Tools to Assess the Needs of Your Plus 50 Population American Association of Community Colleges Funded with a grant from The Atlantic Philanthropies 1

2 Presentation Slide Area Attendee List Chat Room

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Practice: Attendance Poll In the chat room, please type your name, the name of your organization, your location, and the number of people attending with you today. 4

Access to Webinar Materials Today’s session will be recorded and made available on the Plus 50 website: 5

Poll: Have you ever conducted a needs assessment?  Yes  No 6

Presenters  Nancy Latham, Director of Research and Evaluation, LFA Group  Emily Boer Drake, Senior Consultant, LFA Group  Heather Ellison, Program Planner, Continuing Education, St. Louis Community College 7

Presenter: Nancy Latham, Director of Research and Evaluation, LFA Group 8

Learning Objectives By the end of today’s webinar, you will be able to:  Discuss the purpose and benefits of performing a needs assessment.  Identify the components of the Needs Assessment Toolkit and describe how each may be used.  Embark on selecting the toolkit components that best suit the needs of your organization. 9

What is a Needs Assessment and Why is it Important?  A needs assessment is conducted to help organizations identify the demand for specific services.  It provides a foundation for future decision-making, effective planning, and appropriate action.  It can also help to make the case for programs and services to funders, and to your college’s leadership. 10

The Plus 50 Needs Assessment Toolkit  Developed by the AACC and LFA to help community colleges conduct a needs assessment for the purposes of developing workforce training and career development programming for their local Plus 50 population. 11

Five Basic Components of a Needs Assessment 12 Local employer and industry needs, and information about growth occupations in your area. An estimated size of your local Plus 50 population. Market SizingInstructions for Sizing the Market for plus 50 Workforce Education Programming Market Sizing Tool Tools in the Section Toolkit Section Assessment of Local Employer and Industry Needs Assessing Local Employer Needs

Five Basic Components of a Needs Assessment, continued 13 A description of the needs, interests, constraints, and preferences of the local Plus 50 population Survey Development Guidelines Survey Development Survey Administration Survey Analysis Sample Survey Survey Administration Guidelines: How to Administer a Needs Assessment Survey Survey Analysis Guidelines Sample Survey Analysis Plan Tools in the SectionToolkit Section

Five Basic Components of a Needs Assessment, continued 14 A description of the needs, interests, constraints, and preferences of the local Plus 50 population Focus Group Guidelines: How to Plan for and Facilitate a Focus Group Conducting Focus Groups and Using Focus Group Data Sample Focus Group Questions Tools in the SectionToolkit Section Summarizing Focus Group Results

Five Basic Components of a Needs Assessment, continued Recommendations for program development and design. 15 Basic information about potential competitors and collaborators. Writing your Needs Assessment Report Sample Discussion Questions for Group Reflection on your Data Sample Needs Assessment Report Outline Sample Recommendations Introduction to the Toolkit What might your Needs Assessment Include? Tools in the SectionToolkit Section

Remember! You do not need to use every component of the toolkit to build your needs assessment! 16

Getting Ready for a Needs Assessment  Assemble a needs assessment implementation team. 17  Create a timeline and work plan.  Develop a budget.

18 Presenter: Emily Boer Drake Senior Consultant, LFA Group

Assessing Local Employer Needs  The goal of this tool is to help you identify: –What skills local employers need most. –The high growth occupations that exist in your area. 19

Assessing Local Employer Needs, continued  Useful resources for information on local business and occupations include: –Your college’s Workforce Development department. –The Chamber of Commerce. –The Workforce Investment Board (WIB). –Community Economic Development Associations.  You may also access publicly available data Reference the toolkit component Assessment of Local Employer and Industry Needs for valuable online resources.

