Ritchie Priest

EAD 510-0500

Grand Canyon University

June 26, 2019

 The school in which I now teach at is a very small middle school with an

enrollment of three hundred and six students. We are located in a small, low-

income area in rural southeastern North Carolina. There are twenty-seven staff

members in total that includes teachers, administrators and support staff. Every

school in our county receives Title one funding except the two high schools. So

the Title one program is the most important source of funding not only at our

school but at all the other middle and primary schools in our county. Without Title

one, the only other funding we would receive would be the state allotment for

instructional supplies.

Current budget expenditures: Our current budget doesn’t allow our school

to have a lot of new things but it does ensure that we have enough to provide the

best education possible for our students. We now only have two budgets in which

to spend the funding. They are the Title one budget and the state allotment. Our

current Title one budget is $99,000, and we have to spend it on addressing the

educational needs of children living in impoverished communities. With the Title

one funding, our school was able to purchase two clear touch smart boards at a

price of around $5800.00 in all. Most of the Title one fund was used to pay for

one and a half teaching positions, which takes up $90,000 of the entire budget.

My position as the Physical Education teacher is one of the ones that are funded
by Title 1 money. The rest of the funds for this budget went towards instructional

supplies. This included $2,700 for paper expenses and the remaining $500 was

spent on new calculators. The state allotment budget that we were given this year

was $9,500.00. This budget was used to purchase a laminating machine at a cost

of $1,700.00. We also spent $1,300.00 on new microscopes for our science

teachers. We also ordered new coach books for all four of our math teachers

since the math curriculum was realigned this past year. This came to a cost of

$6,000.00 with each class costing $1,500.00 apiece. The remaining $500.00 was

spent on ink for the printers and copying machines throughout the

school. When comparing the budget for this year and last year, there is not

much difference at all. The only difference is that this year the county board gave

us $5,000.00 less in Title one funding. This will not allow us to buy important

resources needed to enhance certain programs within the school. So the school

improvement team will have to get creative in order to make up for the loss of

funding. Our school improvement plan is something that we must go by to ensure

that we use the provided funding in the possible manner. The past two years the

focus of the plan was to focus on math and reading since they are the essential

skills that are required in other subjects as well. These two basic skills are
essential for our students, especially considering the low-income area where we

are located.

The reason I chose the questions I did on my needs assessment is that two

weeks ago our county did a countywide survey for parents to fill out to help them

see what they need to improve on from the district level. I based my assessment

survey on questions that were basic but yet questions that weren’t as intense as

the countywide survey. Over 76% of our parents filled out the survey for our

school. Some questions I would have asked were actually on the countywide

survey (its done yearly). I found it to be very helpful because I got a lot of data

now. What’s so interesting is that, some parent’s feel that more technology needs

to be used, much like my teachers have said on my survey.

Some preliminary thoughts and suggestions that I had about the needs

assessments are ones that are probably common. Would the teacher’s be

truthful? I have heard many of times, teachers saying that they won’t read the

answers, or they don’t care. So I always think about comments that I have heard

in the past and express to everyone that you never know who is watching or

listening. Another thought I had is based on the fact that a lot of teachers don’t

ask for much and get it themselves. I will give you an example that my mentor
gave. A teacher had not asked for any resources, not markers, not colored paper,

not even rulers. She never asked to get the key to the “teacher store” (that’s what

we call the room with all the goodies for teachers to get for FREE) so one day my

mentor asked her why she never asked for anything, and she simply replied “I just

buy it myself”. That startled me because why didn’t that teacher use what was

available at the school or let the principal know, and she ALWAYS gets us what we

need. I feel that some teachers are afraid to ask for help. According to the PSEL

standards, effective leaders have to “Develop and support open, productive,

caring, and trusting working relationships among leaders, faculty, and staff to

promote professional capacity and the improvement of practice” (PSEL, 2015). In

this standard, it tells that the leader is supposed to supply you with everything

you need. It creates a healthy and stable working environment when you work

together and help one another. I feel that needs assessment help in getting

feedback, and they also help in maintaining a work environment that is happy.

From this needs assessment and what I have learned by doing this assignment is

for my future career, to get feedback from my staff regularly and make sure they

have what they need to help maintain our school growth and increased test

scores.
 Resources

National Policy Board for Educational Administration (2015). Professional

Standards for Educational Leaders 2015.
Reston, VA: Author.