Conduct a needs assessment combining baseline district data and projective opinion data before designing a middle school¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

Under the CMP, planners gather two types of data before redesign: baseline data from district records (attendance, achievement analyses, mobility, attitudes) and projective data based on the perceptions of teachers, parents, students, and administrators. The authors state that "An early analysis of need can fulfill three key design functions" — conceptualizing the program, providing an evaluation baseline, and giving definition as the middle school unfolds. Sample instruments appear in the book's appendices.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Input solicited from all groups familiar with the program: teachers, parents, students, and administrators
• District leaders communicating the seriousness of the effort through proper channels

Constraints¶

• The authors warn that converting without analyzing present conditions dooms the effort to being a mere modification of the junior high

Target Learners¶

• Preadolescent students in grades 6-8

Target Learning Goals¶

• Program design matched to preadolescent needs

Affordances¶

• Wiles Bondi Curriculum Management Plan

Related Strategies¶

• Map the curriculum by grading periods to eliminate gaps and redundancy and enable interdisciplinary planning
• Use percentage-consensus opinionnaires to locate shared values before redesign
• Preliminary Data Collection
• Using Empathy Interviews for Family Engagement
• Student Shadowing (For Educator Insights)
• Home Visits
• Student Shadowing (Qualitative Data Collection)
• Conduct a family engagement needs assessment as the first step in planning

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Wiles, Jon W.; Bondi, Joseph W. (1986). Making Middle Schools Work. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED277147