Student parents face significant challenges that can limit their ability to enter, persist in, and graduate from college. Innovative partnerships between Head Start and the higher education system is a promising strategy to bring together essential supports to meet the needs of student parents and set them up for long-term success. This briefing…

The costs of persistent misalignment between the supply and demand for skills are substantial, ranging from lost wages for workers to lower productivity for firms and countries. Addressing skills imbalances has become a pressing priority as OECD governments reflect on the implications of technological progress, digitalisation, demographic change…

Digitalisation, globalisation, demographic shifts and other changes in work organisation are constantly reshaping skill needs. This can lead to persistent skill shortages and mismatch which are costly for individuals, firms and society in terms of lost wages and lower productivity and growth. These costs can be reduced through better assessment…

The primary purpose of the Minnesota Migrant Education Program (MEP) is to help migrant children and youth overcome challenges of mobility, frequent absences, late enrollment into school, social isolation, and other difficulties associated with a migratory life, in order that they might succeed in school. Furthermore, the Minnesota MEP must give…

Higher education, and more specifically, distance education, is in the midst of a rapidly changing environment. Higher education institutions increasingly rely on the harvesting and analyses of student data to inform key strategic decisions across a wide range of issues, including marketing, enrolment, curriculum development, the appointment of…

For more than four decades the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has tracked the achievement of U.S. students in major academic subjects. This national resource is the only assessment that states and now many urban districts can look to as an objective yardstick of their performance over time, relative to national benchmarks, and…

This article addresses the question, "What factors contributed to successful completion of a needs and resource assessment in local communities, using the empowerment evaluation approach?" Case studies of three successful projects allow the exploration of organizational, community, state, and national factors that contributed to a strong needs and…

Needs assessment, a prioritizing procedure providing for equitable resource allocation, should be preceded by a three-phase preliminary investigation including preassessment activities; the formal assessment (data gathering, analysis, and priority-setting); and postassessment activities (assessment evaluation and utilization of results). This…

This article explains a performance-oriented approach to outlining technical training needs. The performance improvement cycle is discussed and the three main activities in that cycle are described. They include need detection, task identification, and collection of task performance data. (CT)

The authors show how to analyze occupational supply/demand conditions in a labor market. They discuss demand analysis and supply analysis, and list their outcomes. (CT)

Arguing that "needs assessment" is too vaguely defined, this paper considers the term's location within the planning field, compares two variants of the discrepancy model (classical versus social welfare approaches), and reflects on the assumptions and implications imbedded in needs assessment technocracy. Includes 16 notes and 26 references. (MLH)

The purpose of this publication on agency training evaluation practices is to share approaches used by federal agencies to assess needs and measure training effectiveness. Emphasis is placed on the process of evaluation. Names of the agencies and highlights of the examples used by each follow: (1) Plant Protection and Quarantine (Department of…

The application of the four basic principles of social ecology as a framework for assessing inner city black communities is the focus of this paper. Social ecology is described as a concept that includes variables from both the social and physical environments. Its four basic principles are said to be recognition of the interdependence of roles…

To determine the extent to which states are able to assess their provision of services to typically underserved populations, this study interviewed 16 Part H (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) state coordinators. Major findings indicated: (1) six states identified their rural population as most underserved and six identified one or more…

The purpose of this document is to share various approaches used by federal agencies to assess needs and measure training effectiveness. The emphasis in the descriptions is on the evaluation process rather than on the results. One program was evaluated by employing return-on-investment (ROI) data and using volunteer line personnel who conducted…