Phase II activities of a project to improve occupational education programs in corrective institutions involved conducting five workshops for 106 selected participants with responsibility for the delivery of occupational education in the Bureau of Prisons (BOP). Specific objectives were to provide a forum of discussion of phase I findings…

Seven steps are outlined for a comprehensive school district needs assessment. To show how different approaches can be used, a variety of survey methods are suggested for needs assessment in the areas of parent participation, interpersonal relations, and staff development. (SJL)

The 1978 Civil Service Reform Act mandates federal executive development. Training policies will change because executive development is now part of the management-oriented Senior Executive Service, which will implement a performance evaluation system. Implications for the employee development community concern program expansion, funding and…

Describes a course developed for the six supervisors of a Scarborough factory who have Italian as their first language. Course objectives include competent communication with native English speakers at the management level, ease of self-expression in meetings, and clarity of communication of hourly workers of other language groups. (EJS)

Outlines the failure of traditional staff development programs and theorizes that the crucial issue in staff development concerns the problem of educational authority: Who makes what decisions and how? Successful models for staff development programs should have personal, organizational, and political foci. (JMF)

The difficulty of evaluation of staff development programs is examined in terms of the goals of staff development, the individual and contextual goals, and structural properties inherent in staff development programs. Several guidelines for evaluation are offered. (JMF)

Educators must realize that the social problems weakening the schools, such as declining enrollment, falling test scores, and tighter budgets, will not magically disappear. Assessing blame solves nothing. Rather, professionals must band together to improve their own competence in the face of public criticism. (SJL)

Teachers in an elementary school decide not to match students with teachers. Instead, the teachers learn a variety of styles. (Author)

Affirms that, within the framework of traditional library services, librarians can play an important role in educating young adults about sexuality by incorporating a strong commitment to effective sex education into book selection, collection development, reader's advisory, referral services, library programing, and staff development. An…

Discusses three basic conditions necessary for a school district that wants a strong sense of professional and personal commitment from all employees, a high degree of job satisfaction and productivity, and a cooperative and nonadversary relationship between students, teachers, administrators, classified personnel, and board members. (Author/RK)

This second of five articles on how to plan and implement a supervisory training program focuses on determining needs and establishing objectives. Discusses twelve approaches for determining supervisory training needs. Includes a figure presenting examples of three types of behavioral objectives: knowledge, skill, and attitudes. (EM)

The principal purpose of this study was to determine how major student affairs administrators (N=410) rated potential professional development activities. A second purpose was to assess the accuracy with which a group of faculty (N=35), involved in doctoral level programs in the field, understood practitioner preferences. (Author)

The authors report on their informal survey of several companies to determine industry methods of selecting participants for inservice training. Of the approaches described, the assessment center method seems to offer the greatest potential for use in teacher education as a student development tool. (MF)

Six major concerns of vocational educators are identified regarding the inclusion of handicapped students in regular courses--safety, staff development needs, architectural modifications, equipment needs and modifications, appropriate instructional materials, and a favorable attitudinal climate. In addition, four key principles are given to help…

If theory-based student development programming is to become a reality, a thorough understanding of what is presently known about student development must be given priority in pre- and in-service training. (Author)