The "Professional Learning Readiness Self-Assessment Tool" helps districts assess their capacity for effective, comprehensive professional learning. For the purposes of this tool, effective professional learning strategies are those strategies based upon research and aligned with professional standards. Comprehensive professional…

High turnover rates among school board members, increasing complexity of school affairs, high costs of education, and demographic upheavals are among the factors that make efficient school board management very difficult. To cope with these factors, school board members need inservice training, particularly at the local level. Further, this…

The mentoring of new principals by experienced principals is generally accepted as an important aspect of the transition to the position. Different countries may stress different aspects of mentoring and conduct training at different stages of the preparation process. In the United States and Singapore, mentoring occurs as part of the…

The writer of this paper was invited to act as a consultant to Minnesota's Independent School District 196 to generate a plan and program for the inservice education of school principals within the district. The paper presents an analysis of the problem; a discussion of the organizational context and the client system; a description of the methods…

A study was conducted to analyze four dimensions of community college staff development activities (i.e., instructional, personal, professional and organizational) as related to part-time instructors' needs, awareness, and participation. Study findings, based on a telephone survey of staff development officers in Florida, a survey of 262 part-time…

Exploring the problem of high turnover rates for counselors at a therapeutic camp reveals that low job satisfaction--specifically lack of advancement and educational opportunities--is one frequent factor influencing resignation. This study examines the possibility of increasing agency support of personal advancement by creating individual…

This report summarizes a 1985 study during which 85 special library/information center managers from Melbourne, Australia, were interviewed to ascertain their continuing professional development activities, needs, and aspirations. Major areas of investigation included the extent and nature of organizational support for continuing professional…

This paper on professional development activities in the Winnipeg (Canada) School Division No. 1 begins with background on population, staffing, and budgeting in the district, a list of principles of effective staff development, and historical perspectives on the division's staff development program from 1962 to 1988. Activities discussed include…

A project sought to develop a means of updating and retraining those required to comply with Britain's 1985 Building Regulations, which are substantially different from the previous ones in regard to procedures and technical content. The training needs analysis conducted indicated that the new training should be flexible and use practical and…

In order to identify and describe the professional development programs available at the community colleges in Arizona, the administrators of the faculty development programs at each of the state's 20 campuses were mailed a brief questionnaire; 18 questionnaires were returned. The survey revealed that there were over 2,000 faculty members at these…

Twenty urban Canadian community health and social workers received six hours of training in family-literacy development-strategies As a result, participants demonstrated a shift in attitudes about literacy, from skills-achievement to sociocultural perspectives on literacy-achievement, and included literacy events more frequently in their own…

The purpose of the study was to describe teachers' perceptions and experiences in implementing whole language activities in their kindergarten and elementary classrooms. Ten teachers who were part of a pilot whole language program participated in the study. Throughout the 1989-1990 school term, data were collected through teacher questionnaires…

Support staff of circulation, reference, interlibrary loan, media services, special collections, information, and reserves make up a large portion of library work forces, and each year are asked to take on more tasks, many requiring advanced skills. This study determined: (1) if there is an actual need for continuing education for support staff;…

This chapter on designing and implementing effective staff development programs is taken from a guide to instruction and services for students with disabilities. The chapter focuses on assessment of staff development needs and identification of priorities for training. Staff development options are discussed in terms of formats (such as workshops,…

A project was undertaken to assess the staff development needs of faculty and staff at Mission College (California), and to formulate a 1-year staff development plan tied to budget allocations for such activities. In spring 1986, a needs assessment survey for staff development was administered to 62 classified staff members, 87 faculty members, 4…