Market Sizing  Allows you to estimate the number of potential Plus 50 learners in your area.  Helps community colleges make decisions regarding: –How extensive their offerings should be. –The extent to which they should tailor offerings. –How to price courses for Plus 50 students. 21

Overview of Market Sizing Steps 1.The total Plus 50 population in your area. 2.How many people in your area are interested in Plus 50 programming. 3.What percent of your target market can afford Plus 50 programming. 22 Utilize information from the US Census, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), and recent research in the field to determine:

Overview of Market Sizing Steps, continued You only need Excel, Internet access, and the Market Sizing Tool in the toolkit to effectively complete the three steps of market sizing! 23

Presenter: Nancy Latham, Director of Research and Evaluation, LFA Group 24

Gathering Information from Your Local Plus 50 Population: Surveys & Focus Groups Conduct a survey when:  It is important to you to collect data from a wide range of local Plus 50 population.  You have access to someone who is comfortable with quantitative analysis.  You have adequate time and resources available. 25

Gathering Information from Your Local Plus 50 Population: Surveys & Focus Groups, continued Conduct a focus group when:  You want more narrative, in- depth information than you can collect from a survey.  You would like to collect data from your population relatively quickly. 26

Survey Development The fundamentals:  Identify what it is you want to know.  Think about whether the questions you include will get you the information you want.  Figure out if your questions ask what you think they are asking. For an example of how a Plus 50 survey may be presented, refer to the Sample Survey in your toolkit. 27

Survey Administration 28  You will need to decide who you will survey and how you will reach them.  Two basic groups that you may wish to target include: –Current students age 50 and older at your college. –Those in this age group from the broader community.

Survey Administration, continued Surveys may be administered online or on paper. Refer to the toolkit for advantages, disadvantages, and guidelines for each. 29

Survey Analysis Analysis is using data to reveal information that is important to making decisions. When included in a report, the analysis tells the story of survey results to others. 30

31 Survey Analysis, continued Basic survey analysis can be done by anyone comfortable with numbers – you don’t have to be a statistician! For more involved analysis, consider bringing someone experienced in working with survey data onto your team. Refer to the Survey Analysis Guidelines in your toolkit to determine the questions your data can answer, the type of analysis to do, and how to present and interpret results.

Survey Analysis, continued There is no one right way to present your data and communicate the results of your survey! 32

Presenter: Emily Boer Drake Senior Consultant, LFA Group 33

Conducting Focus Groups Focus groups:  Allow a deep, detailed collection of information about people’s interests and preferences.  Collect qualitative information from a small group of people.  Are structured around a set of predetermined questions that aim to stimulate conversation and spark ideas from participants. Refer to Focus Group Guidelines in the toolkit for tips on planning, writing questions for, and facilitating a focus group. 34

Using Focus Group Data Using notes and/or recorded transcripts from the focus group, summarize the results by: –Finding common themes and sub-themes. –Identifying unique and creative insights. –Using direct quotes from focus group participants. 35

Presenters: Nancy Latham, Director of Research and Evaluation, LFA Group Heather Ellison Program Planner, Continuing Education, St. Louis Community College 36

Writing Your Needs Assessment Report  Convene your implementation team or advisory group to discuss: –The data you’ve gathered. –What this data means and what is most meaningful. –What recommendations emerge from the findings. 37

Writing Your Needs Assessment Report, continued  Write your final report by incorporating contributions from the group and fine-tuning, as necessary. See the Sample Needs Assessment Report Outline and Sample Recommendations in the toolkit for examples of what you might include in your report. 38

Questions & Answers Please enter any questions you have about the content covered in today’s session in the chat room. 39

Where do I find the Needs Assessment tools? 40

To View a Recording of this Webinar 41 Today’s session has been recorded and is available on the Plus 50 website:

Future Events 42  The Importance of Stakeholders (10/22/2009; 3:00pm EST)  If You Build It: Promoting Your Program for Adult Learners (11/05/2009; 3:00pm EST)  Understanding the Particular Needs of the Adult Learner (11/19/2009; 3:00pm EST)  Creating and Sustaining Your Program for Adult Learners (12/03/2009; 3:00pm EST)

Thank You! 43