Staff development programs aiming to effect meaningful change are often short-lived and fail to promote teacher growth due to (1) lack of teacher control over program content; (2) the difficulty of influencing long-term changes in teachers' classroom behavior; and (3) the problem of documenting behavior change. This paper discusses a…

Study groups are both a complement and an alternative to traditional staff development. Becoming a community of adult learners is a complex process involving a number of ingredients: purpose, logistics, resources, transfer of learning, electronic networking, sustenance, and assessment. These ingredients are not meant to take the place of…

The goals of greater involvement of teachers in their own staff development mirror those of quality adult education. If the further development of teachers as self-directed learners is facilitated by giving them both the time to make the transition to such methods and a chance to plan and implement professional-development projects, both teachers…

The process of implementing change is extremely complicated, particularly when multiple innovations are being introduced simultaneously. Conflicting views exist regarding provincial versus local priorities, and available resources are declining. This report is a summary of a Master's thesis that analyzed the implementation process employed in 13…

When the researcher and the practitioner share responsibilities and tasks and analyze research data collaboratively, there is greater potential for meaningful staff development. A cooperative research effort, among researchers and practitioners interested in staff development, at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg (North Carolina) Schools Teaching Learning…

A study of professional development intervention programs in which schools choose their own issues and action plans is presented in this report. "Intervention" refers to university introduction of new professional development models into the school. A 3-year program involving five schools in collaboration with university staff members and…

A model staff development program used at Bristol Eastern High School, Connecticut, suggests a role for principals to play in promoting and maintaining a professional development program with significant faculty involvement. It involves opportunities for teachers to interact with one another via sharing sessions, peer observations, and committee…

A description is given of a client-based approach to staff development that emphasizes ongoing professional growth and learning for teachers. The underlying assumptions of the program are that teachers possess important clinical expertise, and that professional learning is an adaptive, heuristic process that is long-term and nonlinear. The program…

A definition of staff development/inservice education is given. Problem areas concerning the inservice education activities of professional organizations include: (1) the balance of political influences on inservice education; (2) a desire for control of inservice education on the part of teachers instead of collaboration; and (3) an increasing…

A Teacher Corps project conducted by the Edgewood Independent School District and Trinity University (San Antonio, Texas) is described. A classroom teacher at each participating school is trained to lead professional development activities at his or her school. Teacher involvement in designing professional development at each school is emphasized.…

School decision making opportunities available to teachers were identified, and possible reasons for the existence of so little teacher decision making authority in the public schools were explored. While there was some evidence that many teachers may not desire increased involvement, the question was raised of whether or not such involvement…

According to the author of this report, enthusiasm for inservice programs has been lacking, partly due to disagreement over program control and partly due to a perceived lack of relevance in the programs. This overview of a number of research and development projects suggests that the programs' relevance is the more important of these factors and…

A nationwide survey of 1,315 community colleges was conducted in 1979 to draw a profile of the colleges' staff development practices. A 12-page survey instrument asked respondents to: (1) identify the goals of the staff development program; (2) estimate the effectiveness of the instructional methods used in these programs, as well as the methods…

This evaluation report describes the Quality Improvement Program Plan for Special Educators (QUIPP) which provides supplemental professional development opportunities for New York City special education professionals and paraprofessionals at the elementary, middle, and intermediate/junior high school levels. The program stresses design of the…

Three documents and eight journal articles on staff development (focusing particularly on inservice teacher education), selected from those recently made available through the ERIC system, are described briefly in this report. Topics covered by the items listed include enhancing teachers' perceptions of themselves, identifying workable staff…