Resources for State Migrant Directors

1. Resources for State Migrant Directors Webinar: CNA Toolkit August 21, 2012 Toolkit Series from the Office of Migrant Education

2. Toolkit Series • Comprehensive Needs Assessment (CNA) Toolkit • Service Delivery Plan (SDP) Toolkit • Program Evaluation Toolkit

3. Program Planning Process

4. CNA Toolkit First in a series of three documents Purpose is to provide recommendations for ways that state directors can facilitate a process for a comprehensive needs assessment for the Migrant Education Program

5. CNA Toolkit (cont.) Aligns with Federal statute and Guidance for a MEP CNA (checklist in Section B) Provides a customizable step-by-step approach Provides planning tools and examples Web-based: State directors can read the entire Toolkit or click on only needed sections Includes tips for small states

6. Recommended Framework • Witkin and Altschuld: Planning and Conducting Needs Assessments: A Practical Guide (1995). • Framework piloted in over 20 states for the migrant CNA • The Comprehensive Needs Assessment Toolkit converts this model to a five-step planning process that connects to the Service Delivery Plan and Migrant Program Evaluation

7. The CNA Toolkit: 5 Steps Step 1: Preliminary work Step 2: Explore what is Step 3: Gather and analyze data Step 4: Make decisions Step 5: Transition to a service delivery plan Preview Table of Contents:

8. Step 1: Preliminary Work • Review requirements • Develop a management plan • Create a Needs Assessment Committee • Recommended role groups to be included • Sample meeting agendas • Group facilitation activities • Develop a migrant student profile

9. Step 2: Explore What Is Identify Concerns Write Need Indicators

10. Areas of Concern • Area of Concern: broad areas based on the root causes of the unique characteristics of the target group • OME identified Seven Areas of Concern • Educational continuity • Instructional time • School engagement • English language development • Educational support in the home • Health • Access to services

11. Getting to Root Causes – Asking Why – Digging Deeper In one local project, test scores indicated that migrant students in the fourth grade were scoring significantly lower than other students. Before recommending additional tutoring, the NAC began digging deeper – Why might this be so?

12. Asking Why – Digging Deeper • Additional data from the migrant student profile indicated that attendance is poor among migrant students Why might this be so?

13. Asking Why – Digging Deeper • Parent interviews and data from school nurses indicated that children were often sick and unable to attend Why might this be so?

14. Asking Why – Digging Deeper • Community data indicated that there was no medical clinic in the community, and parents were unable to attain medical services for the children in a routine or timely way Explore root causes before jumping to solutions.

15. Developing Concern Statements A concern statement should: • Reflect one of the OME Goal Areas • Be based on a reason why migrant students are not achieving • Stated in terms of concerns about migrant students and familes • Reflect data in the migrant student profile or additional information shared by the NAC • Be possible to support with data • Be specific and concrete • Appropriate for the MEP to address

16. Need Indicators • Relate to Concern Statements • Can collect data to verify the presumed gap between “what is” and “what should be” • Suggests type of data needed to verify Need Indicator: Percent of migrant students who move from one school to another and enroll in courses that are not good matches to ones in which they were enrolled in their previous school. Type of data: curriculum and course review between sending and receiving schools for migrant students

17. Knowledge Check • What is a root cause? • What are features of a strongly written Concern Statement? • What is a Need Indicator? Please dial *1 on your telephone keypad or type your feedback into the questions pane to provide a brief response to any of the above questions.

18. Step 3: Develop a Data Collection Plan and Collect and Analyze Data

19. Step 3: Develop a Data Collection Plan and Collect and Analyze Data Area of Concern Concern Statement Need Indicator Need Statement Need: gap between “what is” and “what should be” Need Statements: actual data-supported gaps between “what is” and “what should be”

20. Need Statements • Goal Area: School Readiness • Concern Statement: We are concerned that parents of young migrant children do not read picture books to their children at least three times a week. • Need Indicator: Percentage of migrant parents with children ages 0-4 who report reading picture books to their children at least three times per week. • Data Source: Question 3 on Parent Survey • Comparison Group (or Target): Given the importance of reading to young children, we believe that at least 95% of all migrant parents should read picture books to their children. • Summary of Data Findings: Of the 75 parents with children ages 0-4 who responded to the Parent Survey administered by local recruiters from 6 local migrant programs across the state, 36 (48%) reported that they read picture books to their children at least three times a week.

21. Need Statements

22. Step 4: Make Decisions • Propose research-based or evidence-based solution strategies for each prioritized Need Statement • Expert Work Groups with NAC • Prioritize solution strategies • Extent of the need • Likelihood of reducing the need (gap) • Feasibility of implementation • Impact if left unaddressed • Resources available

23. Knowledge Check • What is a Need Statement? • On what should a proposed solution strategy be based? • What are three criteria for prioritizing strategies? Please dial *1 on your telephone keypad or type your feedback into the questions pane to provide a brief response to any of the above questions.

24. Step 5: Transition to the Service Delivery Plan • Writing the CNA report • Sharing with the SDP planning team • Data • Proposed solution strategies • Measurable Program Outcomes (MPOs) • Updating the CNA • Sharing the CNA with stakeholders • Preview Section M (M-1, M-2, M-6):

25. Considerations for Small States • Limit the size of your planning team; add stakeholders as needed • Get stakeholder input individually; conduct focus groups at conferences • Limit the number of concerns on which to collect data to fit reasonably with the size of your program (prioritize according to need) • Leverage resources for the CNA with another federal program (Title III, homeless) • Enlist support from a college or university

26. Knowledge Check • What are some strategies for transitioning from the CNA to the SDP? • What are some reasons for sharing the CNA with stakeholders outside of the MEP? • What are some strategies for conducting a quality CNA with limited resources or in a small state? Please dial *1 on your telephone keypad or type your feedback into the questions pane to provide a brief response to any of the above questions.

27. Follow Up • Link to a draft of the Comprehensive Needs Assessment Toolkit will be sent to you in a follow up email after the webinar, along with a link to the webinar evaluation survey • Finalized document will be available on the RESULTS website • Questions can be directed to Irene Harwarth: Irene.Harwarth@ed.gov