Although family support programs vary in program goals and service delivery, their common features constitute an approach for working with families. The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to gather basic information about how programs prepare their staff to use the family support approach and to identify commonalities and differences in their…

This document contains a symposium paper on human resource development (HRD). "Human Resource Development Research: Is Anyone Listening?" (Gary N. McLean), discusses the following: discrepancies between HRD "best practices" described in the HRD research and those found in business; the causes of the "disconnect" that exists between researchers and…

Community promoters are community members who are selected and trained to perform specific tasks in a project or program. Promoters have worked in education projects throughout Latin American since the 1960s, and their use in programs has shown to boost program success. Whether promoters work in externally directed programs or in more autonomous…

A project was undertaken to help low-literate Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) members develop the reading and writing skills needed to participate fully in AA/NA programs. A training program consisting of three 1.5-hour-long sessions and accompanying training guidelines were developed and used to train 21 student and 7 tutor…

Staff development has been the focus of the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory's Rural Small Schools Initiative (RSSI) since it began in 1987. The research literature and RSSI's own survey of staff development practices in southwestern rural schools indicate that current staff development delivery systems are content rich and process…

Developed in response to a trend toward using hourly students and library school graduate students at the reference desk, this training manual provides basic training for library staff involved in providing engineering reference services. It integrates traditional and electronic resources into a 10-unit, 6- to 8-week program of instruction. The 10…

Although much is written about the importance of parent/teacher communication with emphasis on the significant impact of parent/teacher conferences, teachers report a lack of formal training. Neither institutions of higher education nor the public schools appear to provide clear policy and procedure for parent/teacher conferences. Thus, teachers…

This study verified a need for the development of entry-level and continued training methods for educational secretaries in Oklahoma, with special focus on unique problems in the rural setting. The project aimed to: (1) ascertain if there was a statewide need for developing training for educational secretaries; (2) project during what time period…

The manual was used at a 1.5 day workshop for job coaches, individuals designated to train a disabled worker in the on-the-job setting. Each section usually provides basic information, opportunity for participation, and handouts summarizing techniques. The section on awareness covers normalization, expectation, and communication. Considered in the…

This paper describes a psychoeducational procedure known as Covenant Contracting, which is used in the training of family psychologists at Georgia State University. The training framework for clinical experience is described, and the philosophical underpinning for this particular clinical sequence is summarized. The rationale for Covenant…

This summary of methods for improving the user-computer interface is based on a review of the pertinent literature. Requirements of the personal computer user are identified and contrasted with computer designer perspectives towards the user. The user's psychological needs are described, so that the design of the user-computer interface may be…

This paper presents a model of professional development using collaborative coaching and networking which has been used to improve online instructor effectiveness. Components of the model are presented in the context of a ten-year-old faculty development program at a private university in the Southeast. A collaborative coaching checklist is also…

The purpose of this paper is to present a computer-based attention reduction training (ART) model and to outline important issues that must be addressed before the model can be incorporated into an educational setting. The model is based on the dual task technique, an assessment procedure developed by memory researchers. Methodological assumptions…

This paper examines the problem of stress within the teacher's environment and ways in which teachers can manage stress. The components of the stress process are identified in terms of the sources of stress and teachers' response to stress. Sources include the events or characteristics of the environmental situation and life events, occupational…

The use of systems analysis may help child developmental specialists improve the success rates of toilet training programs with developmentally disabled children. Such a systems analysis includes the sociocultural, family, and/or individual ecosystems of the individual. Two detailed case studies of mentally retarded elementary school age children…