Effective needs assessment is not an end in itself but a continuing means of meeting the needs of students and teachers. It is an integral part of other activities such as planning, operating, and evaluating school programs and teacher center activities. The key to comprehensive needs assessment is the support and cooperation of the teachers,…

This practicum report presents a plan to reduce referrals for psychological evaluations in the schools in Dade County, Florida. Three goals of the plan are identified: (1) to reduce the backlog of referrals in three elementary schools; (2) to improve the placement rate of those students who are referred; and (3) to help teachers identify children…

A refresher course on the needs of children with special abilities was organized for New Zealand primary teachers. The course covered identifying pupils' needs; organizing programs within the classroom, school, and community; understanding the child's social and emotional needs; and examining philosophical issues in providing for individual…

Suggestions to facilitate the reentry of the disabled student into the regular classroom are offered, and information on resource materials is presented. A chart lists mainstreaming materials for the normal child, children's books about handicaps, and teacher resource materials, along with the publishers' addresses, type of handicap, type of…

This book summarizes activities and results of a middle childhood education workshop held for the improvement of staff skills, knowledge, attitudes, and experience. The components of a plan for training middle childhood educators are presented in the logical order of program development: (1) development of educational policy; (2) needs assessment…

The case study is designed to be used with the inservice training program developed by the Child-Centered Inservice Training and Technical Assistance Network (Syracuse, New York), which provides services to professional and paraprofessional personnel working with students with severe disabilities receiving their education in regular education…

The materials contained in this Early Integration Training Project manual are designed for trainers who are interested in facilitating an increase in the integrated options available for young children with disabilities and their families. The training is more process than content oriented and is highly dependent upon group interactions. It…

This document on inservice training and staff development is one in a series of four developed to provide a comprehensive overview of the scope of training practices relating to adult learning. Directed toward educators designing and conducting training programs and toward trainers of trainers, these contributions by adult educators and…

An inservice training guide for teacher educators and State Department staff to use with teachers, administrators, and other personnel responsible for vocational training of special needs students is presented, as part of Project SSAVE (Special Student Access to Vocational Education), in Tennessee. The guide, which was based on the evaluation of…

Offers a comprehensive set of suggestions for organizing English as a Second Language (ESL) classes. Covers topics from teacher training, and curriculum design to student placement, selecting ESL materials, and using human resources. Concludes with a brief list of sources for ESL materials and information. (MM)

The potential for helping children of alcoholic parents to understand and to cope with the problems they experience was examined. Areas were explored in which supportive services may be provided to children of alcoholic parents. It was concluded that the school staff who have close, continuous contact would be the best and most accessible…

Implementation activities for a one-year period are reported for the East Shore Career Education Center (ESCEC), designed to implement a continuous career education program for grades K-12 in the communities of Branford, North Branford, East Haven, and Guilford (Connecticut). Goals and objectives of the project included the following: to provide a…

This handbook for Kansas adult educators presents a process for providing competency-based adult education (CBAE) and supporting materials. The narrative describes and then charts these seven steps in development and implementation of a CBAE program: develop and adapt philosophy, evaluate current program, collect set of goals and objectives from…

Dalton Junior College, Georgia, has developed a comprehensive staff development plan for professionals in the vocational-technical division to relate student needs to professional competencies and meet certification requirements. The plan consists of a rationale or stated need and general goals, policies, and procedures. As a component of the…

An inservice teacher education course was designed to address the problems of content-area teachers in teaching limited-English-proficient (LEP) students. Goals were for content-area teachers: (1) to gain sensitivity to and understanding of the special needs of this population; (2) to become aware of the cultural and linguistic diversity and…