High-quality care in the earliest years of life has been shown to relate to positive developmental outcomes for children, including improved early academic skills, social-emotional competencies, and cognitive functioning. Unfortunately, the early care experiences of many children are not always high quality; rather, research suggests that…

This study explores the feasibility of utilizing school-focused staff development programs in promoting international cooperation through transferability and/or adaptation of relevant aspects of this type of inservice education by foreign countries. The objective of this presentation is to develop interest in ways in which teachers in various…

This document reports results of the activities engaged in by Leeward Community College in its second year of participation in the Advanced Institutional Development Program. Four primary areas were focused on in the college's development efforts: community outreach, student services, curriculum and instruction, and institutional renewal/staff…

Each year staff members in the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, Division of School Improvement, conduct onsite visits to each of the most improved schools, K-12, as identified by the ABCs of Public Education. Using a structured-interview process, staff members talk with administrators and teachers to determine what strategies…

This manual provides step-by-step directions for developing an inservice staff training program in a rehabilitation facility. The manual is organized in five chapters. Following an introduction that defines inservice training, the first chapter discusses inservice problem identification procedures (conduct a needs assessment and determine present…

A unique training program in high tech obstetrical, neonatal, and pediatric nursing care areas was designed to be offered on site at Orlando (Florida) Regional Medical/Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and Women. The training program offered 16 different courses to 355 employees over the 18-month period of the project. A needs assessment was…

This report recommends ways to integrate values education into schools' curricula. Societal problems indicate that values play as important a role in students' development as math and science, as suggested by statistics on increasing teenage suicide, pregnancies, and dropping out. While it is important to ensure that at-risk students become…

Both formative and summative evaluations were used to guide development and appraise outcomes of a model college/public service agency collaborative effort to develop an inservice, onsite, volunteer training program for Office of Environmental Affairs (OEA) employees. Assessment procedures included interviews with Training Development Program…

In addition to an 11-page narrative, this final report contains materials from a model college/public service agency collaborative effort to develop an inservice, onsite, volunteer training program for Office of Environmental Affairs employees. These activities are described: task analysis to determine environmental/human service paraprofessional…

This collection of papers examines the current issues in urban education as suggested by on-site studies of programs in sixteen different cities between 1977 and 1980. An overview of the problems in urban education and their causes is presented in the first paper. The second paper discusses program improvement strategies and several examples of…

This document presents minimum standards for programs serving gifted and talented students. The first chapter discusses program design standards, with a focus on building a flexible system of program options throughout general and special education that can be matched with the needs, strengths, and interests of gifted and talented students. The…

Conducted to determine priority areas for program improvement activities in Alabama's vocational education system, the specific objectives of this study were to develop a list of areas that are in need of vocational education research and that should be addressed through exemplary programs; develop a list of needs for curriculum development…

This final report describes a staff development project designed to provide for the effective and statewide dissemination of significant current or previous Section 353 special demonstration projects in Pennsylvania. A panel of 8 literacy experts reviewed 65 special projects funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Education's Bureau of Adult…

A new Chapter 1 law, P.L. 100-297, was passed in 1988. Chapter 1 schools must examine the program operated during the previous school year. Schools that fail to demonstrate overall achievement gains must develop a Program Improvement Plan (PIP), a document describing how the Chapter 1 program in that school will be modified. This guide provides a…

The Greater Madison Task Force on Occupational Skills Education was formed to develop and implement a plan that would improve occupational skills education for area high school students. The task force members included 10 members from business and labor, 7 members from state agencies or higher education, and 14 members from the public school…