• To document evidence of need. Let's say that parents in your community are very concerned about the use of psychedelics, cocaine, or heroin, but your needs assessment shows that more young people are using tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana. Your argument for selecting a prevention program that addresses smoking will be much more compelling if you can back it up with data.

• To highlight key issues that are particular problems in your community or district, and target prevention efforts to those at risk. You may find out that underage drinking rates are higher in your community than in similar locales or in the state as a whole, or that more students in your community than in other locales begin using alcohol in the sixth grade.

• To identify potential barriers to implementing research-based programs. You may discover, for example, that your superintendent is committed to continued implementation of a particular prevention program that is not based on research, but which has been part of the school system's curriculum for many years.

• To determine if your community is ready to address a given problem. For example, you may learn that parents in the community are unwilling to acknowledge that substance abuse or violence is a problem among their children. If this is the case, you will need to spend time educating parents, as well as their children, if your program is to succeed.

• To promote community buy-in to your prevention initiative. The school and community members you meet and connect with throughout the assessment process are your future partners in prevention. Engaging people in the process of collecting information about your community's needs will motivate and better prepare them to make decisions about which prevention strategies or programs should be selected to meet those needs.

• As a baseline for evaluation. Assessment data lets you track behavior change over time and monitor the impact of your prevention efforts.

• To mobilize the community. Carefully presented assessment data can be used to heighten awareness among community members of the extent and types of drug- and violence-related problems facing local youth. Local data, in particular, can be a powerful tool for mobilizing your community to address problems (perhaps even more effective than similar data about state or national populations.) Community members with a clear understanding of your findings are more likely to actively support and participate in prevention activities.

Source: Middle School Coordinator’s online course,"Using Existing Data in Your Needs Assessment." http://www.k12coordinator.org/
onlinece/onlineevents/assessment/id81.htm