ECFE Community Needs Assessment

Introduction

Introduction

The purpose of this page is to provide guidance and resources to help districts complete their ECFE community needs assessment, as required by Minnesota Statutes, section 124D.13. By July 15 of each year, districts submit a report to the Minnesota Department of Education demonstrating their completion of the assessment. It is recommended that you tie your needs assessment to broader initiatives (e.g. World's Best Workforce requirements, PreK-3rd Grade initiative, ECFE 2019-24 Enhancement Areas, community initiatives, etc.). If you have a school or schools identified for comprehensive or targeted support and improvement (CSI or TSI), it is strongly encouraged that you connect your ECFE community needs assessment work with your comprehensive needs assessment (see ESSA tab below for more information).

This page is organized by three sets of tabs:
1: Introduction set of tabs to introduce the topic and provide general information.
2: Resources for Planning, Conducting and Reporting Your Needs Assessment set of tabs for accessing valuable resources aimed at conducting a needs assessment.
3: Strategies for Conducting Your Needs Assessment set of tabs helps explain each requirement of the needs assessment and provides some strategies to help you conduct your needs assessment so that it meets ECFE statutory requirements.
4: Results set of tabs includes documents related to needs assessment submissions, ranging from sample submissions to summaries of results.

FAQ

FAQ

Q: What is a community needs assessment?
A: There are various definitions. ECFE programs are encouraged to use definitions and needs assessment processes that best fit the needs/goals of their ECFE program, district, and/or community.

From MDE's 2018-19 Community Needs Assessment Guidance
"A community needs assessment identifies the strengths and resources available in the community to meet the needs of children, youth, and families. The assessment focuses on the capabilities of the community, including its citizens, agencies, and organizations. It provides a framework for developing and identifying services and solutions and building communities that support and nurture children and families.
A community assessment may be limited to a compilation of demographic data from census records, results of surveys conducted by others, and informal feedback from community partners. Or, assessments may be expanded to include focus group discussions, town meetings, stakeholder interviews, and telephone or mailed surveys to partnership members and the community."
from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, https://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/assessment/community.cfm

Q: Why do we need to conduct a community needs assessment?
A: The short answer is because it is required by Minnesota Statutes, section 124D.13, subdivision 13. Fortunately, there are numerous benefits to conducting a needs assessment and it should be a central component of your continual improvement process. General benefits are described in MDE's 2018-19 Community Needs Assessment Guidance.

Continuous attention to program quality is a cornerstone of Early Childhood Family Education. It provides the assurance that programs will continue to improve and adapt as family and community needs change.

Q: What are the steps to conducting a community needs assessment?
A: It depends on the tool. In the guidance, there are three main steps: Planning, Conducting the Assessment and Using the Results.

Q: Where can I find a list of child & family risk factors?
A: Various documents are available on the Resources tab. Note that there may be child and family risk factors that are more prevalent in your community, so you should also try to determine child and family risk factors impacting your community.

You are also encouraged to research this question in your district/community? This will likely be risk factors that are important in your district, and they may be easy or difficult to ascertain. For example, family income would be easier than ascertaining the characteristics that lead to future chronic absenteeism.

See the Strategies set of tabs on this page for further discussion.

Q: If I already partner with our community’s Head Start program and have been part of their community needs assessment, do I still need to conduct one of my own?
A: Most likely, since there are different components and requirements. Plus, in the larger picture, you want the needs assessment to be a part of your program enhancement process.

Q: Before I locate a community needs assessment, what elements will be part of a basic assessment and a preferred assessment?
A:The required components are listed in the community needs assessment guidance document.

Q: Where do I find a list of community needs assessments?
A:If you are looking for different versions of community needs assessments, you can search for them on the internet. There are some versions linked on the Resources tab below.

Q: What will programs be required to submit to MDE to show that they have completed a community needs assessment? When will MDE ask for this information?
A:Programs will be submitting information to MDE as part of their ECFE Annual Report, which is due each year on July 15. Importantly, you are submitting a narrative on how you conducted your needs assessment and the results (you are not submitting your actual needs assessment).

Q: What should I do with the information/data that I find after conducting a community needs assessment?
A:It is recommended that you utilize your data to inform your programming/services and as a part of broader evaluations, initiatives, etc (ECFE Program Enhancement Process, PreK-3rd Grade work, building improvement plans, etc).

