Needs Assessment 1

The needs of high school students are ever changing. It is essential for school personnel to be informed about the needs of the students they currently serve. The primary purpose of this exploratory study was to identify the needs of freshmen students in a rural high school setting. This study involved assessment of secondary data that was originally collected by school personnel in January 2006. The instrument that was utilized during the original data collection was a 32 question survey about the degree to which a variety of factors affected the subject's lives. The survey was originally distributed to the entire freshmen class, however, this study analyzed only 25 randomly selected surveys. Study findings revealed that the freshmen students of both genders desire to learn about their options after graduation, and that many of these students are not aware of how to access the Youth Services Center at their high school. These findings and others inform the Youth Services Center personnel about potential service gaps and areas for intervention and preventative measures. Future studies should assess the faculty’s knowledge of student stressors and the symptoms that students may exhibit