Our long-time client, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, engaged Kick to conduct a months-long needs analysis to determine how best to support teachers in utilizing the educations products HMH creates for school districts across the country.

The needs analysis allowed HMH to discover the learning needs of the target audience (teachers and administrators), as well as the internal goals of the organization (Marketing, Support, IT, and others) so the proposed learning strategy would support:

• Effective and successful use of HMH products by teachers and districts in the development and implementation of learning programs
• The implementation requirements and strategies of all HMH stakeholders
• Future development needs

The analysis process involved interviews with all key HMH stakeholders, interviews with subject matter experts within HMH, focus groups of (or interviews with) teachers, and focus groups of (or interviews with) district-level stakeholders who make training and support decisions.

Data was gathered in a variety of formats, and was collected via interviews, focus groups, document reviews, advisory committees, and surveys/questionnaires.

Results of the needs assessment were presented in a complete, final report and included the following:

• Goal definition:
  Identification and prioritization of organizational goals
  Identification and prioritization of target audience goals
• Organizational analysis: Identification and prioritization of discrepancies between organizational performance and goals
• Target audience definition and description
• Performance analysis: Identification and prioritization of discrepancies between target audience performance and goals
• Proposed training and support solutions:
  Curriculum strategy framework
  Strategy design (media and formats)
  Evaluation methods