Conducting needs assessments serves as a valuable way for Extension educators to ensure that they are designing programs that meet community needs. We developed a needs assessment tool kit that educators across urban, suburban, and rural communities can use to answer the question "What are the youth development needs in my county?"…

With the growing recognition of the prevalence and impact of adverse childhood experiences, building trauma-informed service systems is critical. Although there are many online resources to help school systems become more trauma informed, how much they meet the needs of educators is not well understood. To help schools implement trauma-informed…

This study used a multi-methods needs assessment with directed content analysis to learn how academic advising assessment could be used to understand the effectiveness of the advising system at a private research institution and to design an assessment plan that met the needs and allowed the institution to evaluate the academic advising system.…

Community mobilization is a strategy that organizes a community across sectors for long-term change, and is one way for communities to provide supports for young people to make healthy sexual choices. In the context of teen pregnancy, community mobilization can address the interconnected web of factors that influence teen sexual attitudes by…

The SR4-HVAG combines the efforts of states to provide quality educational programming for volunteers and Extension professionals using an advisory group system. An advisory group rather than a council was created because the group provides programmatic input rather than sets policy. The purposes of the SR4-HVAG are to: provide a mechanism for…

This research project examined the extent to which Career and Technical Education (CTE)-related programs use workforce needs assessment as a component of their evaluation activities. An employer perspective was used to develop a conceptual framework drawing on strategic human resource management theory. The extent and methods utilized for…

In this article, James J. Gallagher proposes that understanding the political issues and the debate surrounding the education of gifted students is based on the recognition that education policy (including rules, regulations, financial allocations, etc.) reflects social policy. Hence, society prioritizes needs so that the most important of these…

Today's nationwide focus on college completion is central to both individual and societal success. For individuals, attaining a credential has become essential to earn a livable wage and support a family. In addition, as each person's educational attainment increases, so does his or her capacity to contribute to the economy, his or her community,…

Exposure to toxic chemicals or environmental pollutants may harm the health of the nation's 74 million children and contribute to increases in asthma and developmental impairments. In 2007, 66 percent of children lived in counties exceeding allowable levels for at least one of the six principal air pollutants that cause or aggravate asthma,…

Grantees on national projects are often required by their funders to take part in evaluation activities. While the requirement can encourage compliance, grantees can feel overburdened and disempowered with their evaluation experience. Evaluators in a national cross-site evaluation utilized multiple strategies for obtaining buy-in of participating…

During a four-week period (May 23, 2011-June 21, 2011), the Western Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) held a series of public meetings to solicit input and deliberate on key educational needs facing the four states in the region--Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah. A two-day, face-to-face, public meeting was held May 23-24, 2011 in Arlington,…

Teachers in the public schools of British Columbia have a special responsibility to help ensure that the aesthetic, emotional, intellectual, physical, and social development of children in care is met. Representatives of the British Columbia Teachers' Federation (BCTF) from the Aboriginal Education Advisory Committee, the Committee for Action on…

This report presents the deliberations of the Southeast Regional Advisory Committee (RAC), one of 10 RACs established by the U.S. Department of Education, identifying educational challenges across the six states in the region: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina. Committee deliberations took place May 23,…

Three focus groups consisting of 42 board of trustee members, community college presidents, senior administrators, and faculty members developed critical issues facing community colleges with respect to instructional planning and services; planning, governance, finance; and workforce development. Thereafter, the delegation of more than 200 voted…

A random sample of 50 percent of extension home economists in seven midwestern states was surveyed, with an 85 percent response. Results showed that the most used methods of needs assessment were advisory committees, requests, questions from clients, and program spinoffs. (JOW)