Students with low-incidence disabilities frequently receive less than optimal psychoeducational services because the specialized tests and instructional materials required to meet their idiosyncratic needs often are unavailable due to budget constraints, inadequate training of school personnel, and the difficulty school personnel have keeping…

While formative workplace based assessment can improve learners' skills, it often does not because the procedures used do not facilitate feedback which is sufficiently specific to scaffold improvement. Provision of pre-formulated strategies to address predicted learning needs has potential to improve the quality and automate the provision of…

Our nation's economy and global competitiveness depend on an educated, skilled workforce that can quickly adapt to changes in technology and business processes. Adult educators understand that adult learners need opportunities to obtain workplace and career management skills through work-based learning experiences that prepare them for the complex…

This advisory is offered as an aid to planning programs of staff development. The roles of the local education agencies and the school staff are defined in the tasks of setting program objectives and assessing staff development needs. A portion of a handbook issued by the State Department of Education on program planning is included, and its…

A common problem for Chinese teacher trainers is coping with a passive class with silent trainee learners, when trainees tend to be unresponsive and avoid interactions with the trainer. This is especially true when a trainer seeks interactions in the process of training, such as asking questions to the class as a whole or expecting at least one…

While literacy interventions can be implemented in any grade, focusing on interventions in grades 3-8 is critical because it is often the best chance for students identified with earlier reading deficiencies to become ready for the literacy demands of postsecondary education and careers. States in both the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL)…

Instructional supervision, despite the lack of evidence for its value, can potentially help improve instruction and promote educators' professional growth. To realize this potential, schools should analyze their supervisory practice according to these four premises: (1) that each school district and each school has unique organizational…

A process model is presented to provide an organized structure for improving schools and school staffs. In the model the school is the central focus, and it is seen in the context of related educational institutions, as part of a system that has interdependent parts. The components of this system are identified as: (1) the state; (2) the school…

The described inservice program was designed to bring together teachers to collectively address overall school problems. The project was based upon the belief that school improvements could be best effected by providing teachers the opportunity to actively participate in the design and implementation of changes in school functioning. Emphasis was…

Strategies for implementing instructional improvement programs must consider institutional characteristics, needs assessment, program and organizational objectives, and the characteristics of the instructional improvement program. Checklists, tables, and matrices are presented to illustrate the cyclical nature of the process of program development…

A considerable amount of time, effort, and other resources go into the development and implementation of education projects. Quite obviously, the goal is to create effective projects that can serve as models of excellence. Whether the project is an hour-long endangered species talk, a family festival, a severe weather awareness workshop, marine…

The development of a self-correcting planning system at The National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) is discussed. A committee was formed to review the present planning, budgeting, and monitoring (PBM) procedures and make recommendations for improvements. The committee was charged with eight questions about the present system, applicable…

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…

The first step in any planning process should be problem identification. Appropriate planning techniques, starting with formal needs assessments, will help vocational education control its own future. (LRA)