Q: What is an example of prioritizing programming and services for families and parents identified in the community needs assessment, particularly those families with children with the most risk factors birth to age three?
A:Through your needs assessment you find that incarcerated parents are interested in learning about and improving their parenting. You collaborate with the proper officials and provide parent and family education tailored to the needs of these parents.
More examples can be found on the Tailoring Programming tab below

Q: Should the prioritized programming/classes include parent education?
A: Yes, especially since ECFE is a parent education program

Definitions

Definitions

Community Needs Assessment
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services defines a community needs assessment as (retrieved from https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/systemwide/assessment/community/):
A community needs assessment identifies the strengths and resources available in the community to meet the needs of children, youth, and families. The assessment focuses on the capabilities of the community, including its citizens, agencies, and organizations. It provides a framework for developing and identifying services and solutions and building communities that support and nurture children and families.

A community assessment may be limited to a compilation of demographic data from census records, results of surveys conducted by others, and informal feedback from community partners. Or, assessments may be expanded to include focus group discussions, town meetings, interviews with stakeholders, and telephone or mailed surveys to partnership members and the community.

Risk Factors
Risk Factors are individual or environmental characteristics, conditions, or behaviors that increase the likelihood that a negative outcome will occur.
from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. School Connectedness: Strategies for Increasing Protective Factors Among Youth. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2009.

Documents

Documents

ECFE Community Needs Assessment: FY19 Guidance
Click Here

ECFE Community Needs Assessment: Worksheet
Click Here

Minnesota Statutes

Minnesota Statutes

Minnesota Statutes, section 142D.10 (a)
Early childhood family education programs must provide:
(6) a community needs assessment that identifies new and underserved populations, identifies child and family risk factors, particularly those that impact children's learning and development, and assesses family and parenting education needs in the community;
(7) programming and services that are tailored to the needs of families and parents prioritized in the community needs assessment

Early childhood family education programs should prioritize programming and services for families and parents identified in the community needs assessment, particularly those families and parents with children with the most risk factors birth to age three.

The program may provide parenting education programming or services to anyone identified in the community needs assessment.

Minnesota Statutes, section 142D.10, subd 13
Program data submission requirements.
Districts receiving early childhood family education revenue under section 142D.11 must submit annual program data, including data that demonstrates the program response to the community needs assessment, to the department by July 15 in the form and manner prescribed by the commissioner.

Presentations

Presentations

PowerPoint from MNAFEE Conference - April 17, 2015
Click Here

Required Components

Required Components

Due to new legislation passed during the 2013-14 session, Early Childhood Family Education programs are now required to conduct a community needs assessment that:

1. identifies new and underserved populations,
2. identifies child and family risk factors, particularly those that impact children's learning and development, and
3. assesses family and parenting education needs in the community (Minnesota Statutes, section 142D.10, subdivision 2).

State Reporting

State Reporting

Minnesota Statutes, section 142D.10, Subd. 13, states that "Districts receiving early childhood family education revenue under section 142D.11 must submit annual program data, including data that demonstrates the program response to the community needs assessment, to the department by July 15 in the form and manner prescribed by the commissioner.

1. How did you identify new and underserved populations? What were your key findings?
2. How did you identify child and family risk factors? What were your key findings?
3. How did you assess family and parenting education needs? What were your key findings?
4. How will your programming and services be tailored to the needs of families and parents prioritized in the community needs assessment?

2020-2021 Optional Questions
The optional questions this year are mostly related to collaborations, both in-district and with the community.

2021-2022 Optional Questions
The optional questions for 21-22 are mostly related to data systems/submissions and home visiting.

2022-2023 Optional Questions
The optional questions for 22-23 are mostly related to data systems/support and one-time and short-term ECFE program offerings.

2023-2024 Optional Questions
The optional questions for 23-24 are mostly related to data systems/support and parenting educators/education.

2024-2025 Optional Questions
The optional questions for 24-25 are mostly related to attendance and absenteeism issues.

