Community Analysis and Needs Assessment: Snowcrest Jr. High School

School and Community Description

Snowcrest Jr. High is a rural school in Ogden Valley which includes the cities of Eden, Huntsville, Liberty,

and Nordic Valley. The school of 344 students (grades 7-9) is nestled in a mountainous community near

three ski areas: Wolf Mountain, Powder Mountain, and Snowbasin. Most housing includes

primary RESIDENCIES and second homes. There are several condominium homes and rentals, as

well. The overall area is comprised of farm land, horse properties, small and large acreage lots, small

businesses and schools, and condensed subdivisions.

Recreation, Culture, and Nearby Amenities

Besides skiing, the area offers Pine View reservoir, Causey Dam, and various fishing, hiking, boating,

camping, biking, extensive trail systems, and additional world class recreation. There are fewer

surrounding businesses in the valley than in the Ogden metropolis—15 minutes down Ogden Canyon.

Weber State University is a twenty minute drive, as well, and Ogden offers numerous cultural and

entertainment opportunities for surrounding communities and has a small airport for commuter flights. Salt

Lake City (approximately 75 miles south) offers INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL .

Schools, Churches, and Businesses

The small towns that comprise Ogden valley offer a Weber County Library branch, two post offices, a few

hotels and restaurants, a grocery store, childcare center, dentist office, a few dozen small businesses,

two public schools, and a RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT CENTER . There are three LDS churches, one

Catholic church, a Trappist Monastery, and a Baptist church within the small communities. Snowcrest is in

Weber School District, and is one of the few designated small schools in the greater areas. There is one

feeder elementary school (Valley Elementary). Following junior high school, students are bused to Weber

High in Pleasant View—a 4-A school with several feeder schools.

Demographics and Proficiency RATES

The student body at Snowcrest is primarily Caucasian (298). However, there is a small minority of

students who share ethnicities in the following groups: Hispanic (10), African American (4), Asian (5),

American Indian (4), and Pacific Islander (2). There are 33 students who qualify for special education

services and/or 504 accommodations and 15% who qualify for fee waivers. The attendance rate at

Snowcrest is rather startling at 96%, which may correlate with our above average standardized

test SCORES in relation to other schools in the district. This year’s results include proficiency rates in

the following areas: Language Arts—94%, Mathematics—75% and Science—88%. The school was

given an overall B grade this past year for proficiency and growth.

Snowcrest Library Media Center

Though Snowcrest is a small school, the library space and COLLECTION are comparable to larger

schools in the district. The spacious center offers two classroom instruction areas—one on the ground

floor (with LCD projector and white board) and another in the loft, which is ideal for presentations and

group speakers. However, the loft is not ADA compliant, as the stairs exclude wheel-chair or other

physically disabled students from accessing the space. Furthermore, the loft is under-utilized, as there is

no direct line of sight for supervision. This space is primarily used for storage in three locked rooms, and

the general productivity occurs on the ground floor, where there are ten COMPUTER WORK

STATIONS , small group study areas, and individual reading areas. The collection includes a variety of

reference materials, biographies, periodicals, newspapers, and other non-fiction materials—as well as an

extremely large fiction collection, classroom novel sets, and other pertinent materials for student and staff

use.

Collection Categories and Percentages

Snowcrest’s library collection includes 10,000+ print titles (copyright: 1910-present) in the following

categories:

000 Generalities 0.45%

100 Philosophy and Psychology 0.74%

200 Religion 1.14%

300 Social Sciences 5.76%

400 Language 0.74%

500 Natural Sciences/Math 6.96%

600 Technology 4.89%

700 The Arts 5.15%

800 Literature and Rhetoric 2.72%

900 Geography and HISTORY 9.95%

General Fiction 53.18%

Reference 4.15%

Biography 4.17%

Professional 0.00%

Outdated and/or Aged Material

Surprisingly, an age sensitivity report reveals that the MAJORITY of materials in the following content

areas are outdated from 93-100%:

Systems Data/Computer Programs 100%

Political Science 100%

Social Problems and Services 100%

Education 100%

Commerce, Communications, and Transportation 100%

Astronomy and Allied Sciences 100%

LIFE Sciences/Biology 100%

Medical Sciences/Medicine 93.48%

GEOGRAPHY , Maps, and Atlases 97.18%

Analysis of Student Needs

After analyzing the data from these reports—and considering the high standardized test scores of the

student body (often first in the district and among the top ten in the state), I assume STUDENTS are

accessing pertinent information from internet or other sources instead of from the aged portions in the

collection. Though STUDENTS utilize the fiction section regularly, some of the reference materials need

weeding and budgeting for updated offerings. The school demographic (very high percentage of

Caucasian students), leads me to assess that students need greater access to multi-cultural materials

and fiction that includes characters of different ethnicities and backgrounds. Since there isn’t a lot of

diversity among students, the collection must compensate to expose students to various cultures,

religions, peoples, and lifestyles. Finally, the library must create a section for professional development.

There are many materials that teachers regularly utilize, but they are dispersed throughout the collection

and are difficult to access readily. These improvements will promote information literacy standards and

assist teachers, students, staff, and community members in gaining the most from their library

experiences at Snowcrest.