Practical strategies for school administrators will help ensure that coaches are able to work most effectively.

Offers nine suggestions to help program chairpersons plan successful programs for professional meetings: clearly understand the organization's purposes and objectives, choose an annual site, experiment with times, announce meetings well in advance, plan various formats, plan for long-term professional development, expect the unexpected, use local…

Examines research about the effectiveness of professional development. Procedural guidelines drawn from research on individual and organizational change provide a framework for developing the optimal mix of professional development processes and technologies for specific contexts at particular points in time. The potential impact of implementing…

Guidelines are given for training teachers to use computers, based on staff development experiences with the Hampshire (Massachusetts) Educational Collaborative's computer literacy program. Topics covered include training goals, course scheduling, staffing, participant needs, educational strategies, and evaluation. (PP)

Offers 20 guidelines that facilitators can use in planning effective workshops and staff development sessions. The guidelines take into account the diversity of individuals attending the workshops and ways in which to accommodate various learning styles. (GLR)

Factors which influenced the success of a New York staff development program designed to improve student writing included district commitment, voluntary participation, in-district training workshops, on-site support, principals' support, parents' understanding, and continuous followup. Teachers learned the importance of seeing content first and…