MDE Data Reporting Page
Click Here

Work Group

Work Group

Members

Jean Breitenbucher (Minneapolis ECFE), Mike Brown (MDE), Christine Fehst (Hopkins ECFE), Candy Kragthorpe (MDH), Nancy Melquist (White Bear Lake ECFE), Peggy O'Toole-Martin (Rochester ECFE), Mary Owen (MDE), Pam Rees (Duluth Head Start), Donald Sysyn (St. Paul ECFE), Betty Uehling (New Ulm ECFE).

Goals and Purpose

To provide feedback and guidance to the department during the creation of the community needs assessment guidance.

Meetings and Files

July 22, 9:30-12:30, at MDE. Click here for notes.
August 11, 10:00-12:30, at MDE. Click here for notes.

Resources for Planning, Conducting and Reporting Your Needs Assessment

2024-25

2024-25

Each year, ECFE programs must submit data that shows their response to the community needs assessment requirements. Since there are no changes to the reporting requirements, the guidance for 2024-25 is similar to previous years. Importantly, as with previous years, you are not submitting your CNA data, but simply a narrative or description about what you did in order to demonstrate your response to the community needs assessment requirements.

It is also important to note that your CNA process does not need to be the same year after year. One year you may decide on a comprehensive needs assessment while another year you may just be focusing on one component. For example, if your time or resources are limited and you have not gathered the data you wanted for your needs assessment, consider conducting a basic needs assessment where you just respond to the three items listed in Minnesota statutes (1. New and underserved populations you identified, 2. Child and family risk factors you identified, and 3. Parenting education needs identified.). For specific examples, see the examples in the "Strategies for Conducting Your Needs Assessment" set of tabs below.

Just like your work in your district and communities, MDE works every year to learn about your needs and make improvements to the community needs assessment process, including providing new resources and better guidance. Just like previous years, additional questions on the survey where you submit your findings have been included for 2024-25. The additional questions this year focus on attendance and engagement issues (see the tab above for more information and resources). See the State Reporting tab above for the link to the data submission survey and for the additional questions.

A needs assessment is an essential part of your program's quality and effectiveness and should be conducted every year (note that assessing needs is built into ECFE's structure, as parenting educators have always assessed the learning needs of parents). Again, it is important to note that your community needs assessment does not need to be the same every year (e.g., there is no need/requirement to conduct a survey every year). The focus, intensity, and other elements may be different year to year, especially if you have tied your needs assessment to things like program goals, program evaluation, district goals, and/or community initiatives. Make sure the goal of high-quality, responsive programming is driving your needs assessment process, as opposed to an approach where the goal is meeting a state requirement. With this in mind, the state reporting of your community needs assessment is just a part of your community needs assessment process (depending on the goals and scope of your needs assessment).

Program Evaluation: The Five-Tiered Approach
At a minimum, a needs assessment should be tied to program goals or program activities. For example, needs assessment information guides your work in designing programming or focusing outreach efforts. A needs assessment can also be an element of broader program evaluation efforts. The resource below is an example of how a needs assessment and program evaluation tie together.
Click Here

Attendance and Engagement

Attendance, Absenteeism, Engagement

Since their inception, ECFE programs have always focused on engagement. Certainly, any educator would hope that all learners/participants would be eagerly engaged in the learning process (whether it is formal education or learning for enjoyment). Likewise, we would hope that all parents would be fully engaged in their children's learning and education journey. However, engagement is not a one-way street and there are many variables that impact engagement.

As voluntary programs, we have know that ECFE has to earn both trust and value, especially in a world where parents are experiencing higher levels of stress and demands on their time. In ECFE, we pay particular attention to registration. We ask questions like: Is the offering popular with parents? Will the class have enough participants to run? Are some classes more popular than others (is it due to the time slot, the teacher, the location, etc.?). Registration is just the first part of engagement. Once a parent registers, we pay close attention to attendance. What happens if a parent does not show up for the first session? What if a parent suddenly stops attending after weeks of consistent attendance (did something happen in the class, did they have a change in their schedules, is it not meeting their needs, do they feel left out, etc.?). The point is that ECFE has always been immersed in the world of engagement, starting with attendance. We want to engage parents while ensuring we have a high-quality program that will sustain their engagement. In the long-term, we want to empower parents to be engaged throughout their children's educational journey. This is not only a value, it is supported by decades of experience and science (i.e., children experience better outcomes when their families are supportive and engaged).

