Office of Planning and Service Coordination
Regional Needs Assessment 2000
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Executive Summary
The constantly changing demographic, economic, and political landscape in which schools operate determines, in part, the types of challenges they face as they go about the business of educating children. For this report, trends in these contextual factors were analyzed to identify how public education in the Northwest is being affected, and what that means for the research, development, and technical assistance and training needs of schools.
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.
The adoption of state-mandated standards has created a need for substantial changes in the instructional programs in most schools. Our analysis suggests that one of the most important forms of assistance NWREL can provide is to help schools figure out how to implement these standards for their schools and to help them move ahead, and sustain and evaluate their efforts through all phases of implementation. A second need is to develop training opportunities for educators to learn how to identify, evaluate, and implement best practices that address their individual school’s needs.
A shift in student demographics is a second factor that is creating new challenges for schools. Growing or shrinking enrollments, an increase in diversity, and concentrations of poverty were the three most prominent factors identified that are creating a need for change in how schools teach and support their students. Educators are looking for models of success for high-poverty and high-diversity schools. Not only are they seeking new instructional approaches to address the learning needs of a diverse student population, they are also looking for strategies to create an environment that embraces and celebrates diversity. They recognize the need to create a learning place that is welcoming and effective for all students.
There is a growing imbalance between supply and demand in the teacher and administrator workforce. The impacts of this are already evident as positions, especially in specialty areas, go unfilled. Research and development, technical assistance, and training must target the supply problem on two fronts: recruiting and retaining more bright students into teacher and adminis-trator education programs; and supporting, developing, and retaining quality teachers and administrators after they have been hired.
The findings in this report were drawn from an analysis of a number of data sources including NCES Common Core of Data, the results of five NWREL state forums and an advisory committee summit, a client survey, and news articles on education issues.
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