Reviews approaches and specialties of six big-name educational consultants: Lee Canter, Vic Cottrell, Fenwick English, Ivan Fitzwater, Madeline Hunter, and Marian Leibowitz. Discusses reasons for hiring consultants (including delivery of unpleasant messages) and cautions districts to seek local talent, match consultants and tasks, and support…

Although bus drivers, teacher assistants, secretaries, hall aides, and cafeteria workers are vital to the school organization, they are often overlooked entirely by inservice training and staff development planners. This article describes a Long Island (New York) school district's successful staff development day exclusively for nonteaching…

Advises retiring administrators to exercise a bit of dignity and common sense in their remaining months on the job. Administrators should show consideration regarding retirement plans, fight laziness, conduct training sessions for other administrators, accept others' foolish behavior gracefully, and be generous with parting insights. (MLH)

Reviews a typical opening day for teachers, replete with insufficient socializing, boring speeches, and motivational badgering. Presents alternative models based on (1) outright socializing; or (2) a planned program with staff participation. Empty rituals are a waste of valuable staff time and taxpayers' money. (MLH)

Thanks to a collegial training program conducted in their school's computer labs, teachers at a Sussex County, New Jersey, high school have grown comfortable with using computers for everything from lesson planning and recording grades to designing graphics and manipulating databases. A teacher-led committee developed the program, appointed…

To benefit fully from the consultants and guest lecturers hired to conduct inservice training for teachers, the McDowell County schools (North Carolina) cultivate a "red carpet" treatment policy for such visitors. Success depends on good two-way communication, efficient hospitality arrangements, administrative presence at workshops, and an…

Staff development specialists worked with elementary school personnel to improve school morale by gathering information to assess the current climate, establishing task forces to deal with the problems, and training staff members in techniques for ameliorating the problems. (MLF)

The U46 Administrators' Academy, sponsored by School District U46 in Elgin (Illinois), provides administrator inservice training at no cost. Academy instructors, primarily central office administrators, are selected for their credibility with their peers, for their knowledge of the topics, and for their ability to teach. (Author/MLF)

Explains how an Illinois school district was forced to develop a plan for writing an entire district curriculum in one day and how the plan was effectively carried out. The approach is not presented as a model for emulation but, rather, as an example of what can be done with limited resources. (MD)

Many school districts are acknowledging staff development's dismal record. Inservice programs traditionally operate on a deficit training model, promote awareness without classroom strategies, and are offered by traveling "experts." Teachers need time and opportunity to direct their own professional development program and "mess…

Peer coaching, teacher input, and focus on teaching improvement are important ingredients in an inservice teacher training program in a Palos Hills, Illinois, school district. Program goals and guidelines for training sessions and peer coaching teams are detailed. (CJH)

The state of Oklahoma recently published a school bus driver manual on transporting handicapped students. Yearly inservice training sessions are recommended to teach school bus drivers communication skills, use of special equipment for physically handicapped students, and preparation for emergencies. (MLF)

The Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Plan for Instructional Improvement requires principals to take part in several workshops and activities to learn how to analyze what goes on in the classroom. Principals then direct teacher inservice training by conducting staff meetings, small seminars, and classroom observation followed by teacher conferences. (MLF)

Examples of inservice programs and procedures at two hypothetical high schools reveal the principal's true role in promoting positive change through staff development. With school improvement at stake, the principal must concentrate on commitment, collaboration, communication, and coordination. (MLH)

Reports on the Stockton (California) schools' assessment program, used in the selection and promotion of all school site and central office administrators. Describes seven exercises used for evaluating key management skills of elementary, middle, and secondary school principals. Explains the process of acquiring trained assessors. (IW)