Implementing and Evaluating Your Program: The Long-Term Goal

A needs assessment can be formal and involve hiring professional consultants, or it can be nothing more than sitting down and talking with those who are engaged in the program. The kind of needs assessment you undertake will be dictated by financial constraints, time constraints, and the regulations under which your schoolbased organization functions. Regardless of your organization’s dictates, you should never attempt to organize a new program, group, or intervention without a needs assessment and a formative evaluation.