Our educational system was experiencing high absenteeism levels before the pandemic, with a drop after COVID and slightly improved numbers since. ECFE is perfectly suited for addressing attendance and absenteeism. Through the 2024-25 community needs assessment, we are encouraging ECFE programs to analyze attendance and absenteeism in their districts, ideally from early childhood into early elementary. Below are some ideas and resources:

• Collect data (what is attendance and absenteeism like in ECFE, preschool programs, and kindergarten?)
• Analyze data (what is the data saying)?
• What data is missing that would be helpful? For example, parents' perspectives on attendance. As part of your needs assessment, can you collect this data? For example, by reaching out and learning from parents.
• What could be done to better address absenteeism and engagement in your programs, district?

Resources
Attendance, Chronic Absenteeism, and Truancy, Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Attendance, engagement and the cognitive learning environment: What neuroscience says about why students don’t come to school, Association of California School Administrators
Attendance Is a Family Affair, ASCD
Attendance Works, Root Causes
Breaking Down Barriers to Student Attendance, NAESP
Chronic Absence: A Call for Deeper Student and Family Engagement, National Association of State Boards of Education
Diagnostic Tool for Addressing the Root Causes of Chronic Absenteeism, Oregon Department of Education Attendance/Absenteeism
Generating Momentum on Better Attendance, AASA
Parents are not fully aware of, or concerned about, their children’s school attendance, Brookings
Personal Engagement Improves Attendance, NAESP
Student Engagement Matters More Than Attendance; Why Don’t Schools Track It? Forbes
Supporting Student Attendance and Engagement, U.S. Department of Education
Um… Where Is Everybody? Families may be the key to ending chronic absenteeism, a pandemic-era problem that has only gotten worse. Harvard Graduate School of Education
Using Research & Tools to Build a Plan for Attendance Success, Rhode Island Department of Education

District-to-District Sharing

District-to-District Sharing

Early Childhood Coordinators - If you have any resources you have created, or any guidance/wisdom you think would be helpful, please use this space to share with your colleagues.

Surveys

Community Assessment Survey Click Here for document
We (i.e., a district ECFE program) created a survey (created from several of the examples on Wiki and elsewhere) that we are sending to preschools and childcare providers in our district. Teachers and providers will be sending them home to families to help us get a better picture of who we are and aren't reaching in our community.

ECFE Program Enhancement

ECFE Program Enhancement Process

The Early Childhood Family Education Program Enhancement Process Manual was released in August, 2001. The program enhancement process is a participatory program evaluation so it serves a different purpose than the community needs assessment. Nevertheless, there is clear overlap between the two strategies and they should be considered to be a part of the same enhancement or improvement process. Both are formative, process-oriented and diagnostic, and they should be developed as an ongoing process that is used continuously in a program.
The needs assessment helps us identify and evaluate needs in the community among people who may benefit from our program or services. The program enhancement process helps us review and evaluate our program practices as compared to the Quality Indicators for Early Childhood Family Education Programs, with the goal being to enhance program quality.

The community needs assessment and program enhancement process both can be divided into three main parts:

• Planning,
• Conducting the assessment and
• Using the results.

ECFE Program Enhancement Process Manual
Click Here for Complete Manual

Questionnaires
Click Here for Advisory Council Version

Click Here for Parent Version

Click Here for Staff Version

ECFE Quality Indicators

ECFE Quality Indicators

The ECFE Quality Indicators instrument was developed to assist local Early Childhood Family Education program staff in program planning and self-evaluation for the purpose of program improvement. The quality indicators listed in this instrument reflect observable characteristics of successful programs and indicate compliance with current Minnesota statutes. They are based on the guiding principles, mission, and goals of Early Childhood Family Education. Completely achieving these indicators of program quality in all categories is an ideal situation toward which local programs can strive. The indicators listed are by no means meant to be all inclusive of indicators of quality for ECFE. Others will continue to be added as the instrument is used over time.

Click Here for Document

Resources & Tools

Resources & Tools

Conducting Needs Assessment

A Guide for Comprehensive Needs Assessment
Click Here, Prepared for the Colorado Department of Education by RMC ResearchCorporation

Chapter 3. Assessing Community Needs and Resources
Click Here from The Community Tool Box, a service of the Work Group for Community Health and Development at the University of Kansas.

