Intent and Needs Assessment Purpose
Proposing, reviewing, and operating a high-quality educator licensure program requires a considerable amount of time and resources from both sponsoring organizations and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).
Communication of intent to submit allows DESE to begin planning internal capacity for reviews. The Needs Assessment ensures that sponsoring organizations and DESE only engage in Informal Reviews for programs that will meet demonstrated demands within the state. Only sponsoring organizations that provide evidence of need will move on to the Informal Review Submission phase.
Before Completing the Needs Assessment
We encourage sponsoring organizations to conduct an internal self-study to evaluate their objectives and ability to operate a new program prior to completing this Needs Assessment form. A template for the self-study and guidance for demonstrating strong evidence of need can be accessed in DESE’s 2023 Needs Assessment Advisory.