During the fall of 2006, Public Agenda conducted three focus groups with school administrators, as well as three individual interviews with administrators from rural school districts. The main points of interest and recurring themes from the participants in the groups included the following:
- Challenges in identifying and hiring effective teachers
- Improving pre-service teacher programs to better prepare beginning teachers
- Building effective mentoring programs to support beginning teachers
- Improving practitioners' data driven decision making skills
- Determining best practiceso Building trust with teachers
- Concerns with adequate yearly progress and the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act
The themes identified in these focus groups supported findings that emerged in several earlier focus groups with REL Board Members and State Department of Education staff. In the final 2006 Needs Assessment Report, Public Agenda used these interviews and focus group findings, along with several recent public opinion studies on education conducted in the Midwest and nationally, to further explore several major areas of need at the state and local levels. These areas of need will be investigated in 2007 using a quantitative survey developed by Public Agenda and REL Midwest. Areas of need identified on the survey for further inquiry include the following:
- State and Local Resources and Capacityo The Politics of Education/Local Community Issues
- Standards and Accountability (within the context of NCLB)
- Academic Research and Professional Developmento Research and Data Needs
- Teacher Staffing - Quantity and Quality
- Educational Leadershipo After-School Programs
- Special Education
- Rural Issues
Interim survey results are expected in December, 2007.
