Needs+Assessment

__Assessing the Needs of the World Language Program__
toc // The evaluations were performed through formal and informal observations, student and teacher surveys, and an inventory of existing technology and resource materials. //

**1. Course Offerings.**
The World Language teachers were surveyed in both the High and Middle Schools. There were a total of 17 teachers surveyed. The first step to assess was the program and learning needs. Was our current secondary program meeting the needs of the students? How many students were enrolled in Levels 1-2? How many continued the chosen language into the advanced Levels of 3-4? And finally, how many of our students took the AP World Language tests?

In our research through four past years of student enrollment at the high school, we found a few trends.
 * Spanish consistently had the highest enrollment in all four Levels of the three World Language choices.
 * Enrollment in German and French has been decreasing at an average rate of 13% per year in the last four years.
 * Requests and inquiries for alternate or additional choices have increased, though no formal accounting has been kept.
 * Only 4% of all World Language students chose to take the AP tests in their senior year. There has been very little promotion of the test options in Level 3 and 4 classes.
 * 98% of students taking Level 3 and 4 classes have achieved Proficient to Advanced Proficiency on the PSSA Reading, Writing and Math examinations.
 * Over the past four years there has been an increase of ethnic minorities due to the harvest seasons and tourist businesses. We have seen increase in families from Latin American (Mexico, Hondurus and Equador), India, Poland and Croatia.

**2. Instructional Practices.**
We evaluated the teachers in both our Middle and High School World Language Department (17 total). ** Original Survey ** media type="custom" key="3749271" width="74" height="70"

**3. Current Inventory of Equipment and Resources**
The World Language Department in the High School consists of 4 full-time teachers and 3 part-time teachers. They share four classrooms located in the academic wing. There are two computer labs available for use in the academic wing, in addition to the classroom computer carts.

Each World Language classroom consists of the following:
 * Teacher station
 * Two student computer stations
 * White marker board
 * Mounted TV (analog) and mounted projection screen

General Purpose Computer Lab:
 * 30 Computer Stations
 * Teacher Station
 * Mounted projector
 * Mounted projection screen
 * Black/White networked laser printer

Instructional Materials
 * Textbook series for each World Language
 * Various native magazine subscriptions
 * Various native language movies and TV shows (as covered by the district Movie License subscription)