Case Example: School Needs Assessment
Client: A suburban elementary school principal and district curriculum coordinator requested a school needs assessment. They were concerned about students’ writing skills, middle and high school preparation, and state writing test performance.
Approach: SchoolRise consultants gathered evidence using interviews, our staff survey, observations, performance data, and other documents. Our analysis showed programs working at cross-purposes. Classroom practices lacked coherence within grade levels. Communication across grades was weak. No staircase curriculum built across grade levels. The school leadership team needed improving.
Outcome: The SchoolRise team helped the school develop a multi-year initiative to create an infrastructure to sustain writing improvement; a common vision of the graduating writer and shared language about instructional components; benchmarks and monitoring system to guide the school’s acquisition, allocation, and use of resources.
District Literacy Audit | School Needs Assessment | Program Evaluation
