Office of Planning and Service Coordination

Regional Needs Assessments

Educational planning and policy reports and links brought to you by the Planning and Service Coordination Office of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory.

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Regional Needs Assessment Reports

  • Summary of Proceedings from the 2006 State Educational Forums

    Between June 26 and July 31, 2006, the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory conducted hearings in the five states it serves to obtain input into the types of evidence educators need to guide policy and practice decisions associated with the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). This report presents findings from those hearings organized around seven themes: addressing achievement gaps, secondary literacy, mathematics and science classroom assessment, school district and sustained improvement, leadership for school reform, parent involvement in decisions, and teacher collaboration for professional development.

  • Regional Needs Assessment 2005: Identifying Priorities for Improving Low-Performing Schools

    The data suggest that NWREL can be most helpful by supporting state efforts to improve student learning by enhancing the use of data for decisionmaking, strengthening local capacity to implement and sustain improvements, supporting improvements in curriculum, instruction, and assessment, and addressing the needs of diverse learners.

  • Regional Needs Assessment 2004: Northwest Educators' Priorities for Improving Low-performing Schools

    General priorities identified on the 2004 survey were similar to those found in 2002: 1) improving instructional leadership and quality 2) improving the use of data and research, 3) engaging students in their own learning, and 4) improving family and community involvement. In addition, there appears to be an increased focus on improving instruction in core subjects.

  • Regional Needs Assessment 2003: Northwest Educators' Priorities for Improving Low-Performing Schools

    The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) appears to be the primary force driving the current and emerging needs of Northwest schools for educational research, development, technical assistance, and training. The law establishes a demanding timeline for schools to demonstrate full success in meeting academic standards—all students must be proficient in reading/language arts, mathematics, and science by the 2013—2014 school year.

  • 2002 (Educator Survey Results)

    There are three issues that rise to the top specifically for low-performing schools, according to the 2002 NWREL Educator Survey. These include fostering parental involvement, agreeing on shared responsibility for ensuring student success, and meeting diverse learner needs. In fact, fostering parent involvement was the top priority for teachers and principals in low-performing schools, no matter how you cut the data.

  • 2001 (Demographic and Policy Trends)

    Three major themes emerged as priority concerns to educators in this year's regional needs assessment: accountability, diversity, and the educator workforce. Demographic data, survey data, news articles, and state and federal reports were analyzed to identify these regional education priorities.

  • 2000 (Demographic and Policy Trends)

    Three major trends were identified: the adoption of state-mandated standards-based instruction, shifts in student demographics, and changes in the teacher and administrator workforce.

  • 1999 (Educator Survey Results)

    Four broad areas of concern emerged from the survey data: Developing a standards-based instructional program; Engaging all students in learning; Creating a supportive and challenging learning environment; Ensuring support for the instructional program. The type of help that educators said would be of greatest benefit for addressing these concerns were assistance with identifying promising practices, developing models or solutions, and training.

Content last updated: 3/2/2008