An assessment system is in place to match students needs to available programs and techniques. In an ideal school, focused needs assessment is used to match students to the services they need and avoid placing them in programs they do not need and cannot benefit from. The occurrence of mismatches between needs and service provision signals a need for additional program planning. Monitoring and assessment is well conceptualized so as to be both useful and streamlined. The resources and effort involved in monitoring are reasonable so as not to divert excessive time and funds from program delivery.
Monitoring keeps people focused on the objectives, making their accomplishment more likely.
The school community gets timely feedback about what is not working, so they can fine-tune and improve their innovations, and avoid wasting money and resources on programs that do not work. Assessment assures that the programs or activities implemented will respond to unmet needs. For This Challenge Try these Suggestions Lack of time results in assessment activities being delayed or carried out only superficially. Plan for ongoing assessment that requires investment of small amounts of time, rather than suddenly diverting staff to conduct a flurry of assessment when required by an outside agency. Develop formats and procedures for collecting equivalent data across grades or departments.