Community Needs Assessment
Click Here from the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth & Their Families

Community Needs Assessment Guide
Click Here, Cesar E. Chavez Foundation

Head Start
Click Here for Planning page (then click on Community Assessment)

Methods for Conducting an Educational Needs Assessment: Guidelines for Cooperative Extension System Professionals
Click Here, University of Idaho Extension

Minnesota Department of Health (MDH)
Click Here for Resources & Tools page

Data Analysis, Presenting Findings

3 Steps for Advancing Equity through Collective Impact
Click Here from the Collective Impact Forum

Resources

Minnesota Early Childhood Risk & Reach Report: Key Indicators of Early Childhood Development in Minnesota, County by County
September, 2015.
The 2015 Minnesota Early Childhood Risk & Reach report was produced by Wilder Research in partnership with the University of Minnesota (Harris Training Programs in the Center for Early Education and Development) and the Minnesota Departments of Education (MDE), Health (MDH), and Human Services (DHS).
Click Here

Tools

A Community Needs and Resources Assessment Toolkit for Prenatal-Grade 3 Initiatives
Click Here, by Beth Green for The Oregon Community Foundation

Community Learning Needs Assessment Toolkit
Click Here, Academica Group fro Alberta, Canada

Community Tool Box
Click Here The Community Tool Box is a service of the Work Group for Community Health and Development at the University of Kansas.

Home Visiting Community Planning Tool
Click Here from Zero to Three

Zero to Three Home Visiting Community Planning Tool
Click Here for document

ESSA - Every Student Succeeds Act

ESSA - Every Student Succeeds Act

Continuous Improvement in Districts and Schools
Click Here, Minnesota Department of Education website

Comprehensive Needs Assessment Summary Report Overview document available on MDE website at above link

Under Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the district or charter is responsible for leading and supporting a comprehensive needs assessment (CNA) process for schools identified for comprehensive or targeted support and improvement (CSI or TSI).

Districts, charters and schools are encouraged to engage in a robust comprehensive needs assessment as a critical first step in supporting school improvement. By reviewing and analyzing multiple evidence and data sets in relation to each other (demographic, perception, student learning, school process, and fidelity), a school system can better understand what is working and what is not working, including what factors or root-causes are at play that lead to those results. Schools must disaggregate the data by ethnicity and special student populations and examine for gaps and inequities in student achievement/outcomes. When done well, a CNA allows for the evaluation of past and prediction of new or modified strategies, processes, and programs that best meet the learning needs of all students.

Strategies for Conducting Your Needs Assessment

Introduction

Introduction

In this set of tabs, the focus is on strategies for conducting your needs assessment. In particular, tabs are designated for the three required components of the needs assessment

COVID-19

COVID-19 and the CNA

For ECFE programs that may have limited time due to staff hours/assignments which may impact your community needs assessment submission, below is a sample of how the requirements could be met with data you likely have quick access to:

1. Identifying New and Underserved Populations: Use Minnesota Report Card on the MDE website. Click on My School, add your school district, and then click on demographics. Compare who you served in ECFE to your district demographics. Another option would be to use Minnesota Compass to find the profile of your city/cities. Compare the profile to your ECFE participant data. Are there populations on the profile that you are underserving, compared to your ECFE participants?
2. Identifying Child and Family Risk Factors: You could address this by looking at your School Readiness data. For example, what risk factors did you use to determine eligibility for School Readiness? Throughout the year, what risk factors did you see in your School Readiness program (e.g., either children needing extra assistance or reasons families said they needed help). Another strategy would be to look at changes in your community (e.g., major employer who laid off workers).
3. Assessing Family and Parenting Education Needs: The easiest approach to this topic is to ask your parenting educators. What topics were important to parents this year? What did parents want to learn about? How have parents conveyed their learning needs to you (this can be informal or formal)?

