Creating A Singular Statewide Needs Assessment Part 5: Determining Priorities and Connecting to Implementation

Making the Connections: How Georgia and Arizona Leveraged Results of a Singular Statewide Needs Assessment to Build Effective Improvement Plans

Successful improvement plans focus on a manageable set of priorities. A comprehensive needs assessment will likely raise multiple issues that need to be addressed. Prioritizing among the needs—and then acting to make change—is what turns the needs assessment results into something meaningful. In this episode, staff from the Arizona and Georgia Departments of Education share their approaches to connecting a singular comprehensive needs assessment process to a continuous improvement cycle. This includes conducting a root cause analysis, selecting evidence-based interventions, developing improvement plans, and planning for monitoring of implementation.

To listen to the podcast and hear directly from state staff about this work, click on the play button below. The podcast will first feature the experience of Craig Geers and John Wight from the Georgia Department of Education, followed by insights from Devon Isherwood from the Arizona Department of Education.

For a transcript of this podcast, click here.

For more information on the root cause analysis tool from Arizona mentioned in the podcast, click here.

Resources

GaDOE Comprehensive Needs Assessment 2017-2018 School Report

Arizona Department of Education Comprehensive Needs Assessment Guidance, Tools, and Resources

Arizona Integrated Action Plan

To return to the introduction to this series, click here.