Appalachia: Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, & West Virginia
Regional Needs
REL Appalachia monitors the needs of the region using a multi-stage process. The purposes of this process are to solicit needs from a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including state education agencies and district and school personnel, and to deliver research and technical assistance aimed at addressing gaps in knowledge and building stakeholder capacity. The steps in the needs assessment process are as follows:
- Identify users and uses of needs assessment findings
- Identify and define needs
- Describe the nature and extent of needs
- Describe service communities
- Analyze needs
- Guide the REL Appalachia service agenda
Our needs assessment has identified three major research topics as priorities for the 2012–17 REL Appalachia contract: ensuring college and career readiness, improving low-achieving schools, and supporting effective teachers and leaders.