Identifying New and Underserved Populations

Identifying New and Underserved Populations

"Our goal is to know and build relationships with every family in our district. While we know that not every family will attend our program, we understand the importance of engaging in positive, supportive communication. We are often a family's first experience with the school district, and families have different wants and needs. We approach our work as if we are not only family experts for the district, but also district staff who advocate for families."
- ECFE coordinator

Like the quote above states, the goal of the first component of the needs assessment involves knowing the families in your community. Simply stated, how can we design and provide meaningful programming and services to families without first knowing who they are?
New populations might be new families to your community (e.g., a family with a newborn, a family that moved into the district, etc.).
Underserved populations may include families who share one or more of the following characteristics:

• Receive fewer services (e.g., educational, health care, social, etc.).
• Encounter barriers to accessing services (e.g., economic, cultural, and/or linguistic).
• Have a lack of familiarity with the educational system (or other systems).
• Face a shortage of readily available providers (child care, educational, etc.).

Ultimately, you need to develop working definitions for new and underserved populations. Many districts compare the families that participate in their ECFE programs with their district demographics. At a minimum, ECFE should be serving a representative cross-section of their community.
Examples of underserved populations:

• The school district population is 18% percent Hispanic but your ECFE program only had a Hispanic participation rate of 3%.
• Only 3% of your ECFE participants were fathers.
• View the 2014-15 Community Needs Assessment results for examples of populations that you may be missing.

Possible Strategies

• Use Minnesota Compass to find the profile of your city/cities. Compare the profile to your ECFE participant data. Are there populations on the profile that you are underserving, compared to your ECFE participants?

• Use the Minnesota Early Childhood Longitudinal Data System

• Use Minnesota Report Card on the MDE website. Click on My School, add your school district, and then click on any of the reports to find information.

• Use the Minnesota State Demographic Center to find information/data.

• Obtain birth records, new utility hookups, connect with realtors and residential housing managers, etc.

• Contact your Head Start partner. Head Start programs are required to do community assessments every three years. They are also required to identify new and underserved populations.

Links

American Community Survey
Click Here, United States Census Bureau
Community Facts Page (enter your city)

ChildStats.gov
Click Here, Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics

Child Trends DataBank
Click Here or http://www.childtrends.org/databank/

Data Center
Click Here, Minnesota Department of Education

DataFinder
Click Here, CLASP
CLASP DataFinder is a custom, easy-to-use tool developed to provide select demographic information as well as administrative data on programs that affect low-income people and families

Data.Gov Education
Click Here or http://www.data.gov/education/
Explore education datasets, apps, resources for the classroom, and details about paying for college. These datasets cover education at all levels.

Data Quality Campaign
Click Here or http://dataqualitycampaign.org/

Early Childhood Data
Click Here for NAEYC page

Early Childhood Longitudinal Data System
Click Here, or http://eclds.mn.gov/

KIDS COUNT Data Center
Click Here, The Annie E. Casey Foundation

Minnesota Compass
Click Here http://www.mncompass.org/
Find your city profile on this page

Minnesota PreK-3rd Grade Wiki - Data-Driven Improvement page
Click Here

Minnesota Report Card
Click here, or go to https://rc.education.mn.gov/#mySchool/p--3, from the Minnesota Department of Education website
The Minnesota Report Card gives you easy access to understandable district and school data. This tool is designed to provide easy access to district and school information, test results, revenue and expenditure data, demographic information and other critical data in a centralized location. Choose from several reports to learn more about the state of education in your local district, a specific school, or the state as a whole.

Minnesota State Demographic Center
Click Here, Department of Administration

National Center for Education Statistics
Click Here, U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences

The Early Childhood Data Collaborative
Click Here or http://www.ecedata.org

Identifying Child and Family Risk Factors

Identifying Child and Family Risk Factors, Particularly those that Impact Children's Learning and Development

Possible Strategies

Internal (inside your organization)

• What risk factors do you see in your early childhood program(s)? How do you qualify children/families for School Readiness?
• What risk factors do your kindergarten teachers or elementary principals see? For example, what factors (child, family, community) impact a child's learning and development?

External

• Talk to or survey other providers/organizations in your community that work with children and/or families. What risk factors do they see that impact children's learning and development?

Resources

Also see the At-Risk Children & Families page

Identification of Risk and Protective Factors
Click Here, Florida Department of Education, http://www.fldoe.org/safeschools/pdf/sec2.pdf

Inequality in Early Childhood: Risk and Protective Factors for Early Child Development
Click Here, www.thelancet.com Vol 378 October 8, 2011

Protective Factors Literature Review: Early Care and Education Programs and the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect
Click Here, Center for the Study of Social Policy, Strengthening Families Through Early Care and Education.

