

needed at Fort Stevens Elementary school will be based on the gathered
data from the staff, parents, and students. If the data supports the creation
of this program than more analyzing of the data is necessary to determine
what the staff, parents, and students desire in this program.

The Results

The initial results and report will be shared with the Fort Stevens
Elementary school staff at a scheduled meeting. There the data collected
will be shared and the resulting recommendations.

Spreading the

Once the needs assessment is finished and if it suggests there is a need for

Word

the Military Childrens Program the next step is to share this information
with the local community, parents, and students.

Needs Assessment Proposal

A letter of intent for the program will be sent home with each child,

along with a sign-up sheet for military children.

An open meeting will be scheduled to include any staff, parents, or
children who wish to attend.

Evaluation

To evaluate the effectiveness of the Military Childrens Program after

recommendations are implemented at Fort Stevens Elementary school, the
following actions must be performed:

Staff Follow-up Survey

Parent Follow-up Survey
Student Follow-up Survey

Needs Assessment Narrative

Needs assessment should ideally be conducted as the first step in responding to
perceived needs (Royse, 2009, pg. 55). In my Needs Assessment Proposal I assess the need
for a Military Childrens Program in the Fort Stevens Elementary school located in Yelm,
Washington. This community is a growing military community with a felt need for a program to
meet their specific issues and needs. This narrative will explain the process I would perform, as
outlined in the Needs Assessment Proposal. My process follows the eight steps in the needs
assessment cycle as outlined in Royse, Thyer, and Padgetts textbook Program Evaluation:
1) Setting the parameters
a. The purpose of the needs assessment
b. The level of assessment
c. The stakeholders involved
d. The budget

Needs Assessment Proposal

e. The time allotment

2) Identifying the information to be collected
3) Determining if there is existing data
4) Constructing the methodology and instrumentation
5) Collecting and analyzing the data
6) Preparing the report
7) Sharing the preliminary results
8) Spreading the word

Step 1: Setting the parameters

The first step to my needs assessment is identifying the purpose, the level of assessment,
the stakeholders involved, the budget, and the time allotted. The purpose is to determine and
evaluate the need for a Military Childrens Program at Fort Stevens Elementary in order to meet
the needs and concerns of staff, parents, and students. This is an important step because without a
clear purpose the following steps would be useless. Next, I need to determine the level of
assessment which will be the local community within the Fort Stevens Elementary School area.
The stakeholders involved are the staff of Fort Stevens Elementary school (i.e. principal,
teachers, etc.), the military parents, and the military students. This will be a low-budget program
and a low-budget assessment. The budget will be $100 to provide the available and necessary
resource to determine the need - surveys. The overall time allotted will be five weeks broken
down in stages:
o One week for all needs assessment preparation work (see steps 1-4)
o Two weeks for data collection and analyzing (see step 5)

Needs Assessment Proposal

o One week for preparing the information and reviewing preliminary results (see
steps 6-7)
o One week for sharing the formal results with all staff, parents, and students (see
step 8)
Step 2: Identifying the information to be collected
The next step in my needs assessment is clearly identifying which and what data needs to
be collected. In order to assess whether there is a need for the Military Childrens Program my
assessment needs to answer the following questions:

How many military children are there at Fort Stevens Elementary?

What issues do these children face?
What should be included in the Military Childrens Program?
What are perceived benefits of this program?
Would staff, parents, and students be interested in this program?

Step 3: Determining if there is existing data

The only existing data that I would use in my needs assessment is the number of students
currently registered at Fort Stevens Elementary, which is 531 (Fort Stevens Elementary, 20132014). Any other data on military families in the school area would be irrelevant as my needs
assessment is looking for current levels of enrollment, need, and interest.
Step 4: Constructing the methodology and instrumentation
The methodology and instrumentation used in my needs assessment is based on
convergent analysis. Convergent analysis involves using multiple sources of information and
attempting to explore the need for the program or confirm information about the program by
means of different assessment strategies and perspectives (2009, pg. 69). By gathering data
from three sources (the staff, parents, and students) my assessment will be better able to
determine if this program is needed and what would be desired from it. My assessment will use
three surveys to Identifying the information to be collected (see Step 2).

