On school needs assessments : what should have been, what was, and what needs to be

Abstract

Needs assessments are a common tool for social workers who desire to determine how best they can help their clients. Sometimes clients are individuals, sometimes families, and sometimes entire communities or organizations. By detailing my own experience as a social work practicum student in attempting to conduct a needs assessment for Longfellow Elementary School, both in gathering existing data on old needs assessments and beginning the process of gathering new data from a variety of sources, along with the roadblocks and difficulties I encountered along the way, I seek to determine which components are the most essential for a needs assessment and reflect on the reality that nothing ever goes exactly as planned.