Risk and Protective Factors
Click Here, Chapter 4 of Child Neglect: A Guide for Prevention, Assessment and Intervention, from the Child Welfare Information Gateway.

Risk and Protective Factors for Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders Across the Life Cycle
Click Here, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Risk and Protective Factors: What Schools Can Do to Build Protective Factors
Click Here, from www.childhelp.org/SpeakUpBeSafe

Understanding Risk and Protective Factors: Their Use in Selecting Potential Targets and Promising Strategies for Intervention
Click Here, from The Community Tool Box, a service of the Work Group for Community Health and Development at the University of Kansas.

Assessing Family and Parenting Education Needs

Assessing Family and Parenting Education Needs in the Community

Possible Strategies

• At the most basic level, what are the family and parenting education needs of those who attend your program?

Tailored Programming and Services

Provide Programming and Services that are Tailored to the Needs of Families and Parents Prioritized in the Community Needs Assessment

Introduction

Possible Strategies

Research & Literature

A Strength-Based Approach to Parent Education for Children With Autism
Click Here, Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 13(3) 178–190.

Family Programming for Incarcerated Parents: A Needs Assessment Among Inmates
Click Here, Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 32(4), 2001, p. 67-83.

Fathering after Military Deployment: Parenting Challenges and Goals of Fathers of Young Children
Click Here, Health & Social Work, 39(1), February 2014.

Immigrant Parents and Early Childhood Programs: Addressing Barriers of Literacy, Culture, and Systems Knowledge
Click Here, Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute, 2014.

Needs of Families Affected by Mental Illness
Click Here, Journal of Psychosocial Nursing, 44(3), March 2006, p. 40-48.

Online Assessment of Grandmother Experience in Raising Grandchildren
Click Here, Educational Gerontology, 32: 669–684, 2006

Parent Needs Assessment Survey: Report
Click Here, Northumberland County, November 2013, Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit

Prenatal Parent Education for First-Time Expectant Parents: ‘‘Making It Through Labor Is Just the Beginning.’’
Click Here, Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 27(2), March/April 2013, p. 91-97.

Results

Introduction

Introduction

Included in this set of tabs are examples of submissions from districts and summaries of results.

Sample Reporting 2014-15

Sample Reporting

Below are some community needs assessment submissions from various school districts. They are intended to give you an idea of what some other districts submitted.

Big Lake
Click Here

Elk River
Click Here

Faribault
Click Here

Lakeville
Click Here

North Branch
Click Here

North St. Paul - Maplewood - Oakdale
Click Here

Robbinsdale
Click Here

Rochester
Click Here

Roseville
Click Here

Willow River
Click Here

Worthington
Click Here

In addition to the submission, one school district shared the report they had created.
Minneapolis
Click Here

Analysis of 2014-15 Submissions

Analysis of 2014-15 Submissions

Analysis of 2014-15 Community Needs Assessment Submissions
This is a valuable resource showing the scope of responses to the first needs assessment. It helps districts see a variety of methods used to gather data, a range of potential family risk factors that districts should be aware of and understand, and potential parent and family education needs.
Click Here

Sample Reporting 2017-18

Sample Reporting

Below are some community needs assessment submissions from various school districts. They are intended to give you an idea of what some other districts submitted.

Browerville
Click Here

Chisago Lakes
Click Here

Dassel-Cokato
Click Here

Delano
Click Here

Esko
Click Here

Jackson County Central
Click Here

Kimball
Click Here

Lakeville
Click Here

Litchfield
Click Here

Mankato
Click Here

Maple River
Click Here

Osseo
Click Here

Robbinsdale
Click Here

St. Louis Park
Click Here

St. Paul
Click Here

Waseca
Click Here

Wayzata
Click Here

White Bear Lake
Click Here

Willow River
Click Here

2018-19 Innovative Programming

2018-19 Innovative Programming

Overview of Programming and Services Shared by ECFE Programs in 2018-19 Community Needs Assessment
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2019-20 Needs Identified and Response to COVID

Needs Identified and Response to COVID

Needs Identified during COVID-19
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Strategies Implemented in Response to Needs
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