Needs Assessment Proposal

The Staff Survey (see NA Staff Survey)

The Parent Survey (see NA Parent Survey)

The Student Survey (see NA Student Sruvey)

10

Step 5: Collecting and analyzing the data

The next step in my process is collecting and analyzing the data. I would be the point of
contact (POC) at Fort Stevens Elementary school. I would spend two weeks (as outlined in the
time allotment, see Step 1) on this step. Collecting the data would take one week. With three
surveys the plan for collecting would be to distribute and collect all staff surveys with the school
and distribute parent and student surveys (in enclosed envelopes for privacy) to each teacher, one
survey each per student. For the student surveys, the teachers (K-6) would be instructed to have
each student fill out their survey in class and collect them, returning them to the POC that same
day. For the parent surveys, the teacher (K-6) will send home one parent survey with each
student. They will collect them back over the course of the week and return them to me.
Analyzing the data collected would take one week. I would total the information from the survey
and put it into the pre-established tables and charts. (see NA Data Collection)
Step 6: Preparing the report
Once I had collected and analyzed all the data I would craft the needs assessment report. I
would utilize the same format as the Needs Assessment Proposal, inserting the freshly collected
data. The changes to the proposal will be in Steps 5 and 6. Step 5 will see the appropriate data
analyzed and presented in the tables and charts. Step 6 will be crafting the proposal into a report,
but will also see the addition to the recommendation section. Recommendations on whether or
not a Military Childrens Program is needed at Fort Stevens Elementary school will be based on
the gathered data from the staff, parents, and students. If the data supports the creation of this

Needs Assessment Proposal

11

program than more analyzing of the data is necessary to determine what the staff, parents, and
students desire in this program.
Step 7: Sharing the preliminary results
Once the report has been completed, I will schedule a meeting with the staff of Fort
Stevens Elementary school to discuss the preliminary results, share the data collected, and the
resulting recommendations.
Step 8: Spreading the word
Whether or not this needs assessment denotes a need for the Military Childrens Program
there must be a sharing of the information with all the stakeholders. If my needs assessment
shows a lack of interest in the program and/or no need for the program a letter will be sent home
with each child to report the results. If my needs assessment shows an interest in the program
and/or a need for the program a letter will be sent home with each child to report the results. In
addition, an open meeting will be scheduled to include any staff, parents, or children who wish to
attend at which time all questions, concerns, and student sign-ups can be handled.
Summary
This narrative outline the process I would take to properly assess the need for a Military
Childrens Program in the Fort Stevens Elementary school located in Yelm, WA. This proposed
needs assessment will determine whether there is a need for this program, what should be
included in the program, and how many students would be interested in joining. Needs
assessments can provide valuable information for planning and designing programs (Royse,
2009). Each of these steps in the process is instrumental to conducting a successful needs
assessment. An important factor in this proposal is the follow-up surveys, barring this program
being implemented, that would ensure evaluation of this program after implementation.

Needs Assessment Proposal

Continued needs assessments and evaluations would need to be conducted to assure that this
program is meeting staff, parent, and students needs. To ensure the proper implementation of
this program I have created three follow-up surveys:

The Staff Survey (see NA Staff Follow-Up Survey)

The Parent Survey (see NA Parent Follow-Up Survey)

The Student Survey (see NA Student Follow-Up Survey)

12

Needs Assessment Proposal

13

Reference
Fort Stevens Elementary. (2013-2014). Retrieved October 20, 2014 from:
http://www.ycs.wednet.edu/Domain/60
Royse, D., Thyer, B., & Padgett, D. (2009). Program evaluation: An introduction (5th ed.).
Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.